Porn Free With John BevereSample

What Do You Want?

A number of years ago, I had a friend who was addicted to smoking cigarettes. Despite knowing how bad the habit was for him, he would still find himself smoking four packs a day. For years, he prayed and asked God to set him free from it, but nothing changed.

Then, one day, he saw a friend in his church get instantly delivered from the same problem. 

My friend was so frustrated. 

Angry, he went to God and exclaimed, “I’ve been crying out to You for two years! Why haven’t You delivered me?!”

God spoke to him and said, “Because you still like it.”

He was stunned, overcome by the revelation that God couldn’t deliver him from something he still liked and desired. That’s because God will never override our free will. He repented, asking God to help him to stop desiring the very thing that kept him in bondage, and was instantly delivered. This man went from smoking four packs of cigarettes a day to none—and he’s been free till this day. 

Paul exhorts us, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9 NKJV). 

If you want to get free, you can’t be double-minded. You must passionately hate the sin you want to be free from. It was only when my heart began to break over how my struggle with porn was breaking God’s heart that I began walking in freedom. When I started to see my sin the way God sees it—for the destructive, damaging, detestable thing that it was—I hated it through and through. 

Pray that God would help you see your sin for what it is. Ask Him to help you hate it. When there is no part of you that still loves your sin, you’ll find it so much easier to let go of.