Overcome Porn: The 40 Day Challenge Sample

Day 18: Pleasure is not the enemy

God is not opposed to pleasure. He has filled this world with wonderful pleasures. One of the best ways we can combat pornography is by running toward the legitimate pleasures He has given us. By embracing God’s good gifts, over time porn will begin to lose its luster.

Just as pornography stirs up lustful cravings in us, the Holy Spirit is a source of new, holy cravings. Galatians 5 says we who have the Holy Spirit have the “desires of the Spirit” (5:17). God promises that when we “keep in step with the Spirit,” the lusts of the flesh that lead to sexual immorality, impurity, and sensuality will not have their way in us (5:16, 25). We can become new from the inside out.

1. We must walk in accountability. Accountability means allowing others access to your heart, motives, secret desires, dark thoughts, and sinful actions. We must confess our sins to each other, pray for each other, and encourage one another to live according to our true identity.
2. We must internalize Scripture. We need to renovate our thoughts according to the truths He has revealed, rejecting the lies pornography has fed us. We cannot claim to keep in step with God’s Spirit if we ignore or disobey the writings He inspired: the Scriptures. They are a gift of hope from the Spirit to us (Romans 15:4).
3. We must walk in pure pleasure, enjoying all that is honorable, pure, lovely, and excellent. Paul states that holy longings trump sinful longings (Galatians 5:17). The Spirit shares His own desires with us, changing us from the inside out. Neurologically speaking, porn has carved a pathway of pleasure in the mind, but we can carve new, holy pathways in the brain.
4. We must walk in our true identity. Adopted children already know and believe they are loved. We need to learn to relate to God as dearly loved adopted sons and daughters, believing that we belong to God and that our ties to sin are broken forever.
5. We must stir up the hope of righteousness. Walking in the Spirit is a lifetime journey, but as we keep in step with Him, we are promised that the desires of the flesh will not overwhelm us.