Life is really lived moment by moment. As I sit back and look at my children sometimes I realize that this generation has a hard time with one thing: silence. I am the same way more often than I want to admit. Just think about it: how much time do we spend on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, and the internet in general? How many times do we look at our phones to check and see who has sent us a text? How much TV do we look at? When was the last time we shut everything down and enjoyed peace and quiet?
Why does it matter? Because we program ourselves to run from one thing to the next without thinking much about it. We are seeking constant mental stimulation because sometimes the silence is scarier than the noise. I mean after all what would we do…..if we had nothing to do? But here is the key to facing down the temptation to look at porn. The enemy gets us tripped up when we act on our impulses, urges, and temptations without pausing to consider what we are thinking of doing. When we don’t pause and consider, we forget the times that we did make the right choice and turned away from porn.
Prayer is powerful because it is the way to maintain a real and true relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Not pausing to consider means that we are not asking the one who has the power to help us…to help us. Satan’s power lies in his ability to make us believe lies about ourselves, God, and our circumstances. By pausing to consider, pausing to pray, and pausing to remember past victories we access God’s power to overcome the urges that come. Remember the temptations and urges are not wrong; giving in to them is where we get into trouble. So before you do that, pause and ask God to help you right then and there. I have full confidence that he will!
“For I hold you by your right hand—I, the LORD your God. And I say to you,‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.” Isaiah 41:13