How long will this Lust Last?

Lust, why has it lasted this long? Why doesn’t the Lord just take it away? I have cried, I have promised
the Lord this will be my last time succumbing to it. Why does it taste so sweet in my mouth and bitter
after indulging in it ? why do I feel dirty? Why doesn’t the Lord take me before I sin against Him again?
Why do I enjoy momentary victory and fall back into it? The same habits? Why does the fasting and
prayers not deal with it? Why does the many sermons not help me overcome? Why do I break my
resolutions so fast? Why do my efforts bear no fruit? .Why does it seem I am helpless when I face Lust?
Why does it last?
So many questions, few answers. Where does lust begin?
In the garden of Eden we see God give Adam and Eve permission to EAT of any tree except the tree of
the knowledge of life and death, but we know what happened a verse later, they ATE and they sinned.
Is there anything wrong with eating? didn’t God tell them to eat? The nature of sin, in this case lust is
that we have a healthy appetite for sex given to us by God for procreation and intimacy to be solely
used in the context of marriage alone, but as we know, the enemy corrupts these healthy appetites
God gives us and thus it turns to sin, and sadly addictions, where one gets hooked to certain habits or
things. We have a been given an appetite to eat, but when this appetite is abused and misused, it
leads to gluttony. Most of us had our introduction to sex the way, through pornography, childhood sexual abuse, Hollywood movies, exposure to those engaging in sex in an inappropriate way (because sex is
beautiful when enjoyed in the confines of marriage), being lured into sexual activities by those older
or even our peers, there are many more examples that I haven’t mentioned, but we can agree most
of these introductions left somewhat a negative impact on us. Some of us had sexual urges in our
adolescence and none talked to us or sat us down to explain what is happening to us , our bodily
changes, our attraction to the opposite sex, then some of us started exploring and discovering this
new realm of sex pleasure which in turn has some in a bondage that will last a lifetime. The Bible
talks of fleeing youthful lusts in 2 Timothy 2:2 , they are every where especially in our generation. The mind, is the breeding ground of this menace called lust, we have constantly fed it with junk, with
information and have formed certain appetites from the afore mentioned ways, hardly any young
person can stay a whole day without having lustful thoughts, wrestling with past images and past
experiences, thinking of how God is wroth with lust and how helpless they are. Is there hope? Is there
freedom? Are the testimonies of those set free from lust or addictions as a result of lust a fable or
fairy tale? Lets see what Jesus came to offer, I believe this will bring an end to the circle of
defeat, cycles of guilt, fear, disgust and regret.
It is finished!
In John 19:30 , Jesus said it is finished, Jesus here was on the cross bearing the sins of the world, after
three days, He resurrected and this has a significance, the cross has a significance. We mostly hear
people during an altar call repeat a prayer and “give their life to Christ” which is sincere and has been
in use for many years, but the truth is that in salvation, we receive the life of Christ which He gave on
the cross, we are literally transformed we begin a walk in the Lord. If we truly understand the power
of the sacrifice of Jesus, we would have an easier time dealing with lust and sexual sin, Christ gives us
His life, His Spirit to us and we enjoy and draw strength from Him, with this life of Christ is enough
power to break us free from addictions , habits, tendencies, if we know that we can be transformed
daily through the finished work of the cross. The cross offers one sentence ,death, and when lust encounters the cross, it dies. (Galatians 5:24)
The reason why lust persists in some believers is that they pamper it, they entertain it, which in turns
results into falling into sin. When we have a lustful thought or when you feel you are overwhelmed by
this sensation to fall into sexual sin, right there and then, kill it by quoting the word of God, calling on
God to clean your mind or heart, don’t wait for the thoughts to take you to the point of no return, the
Lord cannot ignore desperate calls for mercy. With that said, we also need to understand that lust has taken time to build and the body has been conditioned to respond to it in a certain way, even so some
can have triggers by what they see, hear or touch, but there is good news, we don’t have to be slaves
of lust. Matthew 11:28-30 speak of those heavy laden with burdens to come to Jesus to have rest, so we are
assured of rest in Jesus. Here is the process we can go through to overcome lust:
1. Be willing
In the process of overcoming lust, we must have had enough of lust and its false promises, lust
promises pleasure but offers pain, guilt, regret, disgust and death. God cannot deliver you if you are
not willing to be delivered. In Matthew 20: 30 -34 we see the two blind men plead for mercy, they
willing to be healed, even more, they were tired of being blind and begging when there was one who
could heal them, are you tired of being a slave to sexual sin?
Prayer: Acknowledge your willingness to be set free . 2. Know that God is able and willing to set you free
God almighty displayed His love on the cross showing us at what length He is willing to bring out our
freedom from the bondage of sin. Even more we can see Gods track record from the Bible days till
today, many prostitutes, thieves, rapists, murderers , exotic dancers, pimps, junkies, the vilest and
worst of men and women be transformed by the Lord. There is no present case of addiction God has
never dealt with, such that we have a cloud of witnesses who have gone before us who have
triumphed over sexual sin, there is hope, your case is not unique or special. Jesus Christ, our priest
was tested in all things yet was without sin ( Hebrews 4:15) , it is He who dwells in us, it is He who is
our strength, we truly have an advantage over sexual sin. Prayer: Thank God for He is able and willing to set you free
3. Close the door to the enemy
Open doors have always given the enemy an opportunity to bring us down through temptations
hence the need to close certain doors. You may ask how did a open a door to the enemy? We have
gateways to our soul, eyes, ears, nose, mouth and genitalia, anything that happens through this
channels can leave a lasting impression on us and form habits and preferences, these doors are God
given, but if any of them are opened to any filthiness and sin, addictions form. Do you remember
watching that pornographic film, hearing that song glorifying fornication, reading erotic literature, pressure from friends to experiment, curiosity to explore, being introduced to sex willingly or
unwillingly by an adult or peer, these are memories we don’t want to remember because of the
bondage that has kept us perpetually bound in the cycle or repentance, making a decision to stop and
falling right back in it. Prayer: With your own words acknowledge how you participated in opening certain doors to the
enemy through the gateways of your soul, genuinely repent for opening those doors and offering
yourself to serve that sexual sin ( mention it or them by name before the Lord, take your time being
open and broken before the Lord), lastly ask the Lord to close those doors such that the enemy wont
have access to them as he used to. 4. Transformation
We often hear preachers make altar calls and ask people to give their lives to Christ, in which there is
some truth to that, and the one who made that decision is saved. But what really happens during
salvation? The popular verse, John 3:16 speaks of us believing and having eternal life, doesn’t
mention about us giving, but it does mention about us receiving life, when we are convicted of our sin
and repent, we receive this new kind of life, which quickens us who were dead in sin and made us sit
with Christ in heavenly places ( Ephesians 2:4-6). When we are transformed, we have a new
nature ,we loathe sin, we love righteousness. We are encouraged by Apostle Paul to be transformed
by the renewing of our mind ( Romans 12:2)
Prayer: Acknowledge your need to be transformed and ask the Lord to continually transform you
through His Spirit, and through His word. ( James 1:21)5. New heart and new mind
The heart and the mind are the seat of our actions and we are influenced greatly by these. Our minds
and heart are meant to be pure and transformed and thus reflecting Christ likeness in our lives. Transformation is happening constantly keeping us from the filthiness of the world. Our hearts and
minds are corrupted by constantly opening the gateways to our souls to sexual perversion, and this in
turn makes it harder for us to maintain purity in our thoughts , imaginations and actions, it seems that
no matter how pure we want to be , a well of sexual thoughts and imagination springs from our
thoughts and mind. Is there hope? Yes, there is hope! God is able to give us a new heart and clean
our minds. Once we have renewed mind and a new heart, we longer give in to the fleshly impulses
and our hearts are pure towards both God and man( both men and women). Here are some
scriptures that we can meditate and pray with as they touch on a new heart, and a cleaning or
renewing of the mind ( 1 Samuel 10:9, Ezekiel 36: 25-27, James 1:21, Isaiah 1: 18-20) Our minds are
continually renewed by feeding on Gods word, which shapes how we view sex, view ourselves, view
God, view things and this will change our appetites and desires, we start seeing the wonders in God, the true riches in Christ, the joy of salvation, the power in Jesus Christ, our position in Him, our
inheritance through Christ Jesus, if you will have had your appetite for sin changed, let your appetite
for righteousness and the kingdom become stronger!
Prayer: Ask God for a new heart and for Him to cleanse your mind from all filthiness, mention them
before the Lord, it is good to be specific what you want cleansed. Ask the Lord to help you with
developing new appetites and a hunger for His kingdom, ask the Lord to show you the wonders in
Christ, His joy, His peace, His righteousness, ask Him to show you the riches in Christ Jesus in which
after seeing you will truly hate sin and pursue Him and all that is in Him. 6. Dependency on God
In this journey you will have moments of vulnerability and you might be tempted to go back and have
a taste of sin again, but at this point you would have weighed the wages of sin and the benefits of
righteousness, and we are told there is ongoing battle in every believer ( Galatians 5: 16-17) but we
don’t have to give in to the demands of the flesh. If you are having a moment where a certain person
or situation can trigger you to fall into sexual sin, don’t entertain it, speak out the word of God to
counter it, resist it, if you are very vulnerable, plead for mercy, remember Peter could have drowned
if he kept his mouth shut, don’t keep quiet, don’t entertain sin, don’t pamper it and feed it. In God is
enough strength to overcome any sin, any temptation, any trigger. If a certain mental image pops us
in your mind and reminds you of sin, ask the Lord to take it away, does a certain scent, sound, sight,touch, trigger you? The Lord is willing to walk you through it, help you overcome, involve Him in
every step, challenge, moment of weakness, glorify Him when He helps you overcome. Isaiah 40:29, He gives strength to the weary and increases power of the weak. Prayer: Thank God for He is always dependable. Don’t struggle with sexual sin while you can triumph over it, sexual sin cannot be your master, there is
only one Lord and His name is Jesus Christ, He destroyed the power of sin, only Him we have
complete victory