Before being prosperous and successful in any other endeavor, you should desire—more than anything—to be prosperous and successful as a Christian. Only as you seek God’s kingdom and righteousness first in your life will you experience true prosperity and success.
To know victory, talk to the Victor! To be able to overcome, invest time with the Overcomer! “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall” (Psa. 55:22).
Guys ... Just say no! We are able to resist temptation the same way Jesus did, with Scripture. If you are going to defeat Satan’s attacks on your mind with his deceitful lies you must depend upon and choose to obey the Word of God.
In this battle against lust, porn and masturbation have you ever felt like tiny little David up against big and mighty Goliath? The same power that God gave to David to defeat that giant in his life, He makes available to you right now to combat yours (2 Pet. 1:3).
We are at war my friend – of that let there be no doubt. So, how are you doing? Seriously – how is the battle going?
Do you want to be spiritually healthy? Do you want to prevent sexual impurity from permeating every aspect of your life, dominating your thoughts and dictating your actions? If so, what are you doing right now to avoid it? Are you seeing your Great Physician on a daily basis?
Guys - never lose sight of the fact that God wants you to be spiritually happy and healthy. He wants you to know genuine, lasting victory over lust, porn, masturbation and every other form of sexual impurity. Just as the doctor tells you to take two aspirin and call him in the morning – so you and I need to read God’s Word daily and talk to Him every day.
Rest for a Christian comes when we invest consistent time alone with God. The more we are with our Heavenly Father, the more our spirit is revived.
Are you godly? As people look at you - do they see you, or do they see God? Are you an imitator of God (Eph. 5:1)? Do you want to be like God? To become godly, to realize victory in your life over sexual impurity takes training. It takes exercise, building spiritual strength and discipline into your life. It requires the ability, determination and know-how to just say no to temptation.
We need to watch what we “eat” spiritually. As your Great Physician, God knows what’s best for your heart. He knows what will make you spiritually healthy and what will help you grow. And He’s prepared a special meal just for you! Guys ... We need to open our Bible every day for the rest of our lives and feed on every word that comes from God’s mouth (Matt. 4:4).
As a born-again believer, you have been given a heart transplant. Your Great Physician, God Himself, has given you the instruction to stay away from certain things if you want your spiritual heart to remain healthy.
Guys - don’t let this day go by - don’t let this moment go by - without examining your heart before God, confessing your sin, claiming HIS power and HIS victory over that sin ... and then step boldly into His throne room with confidence as you worship your Heavenly Father - the Almighty God of the Universe!
Once you have become a born-again believer; once you have been given that new heart you must “above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Prov. 4:23).
One of the greatest struggles we face in the war against sexual impurity in our lives is on the battlefield of misplaced desires. You see - we do what we do because in our heart we want what we want. The lie of Satan is that “I need,” I want,” “I have to have,” and “I deserve.” When we allow those types of thoughts to have free reign in our hearts - selfish behavior is quickly to follow.
God promises that through His Word “(He guides) you in the way of wisdom and (leads) you along straight paths” (Prov. 4:11 NIV 1984). Those words of wisdom are found in Scripture. So, every time you invest time opening your Bible and studying God’s Word, the verses you read act as “a lamp to (your) feet and a light to (your) path” (Psa. 119:105). They are a massive spotlight pouring pure white light on your life saying, “this is the way to victory, walk in it!”
In our battle against sexual impurity, our commander has given us marching orders. He has told us how to fight (Jas. 4:7), how to stand (1 Cor. 16:13; Gal. 5:1; Eph. 6:13), and what weapon to use (Eph. 6:17). Ours is not to question His command or doubt His wisdom. Ours is not to try to figure out how on earth that particular method or that specific weapon is going to work when everything else we tried failed. The responsibility that falls upon us as soldiers of Christ is to obey.
God isn’t out to make your life miserable, He has amazing plans for you, plans to bless you beyond your wildest imaginations (Jer. 29:11). I know that when you are in the thick of the battle against impurity it sure doesn’t seem that way. That is the time we must desperately cling to God’s promises and trust Him completely. That is the time we must choose fight against our lazy, self-centered desires and choose to be in God’s Word!
To win our battle against sexual impurity, we must grasp the vital necessity of growing daily in our relationship with God. How are you doing with that?
God's Word has the answer for every problem you will ever face - including sexual temptation. It will give you ever weapon you will ever need for every battle you will ever fight; and it will help you slay the 3-headed dragon of lust, pornography and masturbation!
The next time you are tempted to give in to lust and the pull of sexual impurity, remember God’s mercy and willingly make your body available for God to employ for His glory instead of for you to use for sexual pleasure.
The question for you is this: are you doing the Word? Are you moment by moment, day by day choosing to do what God says? If you construct your life according to Christ’s building codes, if you dig deep into solid rock, you will never be disappointed (1 Pet. 2:6-7).
So, don’t be surprised when you face sexual temptation. Stand firm on the Rock, and though the storm may hit you full-force; though it may feel like you can’t bear up under it, because you’ve been building your life on Christ – you will not fall!
Just as we need a solid foundation in order to build a solid structure, so we need to build a sexually pure life on a spiritually solid foundation. The bottom line is simple, if you expect to stay standing in the midst of the storms of sexual temptation that constantly hit you on every front, you need to be planted firmly on a foundation that will not fail – one that runs deep into solid rock.
In and of ourselves, we are incapable of living sexually pure lives. The only way we can be (and stay) on the victory side is when God Himself, who has that power, lives His life through us. And that only happens when we consistently yield ourselves completely to Him (Rom. 6:12-14). This is why David declared in Psa. 119:9 that the only way to keep your heart pure was to live your life in complete obedience to God’s word at all times.
When you look at all the effort you’ve expended in trying to be a pure man, and consider the agony of the battle as you white-knuckle your way through the rough spots, you can become easily discouraged. Consider this: God never expects you to fight this battle on your own. He simply wants you to focus all your attention and energy on two things – keeping His commands and fearing Him. When you make your life all about Him, God will help you with everything else (see Matt. 6:33).
Have you ever found yourself saying, “I quit! I just can’t do this anymore! It’s useless to try to fight this beast!”? The bottom line is this: we can’t do it on our own, and we can’t do better than God. The answer is not to just give up and give in. Remember, you can do all things through Christ, because He gives you the strength (Phil. 4:13).
How many times have you pursued lust, porn, masturbation and other forms of sexual impurity? How desperately did you want those things to satisfy you and fill that emptiness inside? How successful were you? Victory over sexual impurity isn’t a pipe dream guys; it’s possible! We do not have to live defeated lives.
What is your real motive for finding freedom from bondage to sexual impurity? Are you discovering that you have been engaged in this battle with the wrong intent and for the wrong reasons? Can you begin to understand WHY you’ve been losing this battle? Can you see how important it is that your motivation must be to honor and glorify God in everything, including this particular battle.
In the battle against lust, porn and masturbation - victory is possible! We must have God's Glory as our primary motivation for victory over, and freedom from sexual impurity. There is one thing - and only one thing - that you and I can do to know real, lasting victory.
We will never be successful in finding freedom from our struggles with impurity until our primary reason for wanting it is so that our victory ... and ongoing purity will bring all the glorious attention to God.
Your heart is what matters most to God, and you cannot hide your heart from Him.
Being a pure man is more than just external behavior, it starts with the heart.
What are you allowing your mind to think about? What you think will become what you do.
Please understand that your involvement in this program does not provide any guarantee on the part of Steve Etner, The Purity Coach or The Pure Man Ministry. In other words, we are coming alongside of you for the purpose of coaching you toward accountability and purity. I am not a professional counselor and I cannot guarantee you specified results. I am, however, a man who has been where you are and has seen God work in my life in a mighty way. This program is what changed me. And God has used this program to impact the hearts of countless men across the globe!
I'm here to encourage you, to challenge you, to pray with you, and to share with you what God has taught me. I look forward to coming alongside of you in this journey!