Secret fantasies, forbidden fruit
Dangerous seeds are taking root
Pleasant to the eyes, poison to the soul
Weeds and thorns are beginning to grow
"Victimless" lust, "harmless" sin
Persuasive words for many men
Selfish personal gratification
Spiritual, marital desecration
In the midst of the garden a tree of life
Nearby a lovely flower called a wife
But the flower struggles among the weeds
Of a man who does not account for his deeds
Thorns prick and pierce flower's tenderness
What a man does is his own business
Captivated by pretend ignoring the real
Not understanding what the flower may feel
Placing blame but avoiding responsibility
Man continues to lose his credibility
Sin separates as it always does
Unable to revive what once was
With trust destroyed intimacy is lost
Was it really worth the cost
Man watched and paid for just one hour
The serpent slithers over a fallen flower
What harm can there be in just one taste
The beautiful garden lies in waste
.....peace.....
There is a spiritual side to pornography.
Revelations 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
The door is the heart.
Ezekiel 8:8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.
9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.
10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.
Later on in Ezekiel 8 it talks of women weeping and men turning their backs on the sanctuary of the Lord. Not openly. Just in their hearts. What harm in a little imagination?
- Jeremiah 3:17
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.
- Jeremiah 7:24
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
- Jeremiah 9:14
But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
- Jeremiah 11:8
Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do: but they did them not.
- Jeremiah 13:10
This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
- Jeremiah 16:12
And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:
- Jeremiah 18:12
And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.
- Jeremiah 23:17
They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
Pornography is the devil in disguise.
E nemy
V ieled
I n
L ies
It is despicable, deplorable, destructive, and divisive.
But it is just pornography. The things I see do not affect my heart.
Lamentations 3:51a Mine eye affecteth mine heart...
Matthew 6:22-23
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
Okay, I have a little problem. A thorn in the flesh but I still love the Lord.
Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Your treasure has your heart. It is what you give your thoughts and time to. A christian addicted to pornography will devote more time viewing pornography than praying and reading the Word if they have the opportunity.
Okay, I have a big problem. It is bigger than me. I am defenseless against this.
1 Samuel 17 has the story of a problem too big. The problem's name was Goliath. Goliath openly defied and challenged the army of Israel. Everyone backed down in fear. Except one. This one did not have the skills, size, strength, or experience to face this defiant giant. But when he heard the challenge he stepped up while everyone else stepped down. As king Saul tried to dissuade young David with reasons why he could not do it David recalled other "impossible" situations from which GOD delivered (lion and the bear). David had no fear. And although it was not his reason for going to fight Goliath there was a reward for the one who defeated Goliath.
1 Samuel 17:25 And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.
As long as pornography is your problem it will be. It will rob you of the riches of GOD, destroy intimacy, and keep you in bondage (and those around you).
Is There Not A Cause?
Is there not one
who will challenge me?
Is there not one
who will come from their hiding?
I see your bibles
and your ornaments
I hear your words
but I see your life
Where is the champion
of righteousness?
Where is one
who will stand against me?
I see your fear
and watch you run
I see you hide
behind your light
Is there not one
who is willing to die?
Is there not one
who I can crucify?
I hate who you are
and who you serve
I have destroyed all
who have answered my call
Why do I bother with you
meaningless christians?
Why don't I accept that not one
really means what they say?
Is there not a cause?
Why do you flee?
Hear what he says
about the One we love
Yes, I am a child
Yes, you have been
a warrior for many years
Will you accept this challenge?
Why are you so angry with me?
What did I say wrong?
Is there not a cause?
I will go
I will silence this giant
Why do so many know what to do?
And yet not do what they know?
Wonderful advice,
beautiful strategies
But I have not time
to learn how to fight
Who is this one
who challenges my Love?
Who is this one
who puts fear in all?
My GOD will deliver
My GOD will win
I will fight you
HA!!! _ YOU???
Come, you puny, weak one
Is this the best GOD has?
I will rip you apart
Expose your heart and soul
All will see what becomes of the fool
who dares to challenge me
A hurting teen holds a bottle
of pills and contemplates
A needle sets "free"
from the unending pain
A lonely wife responds
to a stranger's invitation
A little child looks for food
while parents are too high
An inmate is trapped
by hatred and violence
The battlefield is covered
with the remains of ruined lives
And the laughter
of this champion of darkness
Armed with nothing but the Word and faith
I approach this vile creature
I reach into my heart
and lay hold of a truth
Truth solid as rock
and faith to launch it
Silence
Laughter stops
Advice from experts stops
Silence
A bewildered look
Blood flowing from his forehead
This enemy of righteousness
This champion of darkness falls
Wounded at your feet
lies the enemy of all you love
Quickly you take his large sword
and end the tyranny
Removing his helmet
you lift his severed head high
Only then do you recognize
the old creature
.....peace.....
Listen to these words from Psalms 19...
12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
We may not understand why we do what we do. But we know we need help.
Luke 11
11 Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?
12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
Lucas, a grandson my wife and I are raising, used to say "you" in place of "I". "You want to go to the park," he would say when he wanted to go to the park. He was told so often, "I love you" as he was growing up that he thought you meant him. It was kinda sad when other relatives finally taught him how to say it "correctly".
The scripture given about a son asking for a fish or egg reminds me of this. Children seldom ask for things they need. Unless children have changed an awful lot these past 2000 years a fish or egg would not be considered a good gift by a child.
"Fish," says the child. Everyone knows the child wants to eat fish. But his heavenly Father knows and loves His child. The Father gets out their stuff and together they walk to the lake. They pass the afternoon together as the child alternates between holding his pole, chasing butterflies, and asking deep theological questions like, "Do you love me as much as I love You?" Weary from a hard day of fishing the child crawls into His Father's lap and falls asleep. The Father once again carries His child home smiling at the precious little one in His arms.
We know our problem. GOD knows our heart. We want freedom from the problem. GOD wants to heal that part of us that succumbs again and again.
G od
R estoring
A nd
C leansing
E ntirely
The grace of GOD will take us where we cannot go, make us what we cannot be, and restore in us what sin took away. If we ask.
Matthew 7
7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it (the door) shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it (the door) shall be opened.
For every problem in life there is scripture. There are promises, personal, just for you, within it's pages. If you ask you will receive, if you seek you will find and if you knock a door shall open to victory.
One final thought...
Genesis 3
1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
satan will always twist the words of GOD and make sin look good. he will make it seem like we are being limited focusing on the little we are clearly not allowed. Pornography is a poor substitute for intimacy.
.....peace.....
further thoughts.....
When Jesus talked of looking at a woman with lust He followed it up with 'if your right eye offend thee pluck it out, if your right hand offend you cut it off."
His intention was not for a church full of Cyclops and lefties. The problem is not out there but in here, the heart. When I deal with the problem in my heart the problem out there gets much smaller (mote and beam, speck and log).
Holiness does not have a dress code.
It used to. The Pharisees had it all figured out. Essentially, holiness looked like they looked and acted like they acted.
But Jesus did not look like they looked or act like they acted.
The Pharisees pushed the common (profane) people away. Jesus walked among them, touched them, listened to them. Was this compromise or compassion?
[QUOTE] What exactly was beautiful in the woman that they brought before Christ? She was a sinner, lost in her sins and caught in them. [/QUOTE]
Her world fell apart and she found herself alone
When the crowd began to gather each person had a stone
Broken by their words her hope began to die
And then you have the nerve to ask me why
Her accusers saw her actions. She deserved to die.
Jesus saw beyond her actions and into her heart. He knew she was trapped in sin. She deserved a chance to live.
"Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see GOD."
"If you have done this to the least of these you have done it unto Me."
A pure heart will see need where others see fault
A pure heart will hold hands while others point fingers
A pure heart builds bridges while others build walls
When others walk away a pure heart lingers
Heart purity is received not achieved.
"The sacrifices of GOD are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O GOD, thou wilt not despise."
Those in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost were not the spiritual elite. They were broken people who had had the very foundation of what they believed destroyed. Defeated, afraid, for weeks they clung to a promise. They did not know when the promise would be fulfilled or how. It was into these broken and contrite hearts the Promise came.
Heart purity is something GOD works out of us not something we work in.
There is a verse in Proverbs that goes something like this...
"A good man falleth seven times and arises but the wicked fall into mischief."
We are never defeated as long as we keep coming back to the Cross. What we see as defeat GOD sees as a baby learning to walk.
.....peace.....
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