How to Use "The Lust Dare"
Day #13: Choose Your Weapon.
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” –Hebrews 4:12
We have been going over so far
multiple different ways to avoid temptation. But let’s face it. Sometimes we
are just tempted. It is not even necessarily brought on by the world around us
such as media, books, or the people we walk past in the street. Sometimes the
temptation is just there. And when it is, that is where the real battle is; the
battle against temptation and the lust itself.
So here we are in the middle of the
battle, and the temptations just keep coming, and there are some days where it
feels like it will never end. And all the time we are growing wearier. Well,
wait a minute. If we are in a battle, what are our weapons? Sure throwing away
books or having someone screen our internet use, or shielding our eyes will
make the battle less frequent, but when we are in battle, where are our
weapons?
We can not fight this battle
barehanded, folks. It is just way too big and important of a fight for that.
Well, what does the scripture say is our weapon? I believe it refers to the sword of the Spirit, i.e. the word of
God. Hey look! Now we have a weapon! The Bible is the perfect weapon and
defense against the counter weapons of the enemy of the temptation, lust, and
the flesh.
So now lets get down to the nitty-gritty
of how to use your weapon. Every good soldier needs a little training, right? And
girls, yes, we are soldiers in this fight. The way to battle against temptation
is to look at the lies that your sinful desires tell you, and then go back to
the scripture and combat that lie with the truth. Strike it down with that
double edged sword! Well, what are some lies that we believe? What is to follow
is a list of lies, and scripture to combat them that I pulled from the book Not Even a Hint. Read through them
slowly, taking your time to find a lie that really resonates with you. Or maybe
in reading them, you will discover one that isn’t even on that list, and
realize that it is the one that your flesh is feeding you.
Lie: Lust is no big deal.
“For that would be wickedness; yes, it would be iniquity deserving of judgment. For that would be
a fire that consumes to
destruction, and would root out all my
increase.” –Job 31:11-12
Lie: A little sinful fantasizing won’t hurt.
“For
to be carnally minded is death,
but to be spiritually minded is
life and peace.”
–Romans 8:6
“Do not be deceived, God
is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh
reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap
everlasting life.” –Galatians 6:7-8
“But put on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” –Romans 13:14
Lie: Taking radical action against sin isn’t necessary.
“If
your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your
members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if
your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your
members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” –Matthew
5:29-30
“Flee also youthful
lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the
Lord out of a pure heart.” -2 Timothy 2:22
Lie: God won’t mind a little compromise…
“Therefore
put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness,
passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because
of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.” –Colossians
3:5-6
“But fornication and all
uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting
for saints.” –Ephesians 5:3
Lie:
It’s my body, I can do what I want with it.
“Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is
outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own
body. Or do you
not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from
God, and you are not your own? For
you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your
spirit, which are God’s.” -1 Corinthians 6:18-20
Lie: I can’t control my sex drive.
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should
abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should
know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
that no one should take advantage of and defraud
his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and
testified.” -1 Thessalonians 4:3-6
Lie: Looking at a few pornographic pictures won’t affect me.
“Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, nor let her allure
you with her eyelids.
For by means of a harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread; and an adulteress will prey upon his precious life. Can a man take fire to his bosom and his clothes not be burned?” –Proverbs 6:25-27
For by means of a harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread; and an adulteress will prey upon his precious life. Can a man take fire to his bosom and his clothes not be burned?” –Proverbs 6:25-27
“I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of
those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.”
–Psalm 101:3
Lie: I won’t experience any consequences for indulging in my lust.
“So then each of us
shall give account of himself to God.” –Romans 14:12
“For
whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son
whom He receives.”
–Hebrews
12:6
“Then, when desire has
conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth
death.” –James 1:15
Lie: People get away with adultery.
“For the lips of an
immoral woman drip honey,
and her mouth is
smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter
as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell.” –Proverbs 5:3-5
“Remove your way far
from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one; lest aliens be filled with
your wealth, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner;
and you mourn at last, when your flesh and your body are consumed.” –Proverbs 5:8-11
Lie: God is keeping something good from me.
“For a day in Your courts is
better than a thousand.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God
is a sun and shield;
the Lord
will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of
hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You!” –Psalm 84:10-12
Lie: The pleasure that lust promises is better and more real than God’s
pleasure.
“You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are
pleasures forevermore.” –Psalm 16:11
Lie: Fulfilling my lust will satisfy me.
“‘The Lord is my portion,’ says
my soul, ‘Therefore I hope in Him!’ The
Lord is good to
those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good
that one should hope and wait
quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” – Lamentations 3:24-26
“The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in
satisfaction; he will not be visited with
evil.” –Proverbs 19:23
Lie: Too much purity will keep me from seeing and enjoying beauty.
“Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” –Matthew
5:8
“For the Lord is righteous, He loves
righteousness; His countenance beholds the
upright.” –Psalm 11:7
“Your eyes will see
the King in His beauty; they will see the land that is very far off.”
–Isaiah 33:17
When I recognized what the lie was
that I believed; The pleasure that lust
promises is better and more real than God’s pleasure, that was when I really
recognized how ugly my sin was. And at that point, I was completely and utterly
ready to do whatever it took to remove this sin from my life, because I could
not let myself continue to live believing that my lust was more pleasurable
than the plans God had for me.
God showed me how that would
affect my later life, and how I had ruined a piece of me by my sin. He showed
me that one day, when a guy came along asking to court or marry me, that I
would have to tell that man that a piece of my purity was lost forever. I was
going to have to tell him “I was more interested in indulging in the lusts of
the flesh for my own pleasure than I was in saving all of my purity for you.” (You
will have to stick around till the final dare to figure out how that part of
the story ended up) That and other things that God showed me were incredibly painful to realize, but it
was very much needed. That was just so despicable, that when I really saw the
whole ugly truth I wept incredibly hard. Only once in my entire life have I
cried harder or longer than I did that night when I read and discovered that
lie.
And Psalm 16:11 has been my sword
ever since. I said it over and over and over again at night, when I was in bed
and the temptations were more than I could fathom. I put it as my background on
my computer so that every time I opened my computer, it was right there. I
wrote it on my hand, my arm, and on pieces of paper all over my bedroom wall. I
needed that truth each and every day to battle the lusts and the flesh. It was
incredibly impactful in my life. But only after I picked up that sword of the
Spirit was I and have I been able to really fight and win the battle.
“And take the helmet of
salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” –Ephesians 6:17
Today’s Dare
Take your time to read through the list above and pray
through it, asking that God might truly reveal your lie to you. Do not look
away until God has really had the chance to show you how ugly it is. Take the
Sword and use the truth of the word of God to fight that battle with all the
strength that God gives you. Do everything you possibly can to take that
scripture to memory and to heart, that it might always be sharpened and
cleaned, ready to go out into the foray of battle.
The Lust Dare: Day #6
The Lust Dare: Day #7
The Lust Dare: Day #8
The Lust Dare: Day #9
The Lust Dare: Day #10
The Lust Dare: Day #11
The Lust Dare: Day #12
The Lust Dare: Day #14
The Lust Dare: Day #15
The Lust Dare: Day #16
The Lust Dare: Day #17
The Lust Dare: Day #18
The Lust Dare: Day #19
The Lust Dare: Day #20
The Lust Dare: Day #21
The Lust Dare: Day #22
The Lust Dare: Day #23
The Lust Dare: Day #24
The Lust Dare: Day #25
The Lust Dare: Day #26
The Lust Dare: Day #27
The Lust Dare: Day #28
The Lust Dare: Day #29
The Lust Dare: Day #30
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