my life. Immediately I lost the desire for alcohol, I stopped swearing,
and other sinful desires gradually disappeared the more I read,
meditated on, and spoke the Word of God over my life.
However, there was one area of sin that didn’t go away as
easily. I struggled with lust and was addicted to pornography. I had
periods of freedom, but after time gravitated back to it. At the end of
a four-day fast on May 6, 1985, I was set free from the stronghold of
pornography and lust. By His grace, I’m still free today.
However, once I was set free from pornography’s grip, I
still had to resist the desire to engage. Prior to May 6, I seemingly
couldn’t resist with any success. After May 6, I could resist, but I
had to cooperate with grace to fight off the urge to look at
pornography. Its power over me was broken after fasting and intense
prayer, but I still had to steadfastly resist the desire.
Over time, as I continued to pray and allow God’s Word to
saturate my mind, I noticed that my desires had changed. I no longer
had to make myself turn away from pornography; rather, I was repulsed
by it. God’s grace had changed me thoroughly from the inside out. The
writer of Hebrews describes this blessedness:
“For everyone who continues to feed on milk is obviously
inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness (of
conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action), for he
is a mere infant [not able to talk yet]! But solid food is for
full-grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to
discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and
what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law.” (5:13-14, AMP)
I realized that God’s Word had brought my senses and
mental faculties into alignment with His desires and thoughts. Holiness
is to think, talk, and live as He does. The flesh can be trained, but
it loves habitual patterns. Just as it can be trained in
unrighteousness, it also can be trained in righteousness. We can take
dominion over our mind and flesh through the power of grace. Our flesh
responds to what it is fed.
His grace is more than enough to set you free from any sin!
Marked by boldness and passion, John Bevere
delivers uncompromising truth through his award-winning curriculum and
best-selling books now available in over sixty languages. His newest
book is Extraordinary: The Life You’re Meant to Live. More information is available at www.ExtraordinaryOnline.org.
