5 Steps to Breaking Free from Porn _Joe Dallas (2)

offset the loss of the illegitimate rush you’ve been accustomed to getting
from using porn. Take a few minutes now to list some legitimate sources of
pleasure that fit your personality and interests.
2. In response to emotional wounds, if there is an ongoing hurt in your life you
haven’t resolved, now is a good time to talk it over with a pastor, spiritual
mentor, or counselor who bases his practice on biblical principles.
Thankfully, the modern church has been blessed with numerous women and
men well trained in the workings of the human mind and heart, and who
maintain a Biblically-centered approach to those problems. So the value of
a good counselor or therapist can’t be overemphasized. This is the time to
find someone who’ll help you know the parts of yourself you need to know,
and who’ll equip you to better address and resolve longstanding emotional
or relational problems. Don’t overlook this option; rather, take full
advantage of it. Locate, with the help of your pastor or trusted resource, a
Christian therapist or counselor. Be honest and open, explaining exactly
what causes the pain and who’s been involved. Be willing to explore the
options for correcting the problem or learn to forgive and let go.
3. In response to character problems, come clean to your accountability
partner (or group) about what yours are. Ask him to ask you weekly how
you’ve handled that problem area. Encourage him to give you honest
feedback when he sees that area creeping into your speech or behavior.
Above all, put the area of weakness before God, admitting your inability to
change it on your own. Ask Him to glorify Himself and His power by
displaying His strength through your weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
Prayer
Lord, I agree with what David said in Psalm 139: “You have searched me
and known me.” You know the effects my deliberate sin has had on my way of
thinking and feeling. You know the hurts in my heart that have been there for
years, sometimes in plain sight and sometimes hidden. And You surely know
my weaknesses—those parts of me that are so unlike You but so very human.
Everything within me stands before You. Slowly I’m learning to see what
You’ve seen all along—the good and the evil. Give me grace to face all of it
and not run away from hard truths. Help me believe all the more in Your love