One of the greatest weapons in Satan’s arsenal happens to attack one of the greatest weaknesses of a man. I’ve met few men (including myself) that have not acknowledged the war of sexual temptation that is waged day in and day out. It is a war of wars, it rarely takes a day off, it pursues us like a heat-seeking missile, and it is merciless when an opportunity presents itself.
After I trusted Christ as my Savior and Lord, I was amazed at how quickly my speech changed, how quickly my friends changed, and how quickly the interest to drink a 12-pack on a Friday night vanished. But one very noticeable desire remained – the desire for a woman. The war was on and even though I’m married to a wonderful bride that has not deterred my adversary one bit unfortunately. He still brings it any way he can, always looking for new angles to try and take me down. He will not stop.
God in his grace and marvelous wisdom brought me to a very key place in the war. It was a place that I believe every man MUST arrive at or he will go down extremely hard. It is the place where a man very definitively draws a line in the sand. It’s a moment where a man accepts the reality that the war will always be there therefore, there is not a moment where he arrives and says, “I’ve beat it. It’s over. I can get on with life” That is insane and is accompanied by failure. Well intentioned yes but failure lurks right around the corner.
The line in the sand moment I’m getting at here is when a man does what Daniel did in Babylon as a teenager when he was surrounded by gross paganism and ungodliness:
Dan 1:8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
Daniel had a made-up mind that defilement was not an option for him. Paganism was not going away, ungodliness was not going away but neither was Daniel’s conviction. He had drawn a line in the sand. The late Dr. Adrian Rogers used to say, “One big decision takes care of a lot of little decisions.” A man who fails to purpose in heart that he will not defile himself, will defile himself.
There are two promises I can make regarding your tomorrow, the sun will rise and you will be sexually tempted as a man and that will be true six weeks from now as well. What it comes down to is have you drawn a line in the sand that says I WILL NOT DEFILE MYSELF? Have you determined, “It doesn’t matter what the enemy throws at me, I will not cross that line even if it kills me.”
A man who fails to do this is hopeless in his hotel room on a business trip. A man who fails to do this is a sitting duck while surfing the internet while his wife is visiting her parents for the weekend. A man who fails to do this will entertain flirtatious attention that advances to adultery.
The mind must be made up before the moment of attack arrives and when a man has drawn a line, it doesn’t not matter what/who comes his way, the response is premeditated.
Men will read this and agree but wonder how does a man draw a line like that and stick to it? The answer is fairly simple but the problem is application. Men will read the answer given and blow it off before finishing the answer but here it is nonetheless:
Psa 119:9 BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. 10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. 11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
A man must feed on the Word of God. It is that simple. Listen, bondage only needs one condition to exist: REJECTION AND DISOBEDIENCE TO THE WORD OF GOD!Jesus said, And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. So if a man is enslaved to any device of Satan, it has to be a result of not taking heed to God’s Word, hiding it in his heart which makes him free.
I’m not saying it’s easy but when that line is drawn and reinforced daily, it gets easier.
Have you drawn the line?
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