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The approach I keep reading about in dealing with Christians and sexual issues has been what I would call the "white knuckle approach." This approach says that if you try harder, discipline yourself more, that will give you victory over lustful thoughts and actions. Most of us have tried this approach. The question is, "How has it worked for you?" For me and many people I know, not very well.

Paul says in Colossians 2:20-23, "You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the evil powers of this world. So why do you keep on following rules of the world, such as, ‘Don’t handle, don’t eat, don’t touch.’ Such rules are mere human teaching about things that are gone as soon as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, humility, and severe bodily discipline. But they have no effect when it comes to conquering a person’s evil thoughts and desires." NLT

In my mind this is as plain as it gets. I have heard the illustration that lust is like a Sumo wrestler and you should starve it. If you starve it out, it will lose strength and then you will win the battle. Lust, to me, is more like a grizzly bear, starve it if you want but it just hibernates. When it re-appears again it will devour you if you don’t know how to kill it. Stop starving it and draw your sword and stab it. Kill it off! Yes it might be a long bloody battle, but with the sword of God’s Spirit it can be killed.

If you don’t believe that you can be free from lust, you believe a lie. You don’t manage sin; you die to it -- get free from it! Jesus produces inward change in us, not just the external defenses. "Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you have obeyed with all your heart the new teaching God has given you. Now you are free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness." Romans 6:17-18 NLT

If we don’t learn how to fight spiritually first against lust, we will always be tied to the white-knuckle (try harder) approach, which does not produce freedom.

There is some truth in the white-knuckle approach. There are times when we have to be disciplined and we have to run from and avoid sexual sin as stated by Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:18. These are defensive moves. But Paul gives us more than defense.

All of us know that we cannot win the game with just defense. We also need an offense. We have to learn how to fight in the spiritual world, using the power that Jesus has and allows us to use. Jesus won the game already. All we have to do is claim the victory. "Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was. Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin." Romans 6:5-7 NLT.

We represent Jesus in this world and He has given us freedom from sin. That means freedom from lust. "Sin is no longer your master, for you are no longer subject to the law, which enslaves you to sin. Instead, you are free by God’s grace." Romans 6:14 NLT. Trying harder and developing more discipline does not equal freedom. We must also learn and develop an offensive approach to lust.

In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 Paul goes on to tell us how we must learn to fight. "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." NIV

The battle is in our minds, not in the object that we are looking at or thinking about. If we just change what we look at, we miss the point. We must change how we think. We must use spiritual weapons, fight with the Truth, take thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. Battle offensively for our minds first, and then use the defensive strategies. "If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace." Romans 8:6 NLT

Our offensive plan that we taught in Lust Free Living is to learn to FIGHT SPIRITUALLY FIRST. Our offense is to fight with the truth of the Word of God, to renounce lies, accept truth and take every thought captive to Jesus. Draw our swords and fight in the spiritual realm and submit to the Holy Spirit in us.

We need good offensive and defensive strategies, both are needed. Don’t be fooled into thinking that having a defensive plan alone will win this battle. Attack the lies and the evil ones with the power in the authority of Jesus.

It is said that, "Lusting isn’t Satan tempting us, it’s really us giving in to our fleshly desires. We seek pleasure more than we seek a holy life with our Creator." If this is all we believe, we miss the issue again. Lust is both our fleshly desires and Satan using lustful thoughts to tempt us. If we learn to fight lust spiritually first in the battle for our minds, then it is a lot easier to have our fleshly desires submit to Jesus.

Freedom does not come from following the rules, it comes from Jesus as we allow Him to be ruler over everything in us. No matter how many rules we follow, they are just rules which "may seem wise because they require strong devotion, humility, and severe bodily discipline. But they have no effect when it comes to conquering a person’s evil thoughts and desires." Colossians 2:22-23 NLT

I want everyone to know that you can be free from lust. Purity is a battle that Jesus has already won for our minds. All we have to do is to step into His victory, be who we are in Christ. Galatians 5:1 says, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." NIV. In the New Living Translation it is stated like this, "So Christ has really set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law."

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 when he says, "But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, then the veil is taken away. Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom. And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more." NLT

"What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? (Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:31-39 NLT

Enjoy your freedom!

Lowell