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A Mental Blueprint for Persevering in Purity

It’s been my honor to join you for these past four days during this sacred time spent in God’s word. Until now, we’ve identified three lies that hinder us from pursuing biblical purity. It’s so important that we expose these lies—and any others—to get to the root of the fears that snare us. Then we can start an honest conversation with God about the lack of trust they represent. 

Now it’s time to embrace the purity mindset. This goes back to what we discussed on Day One: Renewing our minds with God’s word and matching up our behavior with our inner (renewed) thought-life. I’ve outlined some practical steps to do this using the acronym A.M.O.R., which is Spanish for “love.” Think of these four calls to action as a mental blueprint designed to keep you encouraged and motivated throughout your journey. It’s no magic formula, but it’s helped me and members of my online community keep lust in check. Let’s dive in.

The A of the A.M.O.R. blueprint is: “Admit when you’re tempted and confess when you’ve fallen.” Repentance here occurs either now as you begin your journey and later if or when you experience a setback. Starting out, we want to pray asking God to forgive our sexual immorality, confessing our weakness, and requesting that the Holy Spirit would empower us to resist temptation.

“God, I know it’s not your will that I [fill in the blank]. Please forgive me. My desire is to please you with my whole life. Please empower me by your Spirit to quit [you fill in the blank]. Help me to consider myself dead to it and please send the resources and accountability I need to honor you with my sexuality.”

I encourage you to also pray for God to protect you from temptation before you encounter it and during vulnerable moments as well. 

“God, everything inside of me wants to give in at this moment. Please help me! Instead of [fill in the blank], please help me to [alternative action].”

The M of our blueprint encourages us to “Make our relationship with Christ our first priority.” Throughout our journey, we have to weigh our decisions, carefully discerning what will bring us closer to Christ or create a wedge between us. I also encourage you to mentally rehearse saying “no” to enticing scenarios. This way when temptation rears its ugly head, your “no” muscle will be strong and resisting tempting situations will stay at the forefront of your mind.

Next, O is “Operate in the Spirit.” Making wise decisions becomes more natural when we practice living in the Spirit’s influence over us. This happens when we routinely practice spiritual habits such as scripture reading, meditation on God’s word, prayer, participating in the local church, and seeking accountability on a regular basis. 

Limiting the flesh’s influence over you is just another side of the same coin. You’ll have to consider what triggers your desires to indulge in sexual sin. This could be anything from the people you hang out with, the music you listen to, or your bedtime. 

I love the simplicity of this final part of our blueprint, because this is where so many of us get caught up. The R of our blueprint is “Repeat.” If you mess up, start over. After we experience a setback or relapse into sexual sin, we tend to do one of two things: 1) We overcomplicate repentance by torturing ourselves over our sin; or 2) We lose hope in our ability to change and press into that sin habit to a new extreme. Both reactions funnel us right back to square one, but those days are over. In the event that you fall into sexual sin, confess your sin in prayer, believe God’s word when it says that He forgives you, and learn from your failure. Scripture says that a just man may fall seven times, but He will get back up again (Proverbs 24:16). This number seven in Jesus’ culture symbolized “completion” and “fullness.” Even if you have completely blown it, if you remain persistent in your efforts to please Him, God is pleased with that. 

Sweet friend, as our time draws to an end, I want to remind you that God’s promises of freedom, forgiveness, and healing extend to you. You are not unwelcomed. Christ’s invites weak, prodigals like us into intimate relationship. When we runaway, He calls after us, reminding us that His gospel is enough to mend our wandering hearts. When we choose to exercise faith in God’s truth over the lies that 1) we are unforgivable, 2) we can’t change, and 3) Christ isn’t enough, we’re freed to walk in the marvelous path of freedom that leads us back to Christ. Enough running away. It's time to come home – for good.

Exercise for the day:

Download the printable of the A.M.O.R. mental blueprint, your cell phone lock screen, and all of worksheets for this plan by clicking here.  

Questions for Reflection:

When you consider your past efforts to come home to relationship with Christ, at which step in the A.M.O.R. blueprint did you usually find yourself stuck? How can you anticipate future challenges and practically prepare yourself to persevere through this blueprint?

I hope this plan encouraged you. Want more content like this? Learn more about my book, Come Home: A Redemptive Roadmap from Lust Back to Christ.