30 DAYS, 1 FALLS, 2 MAKE IT

3 brothers all have the same porn addiction. They all were reading nofap one week ago and saw a recommendation for the PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE “PDL” (Warren). Today they all are clean for 7 days and they all drive the same exact cheap car. Today all 3 junky cars have major repairs totaling $2000 each. But each brother reacts differently to the disaster.

Mikey digs into prayer aggressively and then digs into his new PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE (PDL) book and it helps him to some extent. Andy quotes some prayers, reads a bit of the PDL book and then tries to learn a new song on the guitar to get through the pain. Fred picks up the PDL book, but finding your purpose seems really complicated. He puts in a risky movie. He falls.

Background: Every day every person has a joy rating and a fun rating. Paul in the Bible had fullness of joy. Even in prison he rated a 10 for joy. And even in hardship he usually had a lot of fun also (But probably not when he was being whipped).

Let's look at the rating for these brothers. Being clean for 7 days would have increased their joy rating bit by bit to say around a 5 before the incident. Next let's look at the rating for these brothers based on their reactions to the disaster.

Joy

Mikey is fighting 100% afterward so his joy would increase to 5.7 because the Holy Spirit would really be helping him. Andy's strong effort causes an increase to 5.5, but Fred's joy hits zero.

Fun

Mikey's and Andy's fun ratings are pretty weak on day 7. We are going to wait to examine Fred the Faller's high fun rating for the day because we need to examine the foolishness and the destruction for the month first.

Fast forward to Day 13.

Mikey is aggressively seeking the Lord and his joy level has risen to 6.4. Because of this increased joy level the simple things in life are now more fun. Relationships more fun, TV more fun, activities more fun.

Switch back to Fred the Faller on day 13, and he is very frustrated. Relationships are challenged, he is too driven and frustrated to do the simple things in life or watch TV. His temptation level is through the roof again.

Let's examine what happened to Fred after the fall. On day 8, he fell for the 2nd straight day. And by the end of the day he realized that his anger problem was increasing again and his fear problem was as well. He decided to repent. And on day nine his joy level was back to a 3. Admittedly, his fun level was a zero because he was exhausted and empty, but now his relationship with Christ was back to normal.

On day 10 Fred the Faller tried to read PDL but it really didn't make sense to him. So he read 1 chapter from the Bible and prayed a few minutes and tried to stay busy. His joy level had increased to a 4 but his fun level felt low. He did not know what to do.

Mikey: Also on day 10 Mikey read the PDL after he finished “Studying” 3 chapters from the book of James in the Bible and praying fervently for an hour. PDL was now making sense and he started to pray extra about finding his purpose.

On day 14 Mikey followed the advice in PDL to try doing something for God, and he volunteers to help out at the church. He also started a ministry encouraging others at nofap. For the first time in a long time he feels satisfied with his life, content, and more in control. Joy level is now a 7 and he is content. Fun level is a 7 as well.

By day 30 Mikey is shocked by how his life has changed. His life is not all about him anymore. His joy level is consistently at a 9. His temptation is way down and he is really enjoying the simple things in life. His fun level is at a 9 as well.

Back to Fred. He fell again on day 14 and on day 21 and on day 26. Out of the 30 days he had a lot of fun on about 4 days and his joy was great for about 4 days. The other 22 days were bad and very frustrating. And I almost forgot... on disaster day 7 he had more fun than Mikey.

THE OTHER BROTHER

Andy is somewhere in the middle. Not much praying about being filled with the Spirit or purpose. But he is obeying. At day 30 his joy level is a 7.5. He has some fun but his fun level is about a 7 because he is frustrated a bit by his life. But all in all, it is pretty good.

Back to Mikey. Out of 30 days he had 10 good days, 16 great days and 4 very tough days. He had way more joy for the month than Fred the Faller. He had way more fun than Fred.

Key point: If we really knew how falling would affect our lives – we would fight falling way harder.

Thanks to STA for allowing me to copy this https://stoptheaddictions.com/home-page/sex-porn-freedom/sex-porn-freedom-in-30-days-day-7/

 

The only thing a young heroin addict thinks about is the short-term fun that they want to have. Instead, they should think about being homeless, living in dangerous places, hurting relationships, and losing their relationship with God.

When temptation is about to overwhelm you, study the verses for quitting. Then, write down on a piece of paper, “Lust will cause me to lose _______. Fill in the blank 4 times, then write, “It will be twice as bad as I think.”

Preachers love to say, “Sin will take us farther than we want to go.” Saying it this way is underestimating sin as much as Eve did in the Garden of Eden. Try, “Sin will take us farther, and farther, and farther, and deeper than we want to go and ruin everything.”

Second, the Bible says in James 2:17 - Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead.”

In the original article, Mikey fought his way through his problems and started to try to find his purpose. He ended up with the most fun and the most joy, and he had a reason to live.

When we are 16 we believe that the person with the most girls, money, stuff, success, etc, wins. They do, but they don't have the most joy. They don't even have the most fun, because they always get themselves in trouble and are ruined by their short-term fun.

If you want joy, an abundant life, and purpose, commit yourself to God. Consider praying:

“Father, show me what you want me to think about.”

“Father, show me what you want me to do.”