Lent 2025 – Prayers for Resolving Sexual Sin - Purity 1603

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I am M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. To see today's photo, go to mtforchrist.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter, or watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of the sun shining above the sea as its waves crash against a rock and leave a foamy remnant of an 'On an Unknown Shore' comes to us from your— from an unknown Facebook friend who shared the scene on social media back on March 19th, 2022. This memory is yours. Give us a heads up and we'll photo credit you on the blog after the fact. Well, it is Tuesday, and as we move together through the season of Lent, I have been fasting and thinking about what I could say on the blog to encourage those I reach to to encourage prayer and repentance. So I asked myself, what would people need to repent of? What sins could have, could have people tied up in chains of bondage that the Lord can free them of with prayer and repentance? All of them, of course. But before I, I was inspired to turn the blog in this direction this morning, I thought about some of my experiences in helping people to go to the Lord in prayer to be free of sexual sins. As someone who had a significant sexual problem with sexual immorality before getting set free in 2018, I know what, uh, that when some people think of passion, uh, they don't think about Jesus on the cross. They think about sex. They think about it a lot. Sexual thoughts lead to temptation and sin. Christ said to even look at a woman with lust was an act of adultery. And so sexual purity is important to the Lord. God doesn't want us to defile our minds or our bodies with sexual sin. He wants us to be free of sexual bondage, and he makes a way for us to do that with prayer and repentance. My experience, my experiences as a Community Freedom Ministry associate through Freedom in Christ Ministries, has taught me a method of prayerful repentance that the Lord can use to To Set the Captives Free, Dr. Neil Anderson's Steps to Freedom in Christ. So going forward, I'll be offering the prayers in this season of Lent from the Steps to Freedom in Christ as a means of prayer and repentance for this, for the season of Lent. I sort of said that backwards. And today I'm going to share Anderson's prayers for resolving sexual sin. I will be providing commentary on the podcast obviously while I read these. But yeah, on the blog I'm inviting people to watch the podcast anyway. You can also download these prayers as a free PDF download for the— on the blog today. So if you want a copy of the prayers, you can go to mtforchrist.com and find today's entry, and you'll find the link within the text of the, uh, the blog. Anyway, um, Dr. Neil Anderson writes, resolving sexual sin: it is our responsibility not to allow sin to reign or rule in our physical bodies. To avoid that, we must not use our bodies or another person's body as an instrument of unrighteousness. Sexual immorality is not only a sin against God, but it is a sin against your body, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Sex was intended by God to be the means for procreation and for the pleasure of a husband and wife. When marriage is consummated, they become one flesh. If we are sexually jo— if we sexually join our bodies to another person outside of marriage, we also become one flesh, which creates a spiritual bond between two people, leading to spiritual bondage, whether it is heterosexual or homosexual. Sexual relations between people of the same sex are explicitly forbidden by God, but so is sex with someone of the opposite sex who is not your spouse. And so we move on, um, to— and this is a form of listening prayer. So this first prayer, uh, basically we pray to let the Lord reveal to us a sexual sinner in our lives or in our past that we need to resolve. And so to find freedom from sexual bondage, begin by praying the following prayer aloud, which says, Dr.— Dr.— Dear Heavenly Father, I have allowed sin to reign in my mortal body. I ask you to bring to my mind every sexual use of my body as an instrument of unrighteousness so that I can renounce these sexual sins and break those sinful bondages. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. As the Lord brings to your mind every immoral sexual use of your body, whether it was done to you—rape, incest, sexual molestation—or willingly by you—pornography, masturbation, sexual immorality—renounce every experience as follows. So after you pray the first prayer, you listen for the—what the Lord has for you. You think about your sexual past and you make a list. You basically write down all the people you have had sex with, had any sexual contact with, you know, or had sexual obsessions with. Uh, in some cases, I've, I've, you know, some— in some cases when I sit down to do the Steps to Freedom in Christ with people, they won't have a large sexual history. They'll be like, well, I've only been with my wife. But, um, in some instances I've had men admit to having emotional affairs, you know, basically like pining away from someone and maybe committing acts of masturbation to that person for years and years and years, and like having a fantasy life about other women or whatever. And so when I direct them, uh, to think about, you know, to think about doing these prayers of repentance, I direct them to include those because the verbiage includes— it says physically, spiritually, physically, and emotionally that you are bonded to somebody. So if there's someone you have a sexual obsession with, they would— they could be poured into these prayers as well. And of course, any sexual acts, you know, from heavy petting to oral sex to whatever, just sex, or, you know, anything in between, um, that is in your sexual history, you can resolve and break the ties that bind you spiritually, physically, and emotionally to these people through these prayers. And so the process is you would pray the prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, I renounce Name the sexual experience, sex with, and then I'll say, you know, Barbara. I ask you to break that sinful bond with, you say the name of the person, Barbara, spiritually, physically, and emotionally. And you repeat that for each experience. So if you were on Gilligan's Island, it would be, I renounce the sexual fantasies I had about Ginger or Mary Ann. And then, you know, maybe Mrs. Howell, I don't know what your deal is. But you know, you— come on, it's a small island. Um, so you would go through the list of everybody in your sexual history and you would, you know, clean house. You'd go through that prayer, pray it completely for each person, and then after you're done, you move to the next section, which is— and maybe this will point things out— um, if you've used pornography, say the following prayer. So if you didn't have a sexual obsession about a particular person or whatever and you committed sexual immorality with masturbation, pornography, with or without the use of visual aids, you can say this prayer to take care of any masturbatory, you know, activity. And so you would pray: Dear Heavenly Father, I confess that I have looked at sexually suggestive and pornographic material for the purpose of stimulating myself sexually. I have attempted to satisfy my lustful desires and polluted my body, soul, and spirit. Thank you for cleansing me and for your forgiveness. I renounce any satanic bonds I have allowed in my life through the unrighteous use of my body and mind. Lord, I commit myself to destroy any objects in my possession that I have used for sexual stimulation and to turn away from all media that are associated with my sexual sin. I commit myself to the renewing of my mind and to think pure thoughts Fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may not carry out the desires of the flesh. In Jesus' name, amen. And you know, after you've prayed all that through, there should be a weight lifted off your body, mind, and spirit as you have come before the Lord in prayer to confess everything, uh, that you've done sexually, to break the ties that bind, to cut off the, the, the footholds and strongholds that the enemy might have in your life. And then you have to, you know, after you've finished, you got to commit yourself, your body, to God by praying the following prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, I renounce all these uses of my body as an instrument of unrighteousness, and I admit to any willful participation. I choose to present my physical body to you as an instrument of righteousness, a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to you. I choose to reserve the sexual use of my body for marriage only. I reject the devil's lie that my body is not clean, or that it is dirty, or in any way unacceptable to you as a result of my past sexual experiences. Lord, thank you that you have cleansed and forgiven me, and that you love and accept me just the way I am. Therefore, I choose now to accept myself and my body as clean in your eyes. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. And this is a key to your sexual freedom. You know, you have to break those ties that, you know, break the ties of the past sexual sin you have, um, you know, with people, without people, in your mind, with your body, you know, be it with a partner, um, or masturbation. And then you have to commit yourself to purity. And you might need accountability, uh, a program. There's, there's Pure Desires Ministries is one, you know, basically out there that helps men. I just, you know, there's a bunch actually. There's a bunch of different ministries and programs that you can sign up to, teachings and accountability groups that are out there, um, that can help you. The Conqueror Series is one that I went through after, after I got sexually pure. Um, but those are all resources out, you know, Christian resources to help you overcome sexual addiction are out there. And the Steps to Freedom in Christ prayers that we give today are a huge part of that. Um, John Eldredge has prayers out there too about sexual bondage that you can go through. So that's my recommendation, and I say amen. I was set free from bondage to sexual addiction through the power of God, repentance, and prayer. And a big part of getting set free was through breaking the soul ties I had to previous sexual partners and by dedicating my sexual life to the Lord with these prayers. During this season of Lent, we are to draw close to the Lord in prayer and repentance, and it is my hope that these prayers will help people to do that. Please share them. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section— well, yes, this morning's meditation verses come from the section— well, yeah, today's Bible verse. Yeah, today's Bible— I forget how I say it. Today's Bible verse is brought to us from from, uh, The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on loving and serving others. Uh, today they reference Matthew 25:34-40, but just share 35-36 that says, for I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was a stranger and you invited me into your home, I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me. Today's verses are the first of two passages of scripture that fall under the 12th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on loving and serving others. And that 12th point is: Attending to the needs of others is doing it for Christ. And today's Bible verses tell us that when we do acts of kindness to those in need, the Lord sees us, as Jesus puts his place with those who suffer. When we do good for others, it's as if we were doing it for the Lord himself. Not for nothing that these verses that we're sharing today were part of the reading yesterday for the Daily Catholic Mass. So I think we are tracking with the Spirit, um, Holy Spirit here. That's, that's what happens when you draw close to God. You run, run into the same passages of scripture, his word, everywhere you go. Coincidence? I don't think so. But another thing that happens when you draw close to God is that you develop a heart for the hurting and feel compelled to acts of service or kindness that— sorry, but it may be true— that just aren't like you. Um, you know, to do good? What are you, crazy? Anyway, um, when you allow God to direct your life, the Holy Spirit will give you opportunities to grow in your faith and will inspire you to act. So don't quench the Spirit. If you get an impulse to give or do an act of kindness, do it. When you— when we give of ourselves to help others, it's as if we're doing it for the Lord. And I believe that when we do that, the Lord uses our obedience to make us more like him. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mteamforchrist.com, where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Day by Day Along the Way by J.E. Adams. It's a 365-day devotional, and today's, uh, today we're on day 102. So where Adams shares 1 Thessalonians 1:3, which says, your work that comes from faith and labor that comes from love and endurance that comes from hope. And J.E. Adams writes, once again, Paul enumerates his trio of virtues when writing to the church of at Thessalonica. This series of faith, hope, and love is found also in 1 Corinthians, but where the Corinthian church lacked love, the Thessalonian believers needed hope. False ideas about the coming of Christ had shattered their hope for love for loved ones who had died. Because of this difference in the churches, Paul rearranged the order of these three virtues to fit each congregation. The series here reverses love and hope, placing the latter in this climactic point at the apex of the list. Interestingly as well, he shows what virtues each of these qualities produces. The phrase "comes from" occurring before each of these characteristics indicates the source of the preceding term. Faith leads to work. Love issues in labor. Endurance comes from hope. Without hope, people despair and give up. But hope, which in the Bible means expectation, enables one to endure hardships so as to be sustained over extended periods of time. True hope that is built upon the solid foundation of God's promises is the assurance that what God has promised is as certain as it is, as if it were history. Amen. And you have to have— you have to be expectant in our walk of faith. We have to be hopeful that the things will be hap— the things that we hope for will happen, will happen. The things that we're asking God for will come to pass. Things we're praying for will be answered. Now, will they always be? Uh, no, but, um, you know, we, we have to remember Romans 8:28, that God is working all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. And when we have that as our foundation to expect good things, um, you know, you'll be surprised. And if you're true to follow the Lord, like I said, a big part of our walk is committing ourselves to the Lord, um, You know, otherwise we're going to be in the sin-confess cycle, sin-confess cycle. That's just bondage. Like, oh, I did confess and now I went and go sin again, and why am I upset? Well, you didn't commit yourself to the Lord. And that is why we always ask the question, have you fully surrendered to God? It's the season of Lent. It's the time to draw close to the Lord in prayer and repentance, and we encourage you to do that um, with, and, and surrender your will, you know, to commit yourself to follow the Lord and him only and turn from your sins. Um, it's a pathway that leads to freedom, hope, and victory, and it's a marvelous journey to take. And it gives you not only hope but a meaning and a purpose for your life. And for me, part of my purpose is to serve, um, at Starpoint Church as, as the leader of, uh, the Celebrate Freedom support group. And we meet on Wednesdays at 6:30 PM in Upstate New York. So anybody in the Capital District is invited to come out and join our fellowship of Christian Recycle— Christian Recovery and Discipleship, um, where we teach how to walk in the Spirit to overcome your hurts, habits, and hangups, utilizing the teachings from Celebrate Recovery. And my vast knowledge, of course. Yikes. Anyway, beyond that, if you can't make it to our meetings locally, the good news is I'm sharing the teachings I share on— at Celebrate Freedom online with a series on YouTube called Christian Recovery Celebrate Freedom with M.t. Clark. And guess what? We just released 2 episodes this week because we have a condensed schedule, and I'm teaching these— well, we'll be presenting these, um, the lessons that we released last night together as one. So I had to do double duty to stay on track because I didn't want to have to play catch-up with what I do locally and what I do on the series. But anyway, the episodes we did last, last night, or released last night, were Spiritual Inventory Parts 1 and 2, and we invite you to check those out and the entire series on YouTube. Or the mtforchrist.com playlist page. Uh, let's see, um, and you'll— if you go to that playlist page, you'll find other teachings we've done, uh, through the years, uh, like from Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, uh, Celebrate Freedom Discipleship Course, a bunch of, uh, playlists and series that we've put out, um, basically on the blog to encourage, uh, in the podcast to encourage people to find or increase their freedom in Christ. And we hope you find yours today. Beyond that, we're hopeful to do The Grace Course online as a group study. It's The Grace Course by Steve Goss from Freedom in Christ Ministries. It's a book and video study, and if you register by March 25th, we'll have a class beginning on Tuesdays, 6:30 through 8:30. Um, and we'll be meeting Monday nights on Zoom to talk about, the lessons each week. There's 8 weeks, 8 lessons, so we're going to do 8 weeks of studies just to review the material on the Grace Course to help people understand what grace is and to hopefully have them experience God's grace. And beyond that, if you appreciate what we try to do here at the M.t. Clark Grace Community Freedom Ministry, we would appreciate your support. And you can go to m.t. clarkgrace.com, our donations page, to, uh, to give today., and we'd appreciate it. Beyond that, we always ask— we always end the episode by asking the same question again in a different way: Are you empty for Christ too? Does that mean— that means, have you fully surrendered to God? Are you— have you made yourself available for the Holy Spirit to live in your life and to guide you? So we say, great, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we encourage you to pray. Because I for one know that if you seek the Lord, you'll find him, and that if you pray, he will answer you. And that's why we pray every day, like right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for how you set people free when they come to you in prayer and repentance. Lord, thank you for the season of Lent to remind us that Well, it reminds us of your suffering, your, your, and your death, and your glorious resurrection, Lord, and that there's hope even in the most dire of circumstances because of you. And, uh, Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today, to open our eyes to the things you want us to see, to lead us in the way we should go, to help us, Lord. And while you're at it, Lord, we also pray for anyone reading, watching, or listening to this message today, that you come alongside them, their prayer requests, and their walk of faith too. We all need your help, Lord, and we're asking for it. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.