Ongoing Sin-Hardened Heart

Good afternoon. I posted a while ago about Hebrews 10:26. https://christianchat.com/bible-dis...cerned-about-hebrews-10-26-new-member.198577/. Thank you for all your thoughts and support on this. It did bring me comfort.
I have been doing better since then, actually having moments of peace and understanding, resting in Christ. I have really started to struggle with masturbation and lustful thoughts again. I can ignore it for a while, but eventually I'll do something that lets it grab ahold of me, and down I go. In the moment, I can't seem to do much to fight it. It seems that each time it happens, I become more lethargic toward God, which is really scaring me. I do struggle some with what 'deliberate sin' means. Is that having essentially no desire for it but doing it anyways, or failing temptation? Any thoughts on this and how to overcome this would be appreciated. I have a fear of being the seed on the stony soil.

The answer is always more Jesus, more prayer, more Scripture.

Your flesh, the devil, and this world is constantly going to attempt to tell you that your dead flesh is still alive.

They will never stop until you are in your glorified body. Paul calls our current body a “body of death”. His spirit hated that he did the things he didn’t want to do.

This is his solution to the temptations and attacks against him:


2 Corinthians 10:5
New King James Version


5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,


So when the tempting thought comes in your head, STOP 🛑! Ask Jesus to remove it from you.

This is NOT a one and done. The devil, the world, and your flesh will retreat, but they will be back. Just repeat the prayer. And the occurrences will be less and less.

Be blessed.

I quite agree with the above point of view,
You have to realize that it's a bad habit ,So must know that you must keep in mind about break the bad habit forever,
You just get used to this bad habit for a long time,current body a “body of death”,.
You have to develop the right habits for a time ,new body the body of Christ.

a time,meybe only need a day. meybe.....only a hour, meybe only a minute, meybe more short, but don't think that cast a very long time.

Remember it's only bad habit,
You should not get used to a bad habit.

It's not so hard to develop good habits.Trust in Jesus Christ helps you over come the bad habit.


Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.Proverbs 4:23

Be blessed.

Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only TRUE God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.

God loves you.

Believe God Loves you.

And stop worrying about this or that, ...because,... God loves you.

And, instead, just do your best to love your neighbor as yourself, because, in as much as you love your neighbor as yourself, you love God.

Masturbation does not defile you, just like eating when you're hungry doesn't defile you.

And you have not fallen on stony ground.

Hello @UnnamedConcerned, the wonderful thing to remember about our loving Abba (heavenly Father) is that because He loves us He is always for us (never against us).

I also believe that He is FAR more interested in having a relationship ~with~ us than He is in getting perfection ~from~ us (which makes perfect sense because knowing Him/being in a growing relationship with Him, is the only way that we can become more and more like Christ/more and more sanctified/less and less sinful .. e.g. 1 Corinthians 10:13; Philippians 1:6).

So just continue to follow these instructions (over and over and over again, as needed) and you'll be fine .. e.g. 1 John 1:9 cf 2 Corinthians 10:5; James 4:7. As theologian/pastor Arthur W. Pink once said,


I know that fighting off Satan's attacks (his flaming arrows .. Ephesians 6:10-17) is both hard to do and very wearying at times (because his attacks are often relentless), but steadfastly obeying the Lord's command in James 4:7 to , "resist the devil", will (finally) result in the fulfillment of the promise that goes along with that command, "and he will flee from you"

So, just keep hanging in there, and ~never~ let the devil convince you that one of his favorite lies is true (that a "real" Christian would never keep asking for forgiveness, because a "real" Christian wouldn't need to ). "Real" Christians sin, and real Christians seek forgiveness from God whenever we do (to honor and please Him, and for the restoration of the "joy" that being in a close relationship with Him brings to us ).

God bless you!

~Deut

UnnamedConcerned, you are not alone. We have all fought your battle, one way or another. I would highly recommend the book Every Man's Battle by Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker. Following Job (31:1) and "making a covenant with your eyes" is a powerful tool against temptation. The book is a bible based, no nonsense and IMHO a must read for any man who has struggled with sexual issues. The book fully embraces masculinity and male sexuality while providing tools and plans to fully honor God (and women) as He intended.