44/365: Stop Staring, Start Praying

"You shall not commit adultery." ~ God Exodus 20:14

Adultery is a scourge to Christian men and rampant in the church. Yes...adultery.

God is clear and Jesus made it real when He said, "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

If you've looked at porn and you are married... this means you. If you've gazed longingly at "her" and imagined things... and you are married... this means you.

God laid down the law, Jesus drilled it down to the heart.

Not Married? Click the verse below...

GO DEEPER: 1 Corinthians 6: 12-20

NEXT STEP: Pray to unleash healing in our brother's hearts. Don't judge - just pray and pray hard today.

Theeman

on 02/14/2023 at 09:07 PM

at my early age i used to go to church but at the same time i was having doubts on everythink i do, so when time goes by i accept jesus as my lord ans saviour now I'm married to my wife of 16 years together and we stay together with our two handsome boys 15years and 4years in god the is life and in god we survive and god can fight our battle like he did to me so i need prayers that i want to grow more spiritual in lord jesus.

Old Dude

on 02/14/2023 at 06:09 AM

If You Don’t Fight Lust by John Piper https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/if-you-dont-fight-lust

leo

on 02/13/2023 at 09:52 PM

Dear God, I don’t even know where to start. Lord Jesus, I just wanna pray for every man here. Jesus, it’s a struggle. Satan wants nothing more, to remove us from you God. Father, I pray for each, and every Man who’s heart is broken, wounded, lost, and isolated. Father in heaven, I just pray for a breakthrough freedom in your spirit freedom in your word and freedom, in Jesus Christ for all of us today. Lord, I thank you in advance for being there for us, for Loving us and caring for us, and walking with us even through the toughest battles, we face in our lives. We can call victory in your name because it’s done it’s finish and the cross has shown that, I pray these things in Jesus name amen.

Kevin Miller

on 02/13/2023 at 07:08 PM

I struggle with lust in my mind. I looked at porn many years ago but I haven’t used that in many years. When I see a woman I like I have lustful thoughts. I know it’s wrong but I’ve been doing it for many many years. I’m working on breaking this but it’s hard. It’s getting better but many times I find myself doing it before I realize what I’m doing.

Delray

on 02/13/2023 at 06:09 PM

Like so many I've struggled my entire life in sexual sin. Most certainly it is the main contributor to the man I was. By reaching out to God for a deeper more meaningful relationship, God began a work to undo what I've done. Yes by the grace of the cross I was forgiven but by no means did the consequences magically go away. It only began an important new chapter in my life. I had been making tremendous progress, so much so that temptations would even make it to me for me to resist, I have so filled with the Holy Spirit lately. But that was not a simple ask and receive thing for me, everyday it takes honest work. But yesterday I slipped. My eyes and mind wandered far too long even after the woman had gone. It was my choice to disregard the Holy Spirit convicting me because he was. I was so worn out being busy with my daughters birthday and the go go go mentality, that I got distracted. My mind wasn't Christ centered, and how sneakily the adversary came. Now I've repented sincerely and left it at the throne. Now it is my choice to allow a defeated mindset to beat myself up for failing or fill myself with Him. I am not my mistake, I am a son of God and he loves me.

Ethan Rogers

on 02/13/2023 at 06:02 PM

Cont'd: amenity of my thought process. God can do anything, and anything is possible with GOD. This is a tough one that I have justified with so many different rationales and excuses. Blaming my manhood for it, lying to myself that it is from human nature and instinct that is good. Ultimately, it makes me unhappy with life as I have it, with reality. I hurt others as well as myself. It causes disillusionment in my marriage. I turn to my faith that God does not want this of me. Pray, pray, and prayer has been my solution. Acceptance, surrender, humbling, repentance, helping others, getting out of myself, my selfish self and filling that space with God's purpose. There is hope. Thank you Jesus. I love you Jesus.

Ethan Rogers

on 02/13/2023 at 05:47 PM

Yeah. This is my biggest addiction. When I my heart is filled with the Holy Spirit, my mind is free of evil. A beautiful woman is not evil, the obsession and perverted intent in my mind is the master of chains that grips and holds my good reasoning and ability it resist. This addiction , like many other forms, is a progressive one. It gets worse and spreads trouble. It evolves into things you would never have imagined that you would be or do. Nothing is off the table. A sickness, a disease that manifests itself into your best interests, your greatest ambitions, and becomes a solid brick welded to the side of your brain. It won't allow normal functioning of your life because it is jealous of anything good and decent that you may have working. A subtle, though direct bombardment of your sanity, it infiltrates into every moment until it exposes itself and you to ridicule, shame, devastation and death. God help us. The only way I can relieve myself from this doom is to pray and ask God for help and cleansing. I've found that if I see women as a child of God and not an object, that I can keep my mind from delving into anything deeper. She is a fellow human being that deserves respect and kindness. I use a form of self-deception to help, I think of them as a sister, my daughter, my mother. I don't imagine their taste, I see them as someone who I would never defile. I care about their welfare and what they are doing in life. practice becomes habit until it becomes a normal

Daryl Trowbridge

on 02/13/2023 at 04:17 PM

This is something I struggle with as well—as recently as last night. The shame that accompanies knowing that I looked AGAIN makes me wonder if I'll ever get the victory, if I'll ever allow God to take it from me. I even know the key to overcoming in the moment: drawing near to Christ. In the moment, though, I don't do what I need to do. I'm praying for you, brothers, and I covet your prayers as well. God bless.

Kevin Davison

on 02/13/2023 at 03:46 PM

I had been married with my first wife for 2 years due to adultery. She met a guy online chatting with him and flew out to see him for a week. When she got back, I warned her that if she did that again, I would leave her. She went back out to see him and by the time she got back the lawyer had the papers ready for her to sign. She asked me why I'm leaving her. I told her that I wasn't joking about adultery and love.

Jerome

on 02/13/2023 at 03:12 PM

I, too, continue to struggle with lust. Although I have been married to a wonderful, godly woman for over 35 years, I'm still tempted with a wandering eye and lustful thoughts. Today's message and comments are well-timed and speak volumes. I pray that God will give me the resolve to release me from this burden.

Tim

on 02/13/2023 at 02:48 PM

I pray about it daily and ask the Lord to help me look at a woman the way he wants me too and not the way my past wants me too. I’ve talked to people I’m close to about it but it’s still a struggle, I’m ashamed of it. Not a day goes by that I’m not challenged with a thought when I see an attractive woman but when it happens I have a weight come over me and I immediately ask GOD to give me strength. There are days I wish God would erase those memories but I’ve learned to trust him as I’ve grown in Christ.

Tim

on 02/13/2023 at 02:48 PM

Lust and adultery are rooted in me unfortunately. When I was single and in the military I was lost and hung with people that where also lost, it was a common thing to go to strip clubs as a group. When I got married that stopped but the seed was already planted. As my marriage went from romantic in the beginning to not so much we would watch porn movies together to put us in the mood. After a couple years that didn’t work either but the desire for porn was still there. Many things lead to our divorce and I know that had a part. After my divorce it ramped up, it consumed me for about 2 years. I knew I had a problem and knew I needed help. I grew up in a church home and was baptized as a teenager. I always believed it Jesus just walked a different path. One morning I just woke up and told myself this has to stop. I really prayed for the first time since joining the military and asked for help, broke out in tears. I’m happy to say I haven’t look or had the strong desire to look since. I know the Lord helped me that day. Since that day I read and devote daily and attend church as offend as I can, rededicated my life to Christ through baptism. I still struggle with what can’t be unseen, I occasionally have dreams about it, they’re getting less and less as the years go by. The past is and always will be my thorn.

Matthew Brown

on 02/13/2023 at 02:42 PM

I have struggled with lust and pornography addiction from the age of 8. 7 years ago the addiction was broken but I have had to make a real effort not to look with lust at women and lately it seems like the battle is getting tougher. I don’t want to fall back into the same patterns I was in before. The porn industry is such a disgusting thing. We can’t even imagine the terrible things that are happening to human lives because of it and it’s likely that every single one of us has supported it at one time or another. It’s only been recently that I learned about the terrible effects that porn has on our brains as well causing rewiring and changes in our brain that are very similar to the brain damage that occurs from violent a impact to the front of the head. If that wasn’t bad enough the damage that is caused in marriages and families, I neglected my son and destroyed the trust of my wife and worst of all turned my back to God and wasted most of my life with my top goal being where to find my next fix. I’m nearing my mid 40’s now and fighting to repair the damaged relationships and clean up the mess I made of my life and I know it’s never too late but hopefully I can use what I went through to help others avoid it. Please pray for me that I overcome the temptations to look with lust and never go back

Tommy Williamson

on 02/13/2023 at 02:36 PM

Amen Ashley. I never got into frigid or alcohol partly because I saw the effects that both had on the lives of many friends. At one point the small town that I lived in was sometimes referred to as the drug capital of the northeastern United States because it a small sleepy little place but allowed easy flow to a huge number of the major cities east of the Mississippi River so cartels used it as a hub until the entire town got raided one night resulting in one of the biggest drug bust up until that time. My biggest addiction had always been porn and each year I seemed to spiral into deeper and darker aspects of it. My lust for women and even young girls controlled much of my thinking even a good looking man was not beyond my lusting eyes. Even when I wasn’t around anybody else I found myself mentally writing stories in my head that grew darker and darker. I frequented chat rooms where I would stalk both females and males. Praise God for finally.

Tommy Williamson

on 02/13/2023 at 02:16 PM

Adrain, as a person that sadly battled a porn addiction for over 50 years, the only true way to get rid of it is to fully and unconditionally commit and surrender your life over to God. Yeah there are a lot of books, articles and other resources out there and I am not speaking out against them. It is my prayer that every one of my brothers on here would let go of themselves and unconditionally surrender to God letting Him take control of every aspect of our lives. I know as a man in particular it is scary to think about not having that control of your life but for me I have actually found it is more freeing than I have ever felt. At one point last year I was simply praying the Lord’s Prayer when I found myself praying it a lot more personally. Instead of praying “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven” I was praying “Thy will be done in my life as it is in Heaven.” When got to section were I was asking the Lord to forgive my trespasses I asked the Lord to search me and reveal everywhere that I was falling short of His will and ways. That version of the Lord’s Prayer turned out to be the absolute scariest thing I have ever done in my life but also the best because I soon started making such changes in my life as the Lord showed me more and more that I needed to change. But wow the peace and freedom that I feel since is so amazing and yeah He is still pulling stuff out of my deepest darkest corners and each one just that much more joy as I get rid of it.

Ashley Jarvis

on 02/13/2023 at 01:58 PM

Lust has proven to be probably my primary character defect, my true kryptonite. For over 3 years now I’ve been on a path of recovery. Through surrendering to God each morning, He’s walked me through recovering from Alcoholism, Addiction, and even Tobacco. Alcohol and Cocaine landed me in treatment, I nearly died. Then upon relapsing, I nearly took my own life. My first year in sobriety was littered with a few relapses back to taking a drink and the drunk that inevitably follows the first drink. I desperately say with my sponsor afterwards seeking the root of my craving back to alcohol. What was it that kept this desire to drink back again and again? We dug in, together, HONESTLY. Turns out, it was lusting women, which would lead to porn, which would leave a mess in my heart, soul and mind that would lead to drinking… Which for an alcoholic like myself, is inevitably eventual death. Our culture does not talk enough about the damage porn does in our hearts and minds, nor the people who are caught up inside the industry. That industry, is fed and paid for by each click. We, are keeping it all alive, one click at a time. That knowledge, has helped me cut it from my life.

Boyce Moses

on 02/13/2023 at 01:55 PM

Stay strong brothers, it is so worth it. Love you Jesus! 💛🤍🤎💜

Brandon Pembleton

on 02/13/2023 at 01:52 PM

It sounds so simple yet it can creep in very sneakingly with social media being all around us. I love my girlfriend very much. I remind myself to imagine she's there all the time and how much it would hurt her if I started back down the path I was on before her and I met - before I was saved. It's a very sneaky thing one thought turning into another into another building momentum away from God. Momentum that becomes difficult to stop once it's built up. The only way for me is to constantly police my thoughts. In church yesterday the sermon discuss God, Spouse, children, and work in that order. It went deeper in I should be thinking about God more than the others. If I am thinking about God and all of His miracles all the time and how grateful I am for His grace it armors me up and arms me with the sword of truth to cut through the sneaky little innocent lie that's its ok to look briefly. I know how quickly briefly can turn into a whole other mess and cause harm to others. I want no part of that harm causing in my life. Thank you God for occupying my mind with your grace. You truly are all mighty and powerful. I love you God amen 🙏

Damon

on 02/13/2023 at 01:47 PM

This is the one that I believe hurts men the most. Pride can make a man think that he can resist temptations without the Holy Spirit but we are sadly mistaken if that is our means of protection. Psalms 101 is a great guideline for us to have as men. “I will not look at any sordid thing” . Men we have to say plugged into sharpening one another, connected to the Holy Spirit and consistently in defensive prayer over our flesh. We can’t trust it or our pride . Praying for all of us to conquer lustful thoughts and having a covenant with our eyes

Adrian T.

on 02/13/2023 at 12:52 PM

Please pray for me. I, with the Lord's help, was staying strong, and recently fell back into old habits of lust, although it's no where near where I once was, it's a hard burden to over come. I absolutely hate it, it doesn't make me happy one bit, it stresses me out. I don't want to be this guy, I don't want to give in. I love the Lord and am committed to trying to live by His word and commandments! I pray and believe in complete freedom, in Jesus name!

michael f vinning

on 02/13/2023 at 12:48 PM

I am deeply broken inside, was deeply damaged as a little boy due to infidelity in my parents marriage. A product of this particularly grievous kind of sin! May we not damage any more kids bc of it men!!

michael f vinning

on 02/13/2023 at 12:45 PM

I’ll admit, before I was saved, I slept with a few married women, something I am now ashamed of and deeply sorry for, thankfully I have never committed adultery since becoming saved nor have I ever cheated on my wife, but for the grace of God!! I am not judging those who have-this morning I pray for Jesus to strengthen us all in our inmost being by his spirit that we men, may all have the power to avert our gaze and treat our wives with the respect, love, and fidelity that we swore to on our wedding day! In Jesus name I pray! Amen

Robert McFaddin

on 02/13/2023 at 12:14 PM

“I have made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust on a young woman. “. Job 31:1

Eddie B. Woodard

on 02/13/2023 at 12:10 PM

Greater is He that is in us, than anything that is in the world.

44/365: Stop Staring, Start Praying

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