Hey guys I’m back here again, I just want to say that I get so discouraged when I think about my homosexual urges, I think there so shameful and I want them to disappear? Will they ever disappear?
Maybe you need to make your peace with them, Accept them that there there but you dont want them to control you rather then trying to force them away, but then again my original beleif structure is based around buddhism and mindfulness, only found christianity recently due to not being able to meditate. I think there part of human nature(was told by a psychologist no one is totally straight or totally gay), but im also commited to following the bible these days. I dont think it says that thinking about other men as a sin but rather the act of sleeping with other guys as a sin. In the bibles terms the evil one will constantly put sexual thoughts into your thoughts into your mind, because he knows from the evidence that it is something that can knock you off your path, i would personally nowdays just pray at those moments, gently pray and robuke rather then just forcable trying to force the images away. Also i would remove the source of the temptation, leave the pc or laptop at those times.
Bro, the last post... Identify the temptation is deffinitely effective but isn't change for a day to other. So, I recommend persist in this forum(I know don't...Put a rutine, ritual or thing similar for here). Also, you have found help in your congregation but with someone who has maturity in Jesus. (I'm sorry, my english is horrible :v )
Whatever we focus on is what will grow bigger and stronger within us until we are overwhelmed by it. If you focus on your urges, they will dominate you. If, instead, you focus on the one who is bigger than your urges, he will help you learn to rule over them. Shame has no place in the life of a disciple. If you feel shame, you have not yet embraced your identity in Christ. Perhaps today is the day you will do so. Why wait?
Like straight PMO and lust, the temptations will never disappear. You can be so good at fighting and exercising self control, that they become more and more easy to thwart. On the other side you get deeper into love with God, looking to Him for fulfilment. Sin keeps this relationship clouded over so we cannot fully enjoy God.
Hey, man, I hear you. It's a scary place to be. It gets better, though. Hold on. God sees you and wants to help. Have you ever talked to a christian man you trust about it?
It helps me to remember that Our Lord was on this earth in human form and he experienced human temptations, exactly as humans do. Using only his human abilities, He successfully fought those temptations and never sinned. His love and commitment to the Father gave Him the strength to remain pure but He needed to regularly recharge that commitment against the constant onslaught of the devil's temptations. He achieved this with daily silent heartfelt prayer to the Father. I feel we all need to make this a daily, unbroken habit.
1 Thessalonians 5 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Temptation Makes Prayer a Necessity— The strength acquired in prayer to God, united with individual effort in training the mind to thoughtfulness and caretaking, prepares the person for daily duties and keeps the spirit in peace under all circumstances, however trying. The temptations to which we are daily exposed make prayer a necessity. In order that we may be kept by the power of God through faith, the desires of the mind should be continually ascending in silent prayer for help, for light, for strength, for knowledge. But thought and prayer cannot take the place of earnest, faithful improvement of the time. Work and prayer are both required in perfecting Christian character. We must live a twofold life—a life of thought and action, of silent prayer and earnest work.... God requires us to be living epistles, known and read of all men. The soul that turns to God for its strength, its support, its power, by daily, earnest prayer, will have noble aspirations, clear perceptions of truth and duty, lofty purposes of action, and a continual hungering and thirsting after righteousness.—(God's Amazing Grace, 317) Pr 25.3 - Pr 25.4
I'll have to work on this ''earnest work'', I feel like I'm still not quite commited enough to want to quit PMO with all my heart
Sin is sin. Some guys lust for women, some guys lust for other dudes, and some guys lust for kids and stuff that could land them in jail! Don't obsess on the OBJECT of your lust. Instead, turn your eyes toward Jesus. The Bible says that He was tempted in every way and he overcame those temptations. That means he was even tempted in the ways that you are tempted. He is there for you, bud, and so are we. ALL OF US are fighting lust of one kind or another. Just keep fighting the good fight with us. Jesus fought it and won. He can do the same through us! And remember to thank God that you aren't fighting lusts that are far more depraved that merely lusting after guys.
