Help for those struggling with sexual sins: Running with resources

Just because you have established the need for running from the temptation does not mean you are prepared to run or that you will run when you face strong desires. While the key resources are prayer, dependence upon the Holy Spirit, and the use of memorized Scripture, there are other ancillary resources that are helpful as well. These include internet accountability, various media, and the accountability of friends.

I prefer to think of these resources as scaffolding around a building project. They are necessary for the rebuilding of a weakened wall, but they are not the wall. The wall is composed of the key resources from this week’s study: prayer, the Spirit, and the Scripture. 

Satan is strategic in his temptation. For instance if you provide accountability on your home internet, that doesn’t mean your temptation will be any less strong when you are on the internet elsewhere. While you may have developed a strong and necessary accountability with other Godly friends, they will not be with you when you are wide awake at two o’clock in the morning battling your desires. Hence these are helpful and necessary resources, but are not meant to be a replacement for the three mentioned earlier.

Resources to protect from internet pornography:

• www.covenanteyes.com
• www.x3watch.com

Resources to read and study:

• The Way of Purity  by Mike Cleveland
• Sex is not the Problem Lust is by Joshua Harris
• Sexual Addiction by David Powlison
• Homosexuality by Ed Welch
• It’s all about Me: The Problem with masturbation by Winston Smith
• Lies Young Women Believe by Nancy Leigh Demoss
• Every Young Man’s Battle by Stephen Arterburn
• The Purity Principle by Randy Alcorn
• Sexual Sin by Jeffrey Black
• The War Within by Robert Daniels 
• Marital Intimacy by Rob Green. Lafayette, IN: Faith Resources.
• Restoring Your Broken Marriage: Healing After Adultery by Robert Jones. Greensboro, NC:  New Growth Press.
• Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God by C.J. Mahaney
• Sexual Addiction: Freedom from Compulsive Behavior by David Powlison  Greensboro, NC:  New Growth Press.
• Biblical Principles of Sex by Bob Smith  Stanley, NC: Timeless Texts.
• “Helping Men Overcome by Life Dominating Lust”  by John Street. Workshop presented at the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors 1995 Annual Conference.
• Additional help available in the Philadelphia area at http://www.harvestusa.org