Trafficked: The Hidden Connection Of Pornography | Set Your Mind On The Spirit

Here is the devotional:

So we’ve spent the last few days speaking with truth, and now it’s time to add grace to this conversation. Men, we might be hard-wired to be visually stimulated, but we are more than conquerors through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 5: 20-21 says, “Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, Grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, Grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Are we in a spiritual battle? Yes

Do we have support? Yes

You and I have access to resources:

The Holy Spirit
God’s Word
Prayer (reach out to use at Uncommen)
Brothers in Christ
Your family
Devotions (like this one and the Delusion of Porn)
Organizations like Covenant Eyes, 611 Network, and Fight the New Drug
Software to install (Covenant Eyes)
Browser settings (set your browser to safe search to avoid R-rated images
Pureflix is a service that will scrub nudity from your video content before you see it
As with any addiction, it requires the person to make the first move and admit he has a problem. It’s going to require us to humble ourselves to receive the help we need. There should be no shame in this as we all struggle with something, and men struggle with lust.

Let’s rise up and take a stand against this industry by not taking part in it anymore. Let us bring our sin to the throne room of God and lay it at His feet. Let’s ask Him for forgiveness and change our ways.

If you feel alone in this area of your life, please don’t. Reach out to someone you trust and have a conversation with them about it. If you have a mentor, that would be a great person to speak with about this matter. Seeking Godly counsel around this would issue can be very beneficial in the long run. As with any change, there will be highs and lows, and you’ll need help to be consistent in your walk.

Encourage one another, support one another, and pray for one another.

Uncommen questions:

Where do you need help?
Do you have someone to speak to about this?
Uncommen challenge:

I challenge both you and me not to go through this alone. Pray daily, stay active, avoid weak areas, and focus on your wife if you are married.

Scripture reference: Roman 8:6

To learn more about Uncommen, please visit our website uncommen.org

Here are the scriptures referenced:

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Romans 8:6 KJV

Here are Stu’s thoughts:

This verse in Romans is such a strong verse.

To be carnally minded is death! This is how we were before we accepted Christ. Our thoughts and actions were all based on the flesh and the pleasures there of.

And part of that fleshly pleasure is sex. Let us all admit that sex is fun and great. But God designed sex to be within the boundaries of marriage. Because God designed sex to be the bonding mechanism to our spouse. Trust me when I say that having sex with someone is not just physical. It is a spiritual act as well.

When we satisfy our sexual desires outside the boundaries of marriage there are always repercussions.  

Guilt and shame are a killer. I promise they are.

One can go to church every Sunday and even preach every Sunday and be so spiritually dead it’s scary.

One can watch porn and masturbate to it once, twice or twenty times a day and then go to church on Sunday while putting on the face of “I’m ok” to the church but truly they are dead men walking.

A dead man walking around carrying so much guilt and shame that it’s hard to breath sometimes. I’ve been there. I know how it is.

But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Truer words have not been spoken. When one sets their mind on things above everything changes.

Dear person struggling with porn. come out of the closet to someone. Confess your struggle. Get rid of the guilt and shame. Be real, honest and truthful. Learn your triggers and avoid them like the plague. Get your life back. Live in peace!

Come to the Lord with an earnest desire to be set free and he will free you. But there will be things that you must do for your self. You will need to find someone to be accountable to. You will need to avoid certain movies, places, and areas in a store even.

Start each morning with create in me a clean heart Lord. Teach me to be the person you would have me to be. Show me how to truly live!

And if you fall 1,000 times and give in to temptation you ask for forgiveness and get back up for the 1,001 time and keep pushing forward. Freedom is not found overnight. God, I so wish it was. But it is found one choice at a time to not watch porn and give in to those selfish sexual desires.

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I will admit I was a little disappointed in this Bible Study. Only in the fact that it truly did not delve into what I thought it would have. Yes, it touched on the fact that porn is a contributor to sex trafficking. I mean lightly touched on it.

I guess I’m wanting someone to be real about how porn, like any adrenaline rush makes the user want more and then something greater and then greater. But I guess they feel that touching on it is sufficient. Like how the church talks about sex in general. They touch on it…just enough to say ok we have addressed it let’s move on.

It’s not something we can just simply move on. Sex and pornography are a MAJOR part of our culture today. And IF we the church do not talk openly about them both from a Godly perspective then…we’re doomed.