Lesson 21: Warring Against our Flesh - Praying God’s Word

Testimonies of Freedom

Anthony's Testimony

The principles in the Purity Boot Camp course are essential to fighting against the temptations of all sin, not just in the sexual arena.  Most of all, these are effective principles because they are rooted in the truth of the Scriptures.  By washing the cross, I was able to reconnect with my condition before God. Walking in the Spirit helped me to reestablish my walk with God.  My prayer life has taken a new shape. Lastly, it has been essential to me to establish some new patterns of behavior and thinking to create an effective battle plan of dealing with temptation when it comes. When I started this course, the overwhelming feeling I got was that my relationship with God needed an overhaul, and this began to take place a few days into the study.  I was not changed right away.  God did, however, slowly began to shift my focus from me to Him. At first, I did not make an effort to maintain daily contact with my mentor or complete the lessons.  However, when I began to be more consistent, I noticed little by little a transformation happening in my life.  I saw how coming to and staying at the foot of the cross is so necessary to remain close to God.  I needed daily reminders of my helpless condition in my sin. Pornography, self-gratification, and immoral fantasies had wreaked havoc on my walk with God.  These sinful activities prevented any intimacy with God and kept me from seeing God's amazing work in my life and the lives of others. Then I began to wash at the cross, and  I began to see Jesus instead of myself.  I was reminded of the great sacrifice that Jesus made, and my heart began to soften toward the message of the cross.  I began to see the need to stay at the foot of the cross, to not think of myself more highly than I ought to, but consider Jesus and the great love He has for me so that I could turn from the sin that hindered me. I spent so much time over the years in sin, 35 of them as a disciple of Jesus.  I had to realize that while I did not have the answers myself as to how to get free from sexual sin, God did.  God designed the nature of His relationship to us for reconciliation to Him through the cross.  He knew I would need it and offered help freely to come back to Him. Over the past few weeks, I have been much more in tune with the Spirit's will for my life.  I have been reading and meditating more on the Scriptures than I have in the past.   My faith still needs a lot of work.  I still need to meditate more and more on the Word of God and live by the truth that it reveals to me. For the past six months, I have not seen any porn.  I have not attempted to view it and have been open when the temptations to do so came.  This represents a significant shift in my behavior patterns.  I used to view pornography on my phone habitually during the day; I was so out of control that I would even watch it while driving.  It took me to some of the darkest places, but now, it is no longer a burning temptation in my heart and mind. Of any of the changes that have occurred over the past couple of months, though, the most essential change is that my relationship with God has been renewed.  This has had the most impact on my life.  I wake up in the morning desiring time with God.  For a long time, my priority in the morning was to go to the gym at 4:45, then go straight to work.  I would lie to myself, telling myself that I would spend time later in the Scriptures and praying.  Of course, this would never happen.  I may be a little less fit physically than when I first started taking my spiritual life more seriously, but I am in a much better place spiritually. I appreciated more than anything how deep-rooted the lessons were in scriptural truths.  The power of the Word of God to change the heart supersedes any program man can devise.