If you want to win the fight against pornography, (which lets be honest, most male believer are engaged in, if not all!) you need to get rid of as much temptation in your life as possible. Make your world around you as safe as you can. You need a safe haven at home not a battle field. As much as possible get rid of all access to pornography without making any excuses for why you need that access! If you struggle with looking at pornography on your internet phone, get rid of it without making excuses for why you need it. Be radical! Radical chains demand a radical breaking! I refuse to have a smart phone because I don’t want that temptation in my life. I keep a simple phone with no internet on it. Those internet phones, to some, can be like having pornography in their pocket that is there tempting them throughout each day! Now if it’s not a struggle for you then keep the thing and don’t worry about it. But if it is then you’re crazy to have it. You’re allowing weakness to have open access to your heart. You need to cut off every channel of weakness in order to gain any kind of strength in this area. You actually don’t need an internet phone as much as you think you do! I’m a full-time pastor who has lots of interactions with people locally and internationally and I get by without a smart phone just fine. 15 years ago we never had smart phones and we did alright. I think, for some, smartphones have become an idol in their life that they are not willing to give up even though its fuelling an addiction in their life that is destructive and distracting to their walk with God. If this is the case for you, why not take the time to pray about this very issue and see what God has to say.
Imagine a heroin addict walking around with a pocket full of heroin and telling himself he’s ok and just won’t have any. How long do you think he will last? Same with any kind of access you have to pornography that is a struggle for you. Get rid of video’s, magazines, pictures, TV channels, smartphones, tablets even your blessed computer if you have to if it’s a problem! Or at least put some controls on you computer, smartphone and tablet so you don’t have open access to everything. Some people say, “Well that’s like putting a law over your life that will just stir up sin”. It won’t if you’re born again! If you don’t have the access the less the temptation will be and the less likely you are going to struggle with it. I personally don’t allow myself to have open internet access to my computer or any computer in my life. I get my wife to put parental controls on all the computers and only she has the codes. I find the more you can cut off access the less you are tempted and the easier it is to walk in victory. If a heroin addict has a house full of heroin stashes that he knows about, he’s got no chance of choking the habit. None what so ever! But if he gets rid of all access to it he’s going to have a much better chance at overcoming.
I think we need to stop over spiritualising addiction. If your house and your pocket is full of temptation you can’t really blame the devil for it or anyone else! You also can’t expect God to wave some magic wand over you and make your sex drive go away so you don’t struggle with all that temptation you’re allowing yourself to have access to. If you want to walk in victory you need to do something about it. It starts with getting rid of as much temptation as you can. You can never fully eradicate all temptation from around you because it’s just so rampant everywhere you go but we also shouldn’t hide behind this excuse either. Hopefully in the times when you haven’t been able to eradicate all temptation then walking in the spirit and just simply fighting and resisting will carry you through!
Victory is up to you not anyone else. Not even God! He gives you the strength and weapons that you need and can use to live in the victory, but He doesn’t live your life for you. It starts with you! You have got to decide how desperately you want to walk in victory and what you are prepared to do to get that. The Holy Spirit will most certainly back you up and help you in this. I hope this helps some.
