The lust of the flesh is the invisible force that produces sin as its outward manifestation. Lust is an intense human desire, often irresistible, to do what God has commanded us not to do. In this article, we will describe the meaning of “lust”, the flesh, and the lust of the flesh. We will conclude the article with a few steps to take to break free from this evil controlling influence.
Related posts:
Overcoming lust.
God talks about sex: drink water out of your own cistern.
Table of contents
Lust of the flesh— lust
In very simple language, lust is desire gone wrong. It is a strong craving or evil desire, often but not limited to sexual desire. I should point out right here that our human desires in themselves are not evil. I found out that many believers make the mistake of thinking that our desires in themselves are evil. The fallen human nature is corrupted by sin, but aside from sin, God made us and gave us thoughts, desires, feeling, imagination, and the power to make decisions. These things in themselves are not evil. It is not wrong to desire something. In fact the Lord Himself says
Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart (Ps. 37:4 KJV)
He promises to give us the desires of our hearts if we delight ourselves in Him.
Lust is sin using our desires against us to meet its purposes in our lives. There are two key characteristics of lust that distinguishes it from the pure, natural desires the Lord gives us:
- It is an evil desire. Lust is used in the scriptures to describe evil desires just as hunger and thirst are used to describe a holy longing and desire for God.
- It comes with an overwhelming power and is almost irresistible. Lust comes with a passion that is unparalleled and almost impossible to defeat. It ensures you will do what it commands you to do. You probably know how it feels when our hearts are lusting after something. It almost feel as if we do not get what we desire, we will cease to exist. The sad part is that almost universally, after we get what we lusted after, we find that it fails to satisfy us completely and durably as we thought it would.
Lust of the flesh—the flesh
The second part of the lust of the flesh is the flesh. If you have ever wondered what the worst enemy of the believer in Christ is, here it is—the flesh. You might have thought that sin or Satan is our worst enemy. Well, you were close, but there is a closer enemy to our life of victory and spiritual prosperity than sin or Satan because it is part of us. The worst enemies are not those from outside but from inside. So, what is the flesh?
It will certainly require volumes for us to completely discuss what the flesh really is so I will condense the salient features that are key to the understanding of our subject. I will present the flesh in two parts: natural and spiritual.
1. The natural
The flesh is the natural aspect of man, as man is created with both a spiritual and a natural part. This aspect has no direct relationship with sin. It is simply the natural part of man that is needed to allow us to function on the earth. Man is essentially a spirit and lives in the body through his soul. Since God made the earth for flesh and blood to inhabit, the human spirit can only live on the earth through the body. The real man, that is the spirit man, therefore interacts with the natural world through the flesh, that is through the body and its senses. You are able to read this post because you have eyes that are able to see physical light. That is the natural aspect of the flesh. By extension, it will mean natural human abilities, the five human senses, and the body.
The arm of the flesh refers to human abilities as the Prophet Jeremiah spoke
Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD (Jer. 17:5 KJV)
When we trust in our own strength or abilities or in others, we are trusting in the arm of the flesh.
Many believers do not yet see this potentially catastrophic aspect of the flesh because they are solely focused on the fact that the flesh is exclusively sinful. One of the greatest obstacles that we can put in God’s way is trying to do spiritual things by our own strength, that is, by the flesh. That might include trying to live the Christian life or even run a ministry by our own strength.
2. The spiritual
Just as our desires mentioned above, the flesh is humanity gone wrong. It is first and foremost the natural part of man as mentioned above, but there is a spiritual power or nature that came alive within fallen man that is the power behind sin. The Apostle Paul says
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do (Rom. 7:18-19 KJV).
He was caught in a vicious cycle with something quite powerful that is part of him and compelled him to commit sin. This is the spiritual side of the flesh. It is certainly of spiritual nature but has its natural roots in the natural aspects of the flesh. The reason why the flesh is so subtle is that it is part of you. It is not some external thing but part of the earthly makeup of the naturally fallen humanity. The only time you will be totally free of the flesh will be when this fallen earthly body is completely replaced by a spiritual body in the resurrection.
Read more: what is the flesh?
What then is the lust of the flesh?
If you put together lust and flesh briefly discussed above, you will immediately see what the Lord is wanting to communicate to you. Lust is a strong evil desire, and the flesh is a natural aspect of man that has been corrupted by sinful nature. The lust of the flesh is sin in the flesh using strong desires for evil to make humans do evil and commit sin. A classic example is sexual lust. Once that desire is there, it takes the Holy Spirit to destroy it otherwise it will almost always get that person to do what it wants. The flesh, with its lusts, is the mother of all sin.
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (Jas. 1:14-15 KJV)
Lust becomes pregnant and gives birth to sin as its mother! So what is the father? Well, lust in itself is not sin in most cases except in situations such as covetousness when the desire itself is the sin. It only becomes a sin if it succeeds to get the person to do what it wants him or her to do. For example, if it is sexual lust, it might compel that person to seek to satisfy that lust by engaging in ungodly sexual encounters or watch pornography. Lust is always evil and will produce sin.
Overcoming lust
It is possible to overcome lust as a believer. We have all struggled with the lust of some kind at some point in time. In fact, you might even be struggling with it right now. We all understand the struggle of Apostle Paul with the flesh in Romans 7 below
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin (Rom. 7:24-25 KJV)
He called himself a “wretched man” in the state of living in the flesh because of the inner struggles and battles with a power to do evil that he finds himself helplessly controlled by. But he did to end in this place of inner struggles. He continued to thank the Lord Jesus Christ because he found a new life, a higher life that is above the power of lust and the flesh. He says in Romans 8:1-2 below:
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Rom. 8:1-2 KJV)
As a believer in Christ, he says the life of the Spirit is your ticket to freedom from lust and the flesh. The unsaved can struggle sometimes to refrain from doing the compulsions of their lustful feelings but eradicating that lust from the heart of a man is a completely different issue altogether. Lust can stay in a man’s heart for as long as it takes to get what it wants.
The Apostle continues to expound on this ticket to a life higher than lust and the flesh in the letter to the Galatians and said
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16 KJV)
So how do I get free from the power of lust and the flesh? I will break it down into three very easy-to-understand steps.
The destruction of the spiritual sinful nature
This is what is called the death of the old man, crucified with Christ. The “old man” is sinful nature and is the spiritual power behind the flesh in our lives to produce sin while we were unsaved.
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin (Rom. 6:6 KJV)
When you received Christ, the old man in you was crucified. The flesh, that old man of sin, the corrupted human spirit, was crucified with Christ and a new you, the new man, was recreated by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Cor. 5:17 KJV)
Your way to freedom from lust is the new creation through the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The human nature is so terribly gone wrong that the only thing God would do to remedy the situation is to recreate a new man.
So if the flesh was crucified when I received Christ and got saved, why am I still struggling with the flesh today as if I am not born again? If you understand the two aspects of the flesh discussed above and their relationship to each other, then you will easily see why the flesh is still a problem after we are saved. The old man that was crucified is referring to the spirit man, the spiritual. However, the flesh has its seat in the body and its natural senses, including the desires and feelings, and therefore cannot be completely eradicated as long as you are still living in this natural, fallen human body. It can be compared to a train that has the power to the engine turned off but still in full motion forward as though nothing has happened. The spiritual power of the flesh was forever put to rest by the new birth. However, the wagons of the train of the flesh, that is this fallen human body with its senses and our soulish cravings, are still there and if given the opportunity, they will do what they are always looking forward to doing, that is, compelling the person with evil desires to commit sin. So what should we do as believers in the meantime while we are still living in the body? Well, God has a plan for this phase on the earth while we wait for the resurrection with our new bodies. It is called mortifying the flesh by the power of the Spirit.
Mortifying the flesh
The Apostle Paul continues to teach us that
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Rom. 8:13 KJV)
He says you should mortify the flesh. To mortify the deeds of the flesh means to put to death the deeds of the flesh, by not giving in to their cravings. For the believer in Christ, this simply means using the power of the Holy Spirit to say no to the desires of the flesh and refusing what it demands. It takes the Holy Spirit to say no to the flesh and succeed. Holiness and righteousness in our lifestyle is not just an issue of sincerity with God or making a decision to do so. It is much more an issue of power or ability to do so. A man may be sincere but lack the ability to do what they know is right to do. The Holy Spirit gives the believer in Christ the power to say no, a privilege which the unsaved do not have.
The Spirit does not end with “saying no” but continues to give you the power to completely eradicate lust from your heart. Saying “no” to lust is not enough. We must completely remove it from our hearts. Keeping lust in the heart while constantly refraining to do the evil it compels you to do can be compared to hiding a pile of burning coals in the basement of your house and going upstairs to relax in your recliner! Lust in the heart will find a way to express itself. It may take 25 years or more for it to do so. Yes, it is possible to keep sexual lust in the heart for that long, and then when it finally finds an opportunity, it will surely take delight in expressing itself. Falling into sexual sin is hardly incidental or accidental. It is often a fulfillment of a long-standing, nurtured lustful desire that might have taken months or years to develop. Lust in the heart is simply sin waiting to happen! The Spirit wants you to enjoy life by having not only an outward life free from sin but an inward life from lust.
The Word of God is heavenly soap and water to wash the human heart from impurities. While you wait for the heavenly body when Jesus returns, we must continually wash our hearts and cleanse it by the Spirit through the Word. If you are struggling with lust, put God’s soap into your heart and allow it to do its thing. Stop fighting the lust. Rather, put God’s Word into your heart and watch the Spirit at work.
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (Jn. 17:17 KJV)
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (Eph. 5:26 KJV)
If you are silently dying inside with lust and have nowhere to turn to, I have just given you God’s secret to clean your heart. Lusts will not go away because you are a Christian. It will be washed and cleaned by the Spirit through the sanctifying power of His Word. It is possible to not only mortify the deeds of the flesh but to guard your heart diligently and protect it from lust.
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life (Prov. 4:23 KJV)
If you give lust an opportunity, it will gladly come and make its home in your heart, waiting to become pregnant and deliver sin! We must always be on the guard as long as we are still here in this earthly body.
There is a price to pay for a clean heart. It is not a billion dollars. It is feeding on the Word of God constantly and fellowshipping with the Spirit in prayer. Do you remember what I wrote above, that it takes the Spirit to overcome lust and the flesh? Well, this is how you prepare your heart to do so, by His Word and prayer.
As we prepare and strengthen our hearts spiritually, it becomes easier and more natural to us to say no to the flesh and yes to the Spirit’s leadership. This is the dilemma of most believers. They have been taught to not give in to the desires of the flesh, but they are still screaming like Apostle Paul in Romans 7 who finds himself doing what he does not want to do but unable to do what he wants to do.
For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I (Rom. 7:15 KJV)
You need the Holy Spirit. Religion will not do it. Church will not do it. Being a “good Christian” will not do it. Avoid the temptation of loving the Lord but dying in silence inside with all sorts of evil desires and feelings. Some Christians have concluded that it is just not possible to have a life free of sin or of lustful thoughts and feelings. They read Romans chapter 6 that talks about our freedom from sin and their experience tell them that cannot be true. And they get support from many other Christians that gives credence to their experience and they recline silently within thinking that is how all other Christians are struggling. They feel those who say they are experiencing the life of the Spirit are probably faking it or some spiritual fraud. The Lord knows that as Lord as we continue to live in this natural body, the temptations to sin will continue and we will sometimes commit sin in what we do and say. He has made ample provisions for our ongoing forgiveness and cleansing when we do. But living a daily life of sin and the lust of the flesh is a different issue altogether.
I always remember going through an inner struggle with immoral thoughts in my early years of the faith. I said to myself that it is truly not possible to live with a pure mind free of such impure thoughts. Boy, I was so wrong! Fast-forward 1 year after I said that God had unveiled His Word to me and so washed my mind as I spend hours meditating on the Word that I had a hard time figuring out the last time I struggled with the same impure thoughts. I had also watched few pornographic scenes on TV that were plaguing my mind again and again and I did not know how to get rid of them. Thank God for heavenly soap water! My mind was so cleansed by the power of the Word that those things were stories of the past. Why am I saying this? To assure you that your faith in Christ is not fake. The Word of God works. You can be from the deeds of flesh as well as the inner battles within with lustful desires and feelings. The worst thing we can do is to try to ignore lust in the heart and continue as though it is not there. You can be sure it will continue to grow and look for an opportunity to express itself, even if that takes 50 years!!
Do the hard work and get God’s Word into your heart and watch the wonders of the operation of the Holy Spirit.
If you do not sow to your spirit in the Word and prayer, do not expect to muster any spiritual strength from the Spirit.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting (Gal. 6:8 KJV)
The ultimate destruction of the flesh
The final straw that will forever eliminate the flesh is the redemption of our bodies at the resurrection. What a glorious day that will be, when this fallen body will be completely replaced by a spiritual and heavenly body. The flesh will never be remembered again, praise the Lord! But until that day, mortify the deeds of the flesh by walking in the Spirit!
Related posts:
The lips of a forbidden woman.
God talks about sex: drink water out of your own cistern.
Who is a carnal christian?
What are the works of the flesh?
Free Mini E-book: From Spiritual Dryness to Flourishing
Dr. Oben, in the last comment i failed to mention that the article was very well thought out and comprehensive and easy to understand. It was a blessing. Can you also write on the Lust of the eyes and Pride of life?
i am a 74 years old retired pastor but i have struggled all my life with this unseen but deadly enemy. Even now I get tempted sometimes, but praise the Lord, by His grace now I consider myself a victorious Christian pilgrim on my way to the celestial city. Prayer and meditation on the Word of God is a must to defeat the enemy but what I found most helpful in overcoming the enemy is walking and living in the spirit – Galatians 5:16-17; 25.
Amen, thank you Rev.Dr. Langu for sharing those encouraging and insightful words!
Hallelujah 🙋
Christ set me free with this.
I’ve been dealing with alot of lustful desires. One of it is binge watching of movies. My question is, What can I do about that? After being immersed in the word, can I still be watching movie(maybe once in two days?)
Hello Emmanuel. Thank you for sharing those encouraging words to see how the Word has freed you.
That is an important question, and the answer is not straightforward. We must use God’s wisdom and allow the Spirit to guide us. Let me share my own experience with movies. I discovered a long time ago that movies profoundly impacted my mind and thoughts, especially sexual scenes. I could not handle the stress on my mind and the impure thoughts injected into it. For that reason, I stopped watching mainstream movies. I carefully select the movies I watch with my family. Don’t tempt yourself when dealing with lust and struggling to get free. None of us has proven to be so strong to resist lust on our own, and fueling lust in your mind only to try to fight it later is going down a dangerous road. If watching movies defiles your mind, I will encourage you to give it up and only watch selected family-friendly Christian movies. Trying to watch those that pollute your mind once in a while is like telling someone who is struggling with alcohol to try to drink only once in a while. Experience has shown that we are not that strong. One drink will often lead to another and then to another. If someone wants to break free from alcohol, the advice is simple: never drink.
Please let me know if there are still any questions or issues you need guidance with.
god bless you, i came here on accident because of a phrase i heard off a show i was watching called “friends” the phrase was “lust of the flesh” and i got curious by what that meant.. a moment later here i am almost feeling as if you wrote this specifically for me, thank you truly.. youve given me a better understanding then i could ever hoped for.
Praise the Lord! Thank you for sharing that with me. Blessings
Am so blessed by this teaching. God bless and increase you In wisdom
Praise the Lord, glad to read that it was a blessing to you. Thank you too for those kind words!
Am blessed
Amen!
Wonderful teaching! Clear teaching . This gave me much clarity. And with that clarity, it gave me direction. Thank you Brother Patrick. May God richly bless your socks off!! ☺️ Through this , the Lord reminded me of a scripture that goes along with the washing and regeneration of the word. It’s Malachi 3:2- But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth?
For he is like a refiners’ fire and a FULLERS’ SOAP.
Praise the Lord! Thank you for sharing those encouraging words. Blessings.
James 1:14-15 When he say sin will bring fore death. What does that part mean? because no matter if you an faithful Christian or unsaved unbeilever, your gonna die someday anyways so I’m trying to see what that means?
Hi Cose. There are at least three ways in which the Bible uses the word death. First, physical death, the one you are referring to above. Yes, all of us will die except those who will be alive when Jesus comes. The second most important death is eternal death which is when someone goes to the lake of fire and forever lost and separated from God. Everyone who is not saved be thrown there. Those who believe in Christ are saved from this death. The third kind of death is spiritual death. It is experiences of bad things here on earth. Eg disease is death while health is life. When someone is depressed, it is death. Joy for example is life. When we live in the flesh, we live in death. Sin produces all the types of deaths mentioned above. In James 1:14-15, spiritual death is most likely in view here, but the Lord warns us that living in sin can land us in eternal death.
This study was very helpful to me.
Thank-you
Amen, pleased to know. Thanks you for visiting and leaving a feedback.
Thank you Sir for this, God bless you.
My pleasure. Blessings
Nobody is perfect in this life, Patrick. Even you are not sinless.
Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment John. Curious to know what part of this article raised the thought about being perfect in life. The intent of this article has nothing to do with perfection sinlessness. Based on your comment, God is certainly mistaken not understanding that humanity is imperfect for Him to say to us:“For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13, ESV). He certainly knows the flesh is not weak and not perfect that is why He has given you the Spirit, if you are a christian. Walking in the Spirit is not about sinlessness or perfection. It is knowing the Father, being in fellowship with Him and enjoying the sweet privilege of being let by His Spirit in your daily live. I left such manner of thinking a long time ago, being concerned about perfection or sinlessness. And the Lord has never thrown me away or be concerned that I am not perfect. Rather, I have learned to enjoy His presence, walk with Him daily, living by His Spirit, asking for forgiveness and cleansing when I sin and looking forward to the day that the flesh will be taken away and a new body from heaven will be given to me. But until then, please take a step forward ahead of disposition of thought and move on to the better things He has for you. Blessings
Thanks for this write-up on the flesh and sin. It has blessed me greatly.
Amen!
Thank you so much. I’m really blessed by your post. Thank you Jesus.
You are welcome Iphie.Thank you for the feedback. Glad to know the Word was a blessing to you.
Good morning Pastor. Thanks a lot for this vivid and detailed teaching on what the lust of the flesh is all about and how one can obtain freedom from it. Please can a life of sanctification enable a believer in Christ have and maintain a permanent victory over the lust of the flesh according to 2 Corinthians 6: 14 – 18; 1 Thessalonians 4:3,4; and chapter 5:22-24
Hello Festus, that is 100% correct! The Spirit of the Lord is able to sanctify us, keep us separate from the defilements and lusts of the world every single day. Our devotional a few days ago dealt with sanctification and will be insightful to you. Blessings
https://patrickoben.com/what-is-sanctification/
I needed to read that, have been struggling with the need to be a sexually active through pornography. Have allowed myself to think that it is acceptable and not sinful. I googled, advice on steering clear of the lust of the flesh. I will stay in the Word. Always communicate with Jesus, without vane repetitions, being forever faithful as He us with us. He has a Love for us that surpasses human logic. Thank you so much, will be 50 on the 25th of November. God is good, Stay Blessed.
Thank you for sharing that experience with me. I am so glad the Lord is helping you through this with His Word and His Spirit. I will be praying for you that His Spirit will bring to completion that wonderful work He has started in you.
Pastor Oben, I am in the process of reading and studying your article on The Lust of the Flesh and came to this section.
He called himself “wretched man” in the state of living in the flesh because of the inner struggles and battles with a power to do evil that he finds himself helplessly controlled by. But he did to end there, he continued to thank the Lord Jesus Christ because he found a new life, a higher life that is above the power of lust and the flesh. He says
I am sure it was just an oversight but could you please tell me the complete sentence beginning with But he did to end there, he continued to thank the Lord Jesus Christ. . . What did you mean to say by (But he did to end there, . . .?)
Brenda, thank you for the bringing his to my attention. Yes, there was a problem with the sentence blurring its clarity and I have fixed that. The Apostle Paul was struggling with the flesh but he did not end in this place of struggles. He moved on to find a higher and blessed life in Christ. It is the life of the Spirit that every believer has been blessed with….Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have any questions regarding the article. Blessings.
Please I’m having a problem concentrating even while studying the word of God as both impure thoughts come through my mind,I curse Satan in my mind,I curse people in my mind without knowing,I try to replace them all to no avail,they say it’s depression don’t know what to do anymore
Chi, thanks for visiting our and site. Glad you found the article helpful. I have good news for you. You can have a clean mind. You mind is currently like a dirty piece of cloth. If you take it and wash it with soap and water, it will be clean, so clean you will like to put it on! The soap and water are free. The Word of God is the soap and water. You apply that soap by meditating on the word constantly, decidedly and relentlessly. It will do the cleaning for you, without any struggle. The only struggle you will have is to give God’s Word time in your mind. That’s the hard part. If you can make up your mind to allow the Spirit time to clean your mind by the Word by constantly meditating on the Word, you will enjoy the blessings of a pure a clean mind. It is possible, only by the working of the Spirit through the Word of God. Take a moment to read this devotional carefully
https://patrickoben.com/impure-thoughts/
Blessings
very helpful article to help me fight the temptatioms of tje flesh. thank you sir
Hello Hopeto. Praise the Lord that was helpful to you! Thank you for sharing.
Blessings
Patrick: Your article addresses many of my questions satisfactotily.
However, there is one question I’m afraid it doesn’t address to my complete satisfaction. I am posting it in the following words:
If we accept the biblical claim that all that God created (including the body of every male creature that He forms within the womb) was and is good (or something that we should never be ashamed of), then how can we make sense out of the regret, remorse, post-orgasmic & post-ejaculation shame that some men experience when they engage in self-gratifying sexual activities not involving any body or image of any body outside of their very own bodies?
In other words, How can one justly refer to one’s self-gratification and indulgence in the sights (including mirrored, still and moving images), sounds, and feelings or sexual arousals of one’s own body parts and no one else’s as “the lust of the flesh” (or as “sinful”)?
Hello Robert, thank you for the comment and your thoughtful question. I am glad you found the article helpful in addressing many of your questions satisfactorily.
Yes, the Bible teaches us God created the body. Two key facts need to be understood along with this biblical claim as you mentioned to address this question.
1. The Body was originally created by God, including its sexual organs and the pleasures that come with it. It gives us a glimpse into the original intention of God to give man the best of the delights on the earth, in every form, including the gratification from really good and tasty food. The same God who created the body defined how it was to be used. The Bible has taught us that God designed sex, with the use of the sexual organs in the context of a husband and his wife. He made our bodies, and give us His purpose. Man has the freewill to do with his body even the things God has not designed him for. This is the beginning of our troubles. Adam and Eve had the freewill to eat the fruit, and found themselves in the shame, guilt, fear and death which was the consequences of their own choice. “Self-gratifying sexual activities” are not part of God’s design for our bodies or our sexuality. Just as in all things, whenever we step out of those boundaries, we cannot but deal with the consequences of living against God’s Word.
2. The second important point to establish here is that we are living in a sin-broken world. Jesus had redeemed us but our bodies are not yet redeemed and so still subject under the powerful influences of sin. Please note the difference between lust and sexual desire. Desire is a gift from God. However, desire corrupted by sin is what is called lust. When a man is dealing with lust, it will show itself in different ways. The bigger picture for someone dealing with sexual activities outside of God’s design is not just the activities. It is the desires, the corrupted desires called lust, which is most important to God. Making a behavioural change to stop the activities without dealing with the lust will only create frustration and despair. In this broken world where we are still living, the Word of God is the only means by which a man can clean his heart from lust. A man watching pornography, for example, will say it is just watching movies and not engaging with sex with anyone else. However, the devastating effects of pornography cannot be hidden. There is something in that man that drives the pornographic behaviour. That is lust. The world does not know how to clean people’s hearts from lust. That is God’s desire. Your heart is most important to him because that is what produces any behaviour outwardly.
Lust is a big problem. Whenever it is present, it will make people do things that will produce shame, guilt, fear, etc. It is one of those things that is impossible for us to do. Sin in any form will bring its baggage with it. God’s bigger picture is not trying to teach people how to behave, or what is right or wrong. He is after the hearts of people because that is where right or wrong come from. Blessings.
Wow! You have given this subject of how to conquet lust such a thorough writing! I’m a 64 yr old widow and never have i read on this subject put so succinctly ! Thank you for you candor your diligence and your ministry. Praising Him for you💗
Praise the Lord Kathy! So glad to read what His Word is doing in you. Thank you for those kind words.
When the Word of God becomes as important to us as our next breath we will certainly be on the way to experiencing daily victory over things that drag us down. Apologizing for or confessing our sins is certainly appropriate but I have recognized that He gives us the power to stand in obedience to Him. The victory and all the praise is His alone!
Thanks Pastor
Well said, thank you for sharing Bob!
Praise the Lord. This article is very useful. Dear pastor has given the answer also. But the difficulty in my case is how to meditate or feed my mind continually by the word of God as advised in this article
Daniel, I am glad to know you have been blessed by this post and you have an interest in feeding on the Word of God.A habit of feeding consistently on the Word of God will certainly change your life forever. You can be sure about that so it is a really good thing you are wanting to know how to do so. Please read this articles
1. The devotional life
https://patrickoben.com/daily-devotional-life-1/
2. How to meditate on the Word
https://patrickoben.com/how-to-meditate-on-the-word/
3. What is spiritual food
https://patrickoben.com/what-is-spiritual-food/
4. Spiritual hunger
https://patrickoben.com/what-is-spiritual-hunger/
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any more questions about this.
I also do a Live Bible Study every Thursday at 7:30PM CST( GMT-5) on our Facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/gloryandgraceministries/
You can watch prior teaching videos here which will bless your life
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVKGlwUvaCCRfMSxYweLQXA
Blessings