EXPOSING AND OVERCOMING THE POWER OF LUST
A 48 year old married mother of two and teacher was on the 3rd day of July 2006 jailed in the UK for a period of 4 years (only) for gross sexual misconduct. She was caught by a crane driver having sex with a minor, her 14 year old pupil. It was uncovered that she had been having sex with the teenager for about 4 months in a school stockroom, in a toilet as well as in a park. At the time of her arrest, she was also serving as a Juror. Incredible isn’t it? A married woman and a Christian for that matter. She was known to have been an exemplary hardworking professional. She’s lost her carrier and has brought great shame to her family particularly her children. That’s what lust can degenerate one into: it comes to destroy.Lust is the inordinate and unbridled sexual desire for the pleasures of the flesh. It pollutes the human mind through intense filthy sexual cravings or erotic sexual attraction. It is an emotional cankerworm and a deadly devourer which is usually stimulated by physical attraction and desire for sexual gratification. Lust is the mother of sexual sins: it is a demonic spirit unleashed from the pit of darkness. It does not discriminate as both young and old could be its captive. When the door of the human heart is opened, lust walks in unceremoniously. The Bible says in Matt. 5:28.
“…. Everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart”.
Similarly, a married woman can also commit adultery or fornication in her heart by looking at a man lustfully. Lust is both sensual and sexual. Sensuality is the mental and emotional craving for sexual pleasures. This evil spirit has destroyed many destinies and has in fact successfully crept into the Church and is seducing the hearts of lots of Christians. It is a powerful, subtle and possessive force that incapacitates its victims and also blinds them. Lust is blind, not love. God is love. Love gives insight, direction and wisdom but lust opens the door of a man’s life for demonic oppression. Many Christians are sleeping in the battlefield of life. It is time for them to wake up. The enemy is unrelenting, wicked and very well organized in its evil strategies. Christians must be sensitive, vigilant and determined to walk in righteousness. Many Christians do not receive answers to their prayers because lust has defiled them and consequently nullified their prayers. Lust pollutes the human soul. It invades and destroys human life. These are perilous times. Everyone should endeavor to keep his/her heart pure and holy. It is an enemy every body must tenaciously go all-out to overcome because it comes only to destroy the body, soul and spirit of man. It brings about destruction. Married couples do not lust when they have sexual desires for each other. This is lawful and expedient. Sexual cravings are not sinful within a marriage covenant except such cravings are perverted. Satan always strives to create counterfeits of all of God’s creation. He tries to pervert every good thing that God destines for mankind.
I once read an article about a Sudanese man who had been caught in the act of having sexual intercourse with a goat. Thereafter, he was compelled to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese Dinars to the owner of the goat and he was also forced to take the goat as his wife. What an utterly shameful act of depravity. That is what the evil force of lust can degenerate a person into. I wish I had the man's contact address so I could forward a congratulatory message to him… or what do you do when someone gets married?
You can have victory over lust through the power of the word of God. The entrance of the word of God in a man’s heart gives light and dispels darkness. Everyone must avoid circumstances that lead to lust. Be extremely careful about what you see and what you hear. Discipline yourself and guide your thoughts. God sees everyman’s heart. Treat sexual lust like cancer that is trying to invade your life. Resist sexual fantasies through lust, masturbation, pornography, phone sex, movies, and so on. The Bible states in James 1: 14 -15,
“But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when it is full-grown, gives birth to death”.
I love proverbs 6:27. It says,
“Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?”
A scandal erupted in a Church when the inordinate sexual sins of the pastor was brought to the fore by a male member of his Church who shockingly discovered that his wife had become pregnant in spite of the fact that they had been sleeping in separate bedrooms for many months as there had been a serious crack in the wall of their relationship. They had been living under the same roof like cat and mouse for several months. Since the couple had not made love for some months, the husband was 100% certain he was not responsible for the pregnancy. After the intervention of various family members, it was a rude surprise when the pregnant lady finally confessed that their Pastor was responsible for her pregnancy and that it all happened inadvertently when she went to the pastor for counseling over her marital problems. Lust is a powerful, dreadful force of darkness and the root of all sexual sins. Presidents, Governors, Legislators, Judges, Clergy men and women, Chief Executives of conglomerates, medical practitioners, business tycoons, actors and actresses, teachers, students, and so on, engage in appalling sexual acts of immorality regularly, based on the influence of lust. These are ungodly works of the flesh. Sex was wonderfully designed by God and intended for man’s pleasure as well as for the purpose of procreation but when sin entered into the world after the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, God’s purpose for human sexuality became contaminated. Ever since, sexual sin became a major obstacle to living holy and pleasing God.
The great king David who is noted to have been a man after God’s heart was not so great when he lustfully beheld the nakedness and beauty of Bathsheba. He was overwhelmed by a sexual hunger for her and he eventually succeeded in having sexual intercourse with this married woman. The power of the word of God can set a man free from sexual sins brought about by lust. It is often said that it is the manufacturer of a thing that truly knows the purpose for its creation. God created man with all the relevant sexual organs and he ordained sex under the marriage covenant only. Unfortunately, the devil always strives to thwart God’s plans and purposes for mankind through this weapon of lust. Sexual sins begin in the arena of the human mind and they include fornication, rape, adultery, homosexuality, incest, masturbation, pornography, bestiality, pedophilia, and the rest. Lust is the root of all these sexual sins. It is captivating and deadly. It is a ritualistic act of worship and sacrifices to the demons of immorality. Sexual sins wreck the human body and this leads to spiritual death (Rom. 6: 23). The Bible states in 1 Cor. 6:18-20:
“Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body”.
Anyone who truly loves God must keep His Commandments. When someone basks in lust, it simply means such a person does not love God’s and has involuntarily surrendered his/her soul to Satan. Disobedience to God brings about spiritual alienation from God. Anyone who dwells in or put up with sexual lust must repent from this sin, renounce and resist it in the name of Jesus. I pray in the name above all names, the name of Jesus, that His redemptive power give you victory over this treacherous adversary called lust. May the king of glory grant you the grace to shut every door you may have opened to this vile affection. May the Lord cause every fountain of lust in your life to dry up. May He plant seeds of righteousness in your heart by the power of His word. May He also grant you perfect victory over the force of lust in Jesus name, amen!
WATCH OUT FOR MORE IN THE BOOK “FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT” SLATED FOR RELEASE IN 2007.
Ejiro Okene