We often underestimate the persistent, clever, oppressing spirit of lust. It’s important for us to expose the tactics of lust and strategize from a place knowledge instead of fear. Join us in this 4-day devotional.
David & Ella
Day 1
Scriptures: James 4:7-8, Romans 7:15-20
I Don’t Know What’s Wrong With Me
You’re right, you knew better. You told God that you’d never do it again. Whatever “it” is. But you’re wrong if you think that God has run out of love for you. Many times people tell us “I don’t know what’s wrong with me”. And that’s where we think the work should start.
What is it that makes us go out of control? What is it that makes us cling to things that makes us feel far away from God? Some of us don’t even know how it feels to be close to God, because this never felt realistic.
It is the spirit of lust.
Lust will make you believe that you are an enemy of God. It’ll make you believe that you don’t have a place in His Kingdom. It wants you to accept the lie that God does not love you, so what you do to yourself, what you allow, and what you entertain, doesn’t matter. The spirit of lust will question everything that God has instructs you to do, making you believe God is trying to restrict you instead of protect you.
Just as he did in the garden of Eden.
The spirit of lust knows that if it can alter your vision and readjust how you see yourself, then it can control how you behave. One of lusts biggest fears is for your eyes to open and for you to see why God gives us instructions to protect our soul from damage and bondage that come with sin. There’s a saying that goes “the devil won’t pay you much mind when you’re living in sin, but he will give you all of his attention when you’re trying to get out”. It’s not weird that when you decided to pursue purity, you all of a sudden felt extreme desires for things that feed lust.
The moment you thought about giving God a chance, you got the enemy’s full attention. But fear not, because Christ is a better Savior than lust is a savage.
Day 2
Scriptures: Mark 9:43-[44], 1 Corinthians 6:19
You Left The Door Open
Boundaries. It sounds so restricting, even without context. Our flesh doesn’t like boundaries, that’s why the simple thought of setting boundaries can make you feel discouraged. But boundaries protect our spirit and our soul from the self-destructive power of lust.
Would you go to sleep or leave your home with your doors and windows wide open? Even in the safest neighborhoods, that is not a wise idea. Although you didn’t deliberately send out invitations to random people, animals of all sizes, and dirt to come into your home, you invited them in by leaving the door open.
You’ll wake up to stolen belongings, gifts, food. Your valuable things will be broken, torn and shattered into pieces. There’ll be strangers making themselves at home. Now it is no longer just your home, but you have roommates and dirt that could take days to clean up. That’s what happens when we don’t set boundaries in our lives. We invite the spirit of lust to come and steal, kill, and destroy the most important part of us, our spirit and soul.
We protect lock up our homes and our cars, but we’re not as careful with our bodies which houses the spirit of God. In fact, the Bible calls our bodies temples of the Holy Spirit. Until we move out, on the day God calls us back home to Him, we have a responsibility to protect the gift of God in us.
Most of the time we think that we’re strong enough to fight against lust so we don’t need to set any boundaries. The truth is lust was here before you. Lust has pulled down so many great people from high positions. Our physical strength is no match for lust. Outside of the power of God, no one can withstand its traps.
We have to set boundaries.
Boundaries close the door & your pursuit of God keeps the door locked.
Close the door and lock it.
Day 3
Scriptures: Galatians 5:16, Matthew 7:14
When Sin Looks More Enjoyable Than God
Well. The issue is we can see sin. We have a history with sin. The hunger for sin sometimes feels more natural than the hunger for God. If we’re honest, sometimes it feels like it takes more work to be in a relationship with God than in a marriage to sin.
The truth is, in the beginning it seems like it doesn’t take effort to enjoy sin. But as time goes on and you get deeper and deeper, you’ll begin to see that it only looked easy in the beginning in order to draw you in. Sometimes it feels like lust hides its price so that you won’t really see the cost you’re paying for temporary pleasure. By the time you realize the price you paid, there has been a transaction that takes work to free yourself from.
The path of righteousness is usually the path that makes us look weak, it’s the path that doesn’t make us “feel good” in the moment. What feels good today, will be called a mistake tomorrow if it gratifies the flesh. Let’s not get distracted by how things look, that’s what led to the fall of man. At first, when Adam and Eve saw the tree they knew that it wasn’t good to eat. But as Eve began to listen to the enemy, the Bible says in Genesis 3:6 that when Eve saw that it was pleasing to the eyes she ate it and shared it with her husband.
This is why Jesus calls the path of righteousness the “narrow way” (Matthew 7:14), that few find, let alone journey. The price to pay to walk this path is not cheap, but like a woman who has just given birth would testify, the pain of carrying becomes a distant memory in the face of the new life that appears. Likewise, the price of forgoing temporary and immediate pleasures of this life will be long forgotten when we meet our Savior in eternity! To our physical eyes, sin will look better than pursuing God, the goal is to draw close to what we need instead of what we want.
Day 4
Scriptures: 2 Timothy 2:22, Romans 7:14-25
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO END THIS WAY
For some, it all started when you caught a cousin watching porn.
For another, it all started when you were molested at a young age.
For someone else, it all started when your insecurities began to think for you.
For others, it started with curiosity and now it feels impossible to walk away.
But it doesn’t have to end this way.
The Greek word for repent is metanoeo, meaning “to change your mind.” That’s the first step to receiving your deliverance. Changing your mind.
When we were all born, we came out head first and the rest of our body followed. In the same way, in order for our lives to be transformed, we have to give God full access to change our minds. Without renovation of the mind, we will repeat the same mistakes which will cause us to go through the same cycles.
Lust begins its work on the minds of humanity when we’re extremely young. Paul advises Timothy to “flee the evil desires of youth and to pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace”. For Paul to say “flee the desires of youth” instead of the “desires of old age” exposes that lust executes the game plan to frame our minds when we are young and it knows exactly how to market its products to our young minds. This is why Paul tells Timothy to go the other way and pursue righteousness which requires focus. The easiest person to distract is someone without a focus. The easiest person to sidetrack is someone with no aim or pursuit.
The longer lust is a part of our lives, it gets to a point where we become numb to the damage, and we begin to see lust as a permanent part of us and detachment from it seems impossible. However, you have power to change your mind, and the Lord will give you the strength, day by day, to go the other way. As you pursue “righteousness, faith love, and peace.” Don’t be surprised nor discouraged by difficulty during your pursuit of Christ. Remember, when you try to rise up, the enemy will give you all of his attention. So in response, give God your full attention.