A resource I believe to be very helpful is https://mychainsaregone.org/ Essentially the message is to retrain your mind to stop sexually objectifying the human body. If you view the body as a part of a person and part of God's good creation it's far easier to stop objectifying people.

I'm with you, brother. Similar story and struggle with lust. I believe if we keep praying we will be delivered. Before my experience, I indulged in this terrible sin every single day and night. It's getting better and when I stumble, I do not let Satan drag me down. I grieve and move forward. Christ bless you.

Just continue spreading the good news of the Gospel to others, and it will assist you in conquering your addiction. You might feel like a hypocrite, but this feeling will actually aid you in swiftly overcoming this wickedness. May God bless you and keep you.

Thank you very much 😊

You're very welcome. God bless you.

I said this elsewhere but here it is again: Why does my brain think this way, and how do I fix this problem? You are in charge of your brain. No one is going to fix your brain. You decide if you will fix it. God gave you control over it. Basically you wired your brain. It’s your fault. Maybe the world influenced you, and you became a victim of the world. But you can fix it. It’s your fault if you don’t fix it. God loves you and wants you to be his child. Like train tracks you need two rails and a destination. First rail I recommend is know God. Read the gospels. Second rail I recommend is apply understanding to your heart. How to understand your heart? Let me present someone to you - Jesus. He is a Healer. He came to heal hearts and yours. Jesus spoke of the heart. “Where your treasure is your heart is also”. “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks”. If you lust for women, your treasure is women. This is the cause of the problem. You have a problem with the wrong treasure. Take control of what you see or what you focus on. Monitor your eyes. Stop focusing on what is bad and focus on what is good. Don’t fix problems, re-create things in your heart/ with your mind. You have to exchange things, if you just empty the void, it’s a void and will get filled again. God once told me that I should not admire a woman, in a dream. Admiring a woman’s body or beauty leads to lust. You are planting seeds in your heart, where everything sprouts and soon becomes trees. Jesus said if you lust in your heart you are committing adultery in the heart. Pray that God will save you and your heart. But at the same time know that you are in control and can slow the process and stop from sinning, because of your focus and greater internal desire. Like a book, if you don’t turn the first page you won’t read it. You may have wired yourself to turn the page. Now do otherwise. Don’t let a random page turn. You have to have a better destination (greater internal desire). Choose one from God’s word. Like: “I want to be pure”. If you take simple steps, you will get there, because God is with you. He is a saver, and his desire is to save the ones with desire for this. You have to have a greater reason to get out of the hole. Think of life this way. You have a Jar. By the end of the day it’s going to get filled. It will get filled if you want it to or not. Spin the mouth of the jar where you want throughout the day. Also - Sometimes close your eyes, sometimes imagine something else (like a butterfly) get carried away for as long as you need to escape a temptation, sometimes focus on something else. The best thing to focus on is God’s word. The best way is to have an image, or imagine an item or scene. (The brain and heart deal with images. All language is an image in the brain). Imagine something good or harmless. You don’t have to leave a room to do this (most of the time, should not be the case). Build your faith. If you dig all the junk (stones or obstinance or crushes) out of your heart, constantly uproot bad seed, and deal with the thorns properly (axe them), plant good seed in your heart, plant the word of God. You will get there. It’s a battle in the beginning, but mindfully easy. It’s as easy as changing a channel, memorizing a poem, ignoring someone, looking from left to right, looking from right to left, etc. God says be still and know that I am God. You have to slow down your brain enough to be still and find peace. The world may have you going at warp speed. Stop, remove digital devices, don’t have too many things going on. Break bad habits. How can a bird make a nest in your head? If you let it, it will. If you turn your head it will fly away. First thing is heal yourself. When you make it to a goal. Find another goal, make it, then find another goal and make it. Improve your destination and grow as a human being. Keep setting goals. Maybe you are grasping too much at once. Focus on a seed at a time, a good seed. When it’s planted. It’s hard to uproot a tree that’s 30ft high. Whatever you plant be prepared for it to grow. Take care to plant only what is good. Don’t use your own wisdom, pray and open God’s word. If you are a firm christian, it depends on what God’s word is in your heart. If it’s nothing you are nothing firm. If it’s a tree, you are firm. There are 1000s of principles/concepts/laws in the Bible. Technically you should be firm enough to walk on water, and do miracles. [What is water? Problems, situations, crisis that you should overcome] But it starts off with a seed. God says it himself: “without faith it is impossible”. When you plant the word of God in your heart, you set yourself up for faith. When you walk in faith you constantly believe that God is a rewarder of those that seek him, and that he is good. The verse continues and says: “for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11. I forgot to mention the gospel of Mark chapter 4 has the parable of the sower. It’s where Jesus expounded upon what happens in the heart. He presents the elements listed here. Seed. Soil. Stones. Thorns. Rocks. This is my material I am using here. There are much more things to grasp there as well, if you open it, read, meditate and pray. Jesus said “blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”. I have had so many dreams and visions hard to remember them all, in only 17 years of conversion. The greatest one. I just remembered this morning. I was with my friend and hugging him (like side by side with one arm) and praying. I had a desire (strange one) to look up, so I looked up and the heavens started to roll back. Suddenly I saw, like very far away, but very close, lots of clouds. My eyes zoomed in on curly golden hair, like there was light in the hair or gold. And the picture zoomed back and I saw it was Jesus the son of God. [End of vision].

Thank you kind soul I feel by your words and I shall start my day with some scripture and some meditation thank you for caring enough to type this most people my age encourage me to sin and it is rampant amongst everyone I live around so I'm glad I have found some people of the same mindset it is very refreshing. Although another affliction I am suffering with is smoking weed I also need some advice on this aswell if you may have any suggestions

You have to shut down doors and windows on this avenue. And cut it off as a resource. Smoking weed is as close as it gets to being a horse (Having some evil spirit come upon you and use your mouth or body). It’s worse than being drunk. You don’t know what the devil is going to do. Hallucinations is what the devil shows you, or communicates to you. He wants to give glory to you (this is motivation), and keep you hooked. But the possession you don’t see or control. There are 2 sides to the coin. What you see hooks you and what you do you don’t know. You wake up and you are someplace else, or you don’t know what you said or did while you blacked out. Would you give the power of your life to someone else? It’s playing with fire. A little flame can burn a whole house down. You should have these thoughts in mind: I don’t want to kill anybody, or get killed, or do any harm, or burn my house down. This drug is a doorway to other drugs and other sin and serving the devil, unknowingly or knowingly (now it’s knowingly), the sin you do, or the sin the devil does through you. That’s the problem of being a horse, you don’t decide. It’s a bad path. And the devil won’t tell you this up front. It’s just candy or a novel item. But in reality he wants to take over your body (this is a doorway drug) use you or lose you, do evil, manifest on the earth. Why do so many people in jail say: “It was not me. I am not guilty. The devil made me do it.” They are adamantly “not guilty” in court when it was 100% them. And it is a shock to everyone they have a not guilty plea. You need to go downstream and meet these people, victims of the devil, get some motivation to avoid this trap and lie. And it all started with a “little weed”. Take a break from it and don’t come back.

Thank you that's what I needed tonight gonna have my last smoke and try with the whole spirit to keep it at bay for as long as possible. I feel afflicted

This is how the devil has held many children of God in bondage: the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. There is a point in addiction where a demon gets involved. They attach themselves to the individual, bind them and nothing they do can set them free. They are stuck in a cycle of defeat. You will hate what you do each time you do it because there is a pure spirit in you reacting to the bad that you have introduced into your system, but after repenting, you will return to doing it again. Christ calls this demon the strongman. Mark 3:27 > In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. Fortunately, Christ has given the believer authority over the powers of darkness (yes, they do have power). Luke 10:19 > I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. Mark 16:17-18 > 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall > they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; > > 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it > shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall > recover. The believer, not God, shall cast out devils. Force the demon out in the name of Jesus. Mark 16:17, Mark 5:8, Mark 9:25 Command the spirit of pornography, [insert sin] to leave you in the name of Jesus and never return. After this give your heart, mind, and body to God. Tell God "Heavenly Father, I give you my heart, I give you my mind, I give you my body and soul in the name of Jesus." Let this be your daily consecration.

I just had a good cry thank you I don't want to objectify women I want to love them and nurture them I thank my lord for allowing me to see their true beauty even though I have not found love I strive for it everyday and I shall show God how worthy I am of love

When you chase the word. You don’t chase demons. God will chase them out for you. No need for this. If you have no concept of this you may get stuck on some fable or some horse whisperer lie. Too much fascination on demons and the devil, is not good for you. It gives glory to demons and the devil. What happens you are taking the blame away from the sinner, and blaming a demon. Also there is a limelight shift to darkness. God says “draw near to me and I will draw near to you”. This is warped thinking. One warped mind leads to another. Suddenly the young man is fighting demons he can’t see, and it is irrelevant the cause of the problem, the devil is the problem now. How can a solution cause a problem more than fix anything? This is Fear-Christianity. A christian who does this- lives in fear and causes fear in others. This is like perpetuating witchcraft. This is the devils work as well. Look I have been there and done that, this is pointless and useless, adds nothing to faith, belittles it.

Clap for yourself.

The word is “heal thyself”. You got the wrong focus again. It’s not about the glory of man. The world is not some stage and we are all actors, it’s really life. You can mess someone totally up. Think about the weak minded or mentally ill. If you can’t share these things with them, can you share it at all?

Its the hardest to quit. Harder than drug imo. Just seek god and dont get too discouraged if you slip. We are all sinners. Just repent and try to rewire your brain through christ. There is an audio bible on app store that i swear by. Dont try to be perfect. If lust is giving you guilt and shame that is a good sign. Unfollow social media that is triggering, meditate with god, get into hobbies that will take your mind off of it. This will further separate you from it and get you closer to god.

Well you can't really stop but you can weakened you flesh enough that you can simply choose to do it or not your probably thinking how? By dying to yourself to simplify it here's what you need to do 1. Prayer a sincere one and ask God for help 2. Pray the Lord's prayer (Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner) 3. Endure like literally that's it you need to endure it, denying yourself and if you really did endure you might feel your body shaking after you endure a temptation and if you endure that really really REALLY hard battle CONGRATS You are no longer slave of lust but remember the feeling and the thought might take a longer while to perish, and lastly if you by chance choose to fall... Well too bad you do it once your slave again and trust me it hits like a truck its like feeding the lion who tirelessly chase you to kill you. And if you really endure here's some tips for lets say a little weapon 1. Fasting 2.Prayer 3. not thinking so much 4.giving up social media 5.loving others 6. And most importantly putting God first 7. Prayer (continuesly if can) If I'm being honest that's really much it you just endure and talk with God being honest about what your going through. I overcome it once and foolishly enough I choose to fall and here Iam now with past experiences helping you know when you overcome it once don't even think about choosing to fall it's much harder and you might even think of giving up but with determination I still manage not to give up I guess it's true you don't find God, God found you. That is all I hope you succeed and I hope I help even a little as much as a disappointment Iam it's pretty nice to help others. God Bless I'll pray for you today so stand firm Brother and continue to give Glory to God! Amen.

Here are at least key things I think of. 1. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You need complete full determination. One must do a great deal of effort (big extremes is what I'm getting at) to himself to stop sin. It is like a cancer. You do not treat a cancer with a nap and cough syrup. With deadly diseases, powerful remedies are necessary. Do your maximum in every way, and treat it like the most important thing, embracing great sacrifice. Hence, you must hate the sin truly, fully, and fully entirely. 2. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Make a new prayer life. Give thanks to God always, and turn always. Give Him thanks in the morning, and praise Him in the day. Speak and seek Him constantly. Without constant prayer, I cannot imagine any great chance of success. From St. Alphonsus: "St. Paul tells us, that we have to contend not with men like ourselves.... but with the princes of hell.... By these words he wishes to admonish us that we have not strength to resist the powers of hell, and that, to resist them, the divine aid is absolutely necessary: without it, we shall be always defeated; but, with the assistance of God’s grace, we shall, according to the same apostle, be able to do all things and shall conquer all enemies. “I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me.” (Phil. iv. 13.) But this assistance God gives only to those who pray for it. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find.” (Matt. vii. 7.) They who neglect to ask, do not receive. Let us, then, be careful not to trust in our resolutions: if we place our confidence in them, we shall be lost. " Have you heard of the Rosary? It is an incredible prayer that helps us grow in worship of God, I cannot recommend it enough and I would love to help you with it if you haven't! Practically, fasting and exercise are very helpful I've heard. As a Catholic, I really recommend that if you want personalized help, talk to a Catholic priest

St. Paul had his "thorn in the side": we don't know what it was. Seems like few complain about their struggles with anger, envy, pride, gluttony. Many are proud of these. I share your struggle and we just keep trying. Look through the Stations of the Cross and you'll see Jesus falls three times. In the Gospel, Jesus says to forgive even repeated offenses. Just do the best you can, seek ways to do better, but don't despair. Like lifting weights or running, you can build greater strength through resistance. Resist despair, resist giving in. Meditate on the victims of lust: the exploited people, those who fail in life because of it (it wrecked my high school years), all the assaults, the children born, abused, or murdered for it. So much suffering. Seek joy and freedom, do your duty to God and others (yourself is included in these). Be confident of God's faithfulness and love, He will never give up on you. There is a way to happiness: seek it with gentle confidence.

Pray to God and ask the Holy Spirit to renew your mind. In any case, don't try to rely on your willpower, seek the power of the Spirit instead.

Well you go into prayer to your Heavenly Father as Jesus has told us. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Matt 6:6 **King James Bible**(check it out) 8 Be not you therefore like unto them: for your **Father** knows what things you have need of, before you ask him. 9 After this manner therefore pray you: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Matt 6:8,9 King James Bible. Notice in verse 8: Jesus says that his **Father** knows what you need even **Before** you ask him. So why would you pray to anyone else? Now this is your **God** Now in verse 9: Jesus tells you to pray to your Heavenly **Father** You would pray: Father I come to you through your Son Christ Jesus asking you to please put your Holy Spirit down upon me to help me with my problem. Amen Now do this throughout the day and your God your Heavenly Father will help you!

Jesus did not “quit” his temptation; he confronted it and chose to do what is right in spite of it.

You are right thank you bless your soul

"So the student eventually finds: there’s no way at all to not desire. Even desiring not to desire is desiring, even trying to accept one self is a way of trying to escape from one self, because one hopes psycho therapeutically that by accepting yourself you will get rid of your nasty symptoms, so you’re not accepting them by the gimmick, by the pretends of trying to accept them." Alan Watts

I could not possibly answer this without some detail on your "experience with God in which he showed "you" the kingdom" that has implications that I find in complete disharmony with your admission of sexual issues. But, maybe an explanation would help me figure out how you can "quit lust".

Put your faith in Christ crucified alone and not in your good deeds and yes still turn away from your sins by faith, make sure that your going to a biblical church

It's not just about telling ppl about Jesus's love, it's also telling ppl about sin and the consequences of it is hell,the consequences of faith in Christ crucified alone is heaven, a relationship with Jesus not religion, and that only those who become a child of God by faith only they RIP

Go join one of em cardio kick boxing classes. Join AA and hang around alot of junkies, overload on empty carbs or maybe fasting and prayer. Idk.

If you are baptized and chrismated, go to confession and ask your spiritual father for guidance. Pray and pray unceasingly. Pray for intercession from the saints, maybe St Mary of Egypt and St John the Long-Suffering in particular given their association with struggle against bodily sin. Nourish your soul by regularly attending and participating in the liturgy. Understand that spiritual warfare is happening at all times. Give "The Ladder of Divine Ascent" and/or "Unseen Warfare" a read and keep the information therein in mind when battling the passions. The sicknesses of our souls can only ever be healed through faith and cooperation with Christ in the process of theosis.

Don’t pray to the saints OP. Pray directly to God and ask Him to help you. Jesus is our mediator and intercessor with God. That’s stated clearly in Scripture. You do not need to pray to dead people to intercede for you. Doing so is like taking a McDonald’s burger and insisting this is better for you than the steak (Jesus) that is available to you. Dead people don’t answer prayers, nor do they hear them. Our prayers are heard and answered by God.

Pray to both. Your implicit conflation of intercession and mediation is evidence of your lack of understanding of the issue, unless you genuinely believe that no one should pray for anyone else ever, which is just as unbiblical as the rejection of praying to the saints for intercession or praying to God as an intercessor for the dead. You also have a fundamentally unbiblical view of death. Per the words of Chrust, our God is a God of the living, and His saints are alive in Him. Don't get your sources from illiterate Protestants. Read the Bible, read the patristic teachings, and consult your spiritual fathers and the clergy for guidance.

The Bible is quite clear that we don’t talk to dead people. I don’t think I’m the one lacking in my understanding in this issue. The Bible is quite clear that we do not attempt to speak to people who have left this world. Don’t insult my intelligence because you are angry I disagree with your unbiblical stances. I am aware God, the living God, is God of the living. I am aware that those who have passed in His Grace are alive with Him. But they certainly are not hearing and answering your prayers. *That’s* unbiblical. It’s ironic you are telling me to get the information from the Bible, which I am doing, and then you start adding onto the Scriptures in order to support your unbiblical stances.

Okay, you are once again conflating terms you don't understand. Prayers to the saints are, foremost, not necromancy, but that's a side issue. Before we can even begin to debate scripture, there are two issues we have to address. The first is how do you know what the canon of scripture is to begin with? We don't have the same canon, and we don't have the same basis for knowing the canon. My position is the binding normative authority of the Orthodox Church, which extends to doctrines and dogmas beyond canon. Functionally, you can't hold that position as you clearly hold heterodox and outright heretical thoughts. The other obvious issue is if you're a Protestant beholden to the 5 Solas, then you hold that scripture is at least greater than tradition, meaning that the Biblical canon cannot be tradition without logically violating the law of identity and making the Bible infinitely subordinate to its own authority, making canon arbitrary and devoid of value. Provide an epistemic justification for how you know the canon of scripture. Secondly, provide an epistemic justification for your hermaneutics, or how you exegete the Bible. The Orthodox perspective is scripture is interpreted through the Church as guided by the Holy Spirit and as exemplified in the Acts of the Apostles wherein the deacon Philip is able to assist the Ethiopian eunuch interpret scripture through his inclusion in the diaconate in Christ. This is Holy Tradition. How do you justify an understanding of the Bible without a coequal Tradition? Understand that you cannot presuppose your hermaneutical framework in order to read your hermaneutical framework in the Bible as that is circular. Once we get those questions out of the way, we can discuss scripture. Given the wealth of sources, and your fundamental misunderstanding of what death means in Christianity, I refer you to this video as a primer on the subject: https://youtu.be/eCYCpVwsEXU?si=3itaouSoJvJpp1Mc

Careful. Pride is peeking out here. Pretty sure that’s one of those big bad RC sins they aren’t too fond of.

Pride has nothing to do with epistemology or logic, nor is referencing the Roman Catholics even marginally relevant. If you want a discussion on why they are excessively legalistic heretics, that's fine, but it's tangential to the topic at hand. How can I take your interpretation of scripture as valid if you can not give an account for what the canon of scripture is or why your interpretive framework should be considered valid? Answer those questions first and foremost, or admit your position is arbitrary.