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IS THE BIBLE OR PRAYER MORE IMPORTANT FOR QUITTING

For Fapstronauts who are disciples of Christ

  1. timcia

    timcia Fapstronaut

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    Years ago I was a fan of singer Whitney Houston. It was public knowledge that she struggled mightily with drugs. One day I saw an interview. She was asked what she liked to do. She said to pray. Pray all day. Shortly thereafter drugs took her.

    At that time I had no idea what else she should have been doing to change. But after writing my article about how Jesus fought temptation, I now have better ideas. She should have studied, memorized, and prayed over the top 50 verses regarding her addiction (intoxication). Then, just like Jesus did, she should have added the tool of fighting temptation with the Word.

    To answer my own question of which is more important? Both are more important. Prayer without working to be obedient rarely works. And when we pray without knowledge (knowledge comes by reading the word) we rarely get results.

    The point is that she was a bit like me. I pray a lot but I don't focus on what the Bible says about how I act.

    Last night I actually did it. I took out my sheet of Bible verses about lust and fought temptation with the Word. It really helped a lot.

    The point is not to pray less. Pray more. But the point is to add a new great weapon to your prayers when fighting temptation. Add the Word just like Jesus did.

    I always recommend “WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT ADDICTION.” The book takes about 1000 New Testament verses that pertain to addiction and teaches on them. It fits in with this message and is a helpful book. Link https://www.amazon.com/WHAT-BIBLE-S...le+says+about+addiction&qid=1639081749&sr=8-1

    I am planning a thread for the top 50 verses for overcoming lust. Below is a very rough start. If you have a verse for quitting P that should be added, please check if it is on the list, and if not, please add it.

    1. 1 John 2:16 -
    "For all that is in the world - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life - is not from the Father but is from the world."

    2. Psalm 119:37 -
    "Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word."

    3. 1 Corinthians 10:13 -
    "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

    4. Ephesians 3:20 -
    "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us."

    6. Philippians 4:8 -
    "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

    7. Proverbs 6:25 -
    "Do not desire her beauty in your heart, Nor let her capture you with her eyelids."

    8. 1 Corinthians 6:18 -
    "Flee sexual immorality."

    9. Galatians 5:16 -
    "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

    10. Romans 12:1–2 -
    "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing and perfect will."

    11. Romans 13:12–14 -
    Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh."


    1. Job 31:1 “I have made an agreement with my eyes. Then how can I look with lust?”

    2. Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it.

    3. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor–not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.

    4. Colossians 3:5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.

    5. James 1:14-15 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

    6. 1 John 2:16-17 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

    7. Matthew 5:28 But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

    8. Ephesians 5:3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.


    Galatians 5:1
    For freedom Christ has set us free
    ; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

    1. Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,


    1. 2 Corinthians 3:17,18
      Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

    1. 3. Matthew 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

      4. Ephesians 5:11-12
      Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.

     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2021
  2. CPilot

    CPilot Fapstronaut

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    John 3:16
    "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." NAB

    This is probably not a verse that is immediately associated with addiction but I find it one of the most inspirational verses in the entire bible. When I consider how great His love of mankind must be, I cannot help but strive to truly love Him. When we truly love someone, we do what they ask of us, even if we don't want to. Our loving Father has asked us to turn away from sin. Once again, not for His sake but out of love for us and a desire for us to find true happiness. Thank you Father for your incredible love.
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2021
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  3. timcia

    timcia Fapstronaut

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    Jesus' Example In Prayer. Firstly, Jesus prayed without ceasing: He prayed "in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight" (Mk. 1:35). He prayed during the day (Matt. 15:36; Jn. 11:41-42); and He prayed during the night (Matt. 14:23).

    Having a prayer time first thing in the morning helps fight addiction. Then, when we are at work or at school, we pray aggressively when our old thoughts keep popping up.

    Pray, “Father, take away these unhealthy fantasies, and thoughts, and teach me how to pray.” This prayer goes to war with addiction, and it invites the Holy Spirit to give you other specific things to pray about.

    Then, pray during your evening activities. To prepare, scour this site to find prayers that will help you stay free during the evening. These should be short prayers that you can pray when temptations arise when you are on the go. Then pray when you go to bed at night.

    In Matthew 4 Jesus prayed to prepare for satan's temptations. When we pray to prepare for temptation, we take a block of time for prayer. First, a thorough time of repentance. Then, focused prayer. If you don't know what to say, you can find 100 prayers on this site. But, with every prayer, we must be 100% sincere, with a deep desire to change. It's not the repetition that helps, it's your changing heart that gives the prayer's power.

    Lastly, Jesus knew exactly which scriptures to quote to satan when he was tempted. So, study, memorize, and be like Jesus in knowing which scriptures you need in your fight to win the war.
     
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  4. timcia

    timcia Fapstronaut

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    The Bible is more important for quitting if you pray a lot and don't do what the Bible says. Prayer is an unused weapon if all you do is go to church and read a chapter of the Bible every day. The point is... satan wins when we are unbalanced in either direction. Most every person reading this is unbalanced and is on one side or the other (including the writer).

    Some of you would be shocked to learn that my unbalance is not enough scripture and plenty of prayer. Since I more often tell you to read and study scripture all of the time. Why? Because I am trying to be more balanced.

    Satan will use whatever you don't do enough to keep you in bondage.

    Second, and this is just my opinion. Satan hates it when we study the Bible and when we pray, but he prefers for us to be unbalanced with less Bible study. Why? I spent decades praying about lust. Praying about anger, and greed. But then, in a moment of clarity, I started attacking these issues with Bible verses about them.

    I am not saying prayer did not work for me. It did. I prayed and prayed and prayed about anger and God delivered me from that. But if you ask me today how to attack your anger, I will tell you to first look up verses on anger so that you can study, meditate and dwell on them until Jesus' truth about anger starts filling you up. Then, pray, pray, and pray consistently about anger to prepare for your next temptation.

    But... I had such a stronghold of lust. Prayer alone did not work for me. The truth is, I really needed all that prayer, plus a focus on purpose, plus those Bible verses to pound it out of me.

    Third; today, be honest about which discipline you don't do enough. Then consider praying:

    “Father, show me how to be balanced.”

    If you are a Bible pounder and you don't know how to pray. You are going to be shocked by what happens when you dig into prayer. If you love to pray and never give the Bible a thought other than a quick chapter a day. You will be shocked by the power it brings you when you dig into scripture about things you want changed in your life (It works better when the things are God's will).

    Satan wants you unbalanced. Satan wants you in bondage.

    Jesus wants you balanced. Being balanced more than doubles your weapons of warfare.

    Double your weapons today, and determine to change your former lack of balance into a current strength. It will be a great decision.
     
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  5. Or maybe it is not a matter of balance, but a matter of how EXTREMELY you lean towards the fear of God. And this extreme would mean both prayer and bible reading. The bible doesn't use the word balance as far as I'm aware. And there is nothing wrong with using it the way you do. I've just been thinking, maybe we are supposed to think radically and extreme, maybe that's a helpful mindset. I'm just saying the same thing but with other words.
     
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  6. timcia

    timcia Fapstronaut

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    Russ Scalzo said, "
    “When asked, 'What is more important: praying or reading the Bible?' I ask, 'What is more important: breathing in or breathing out?”
     
  7. Yes, I believe life is a matter of prioritizing competing interests, not trying to obtain some sort of balance between them. And in the ordering of priorities, we never do wrong to put Christ first and foremost. We cannot go too deeply into his love and goodness. Indeed, the Scripture says we are "hidden" in him and Jesus instructs us to abide in him continually.

    Go bold and hard for Christ in all things -- put him first -- and everything else will fall into place! :)
     
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  8. timcia

    timcia Fapstronaut

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    By balance I mean: Obey God and don't Ignore prayer. Obey God and don't Ignore studying the Bible. Being weak in one area gives satan an opening.
     
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  9. CPilot

    CPilot Fapstronaut

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    We can do no better than to follow Christ's example. God specifically chose the blessed Mother Mary and St. Joseph to be His earthly parents. As all good parents do, they taught the child Jesus, in all important things including scripture. Mary "home schooled" Our Precious Lord in the Old Testament. Of course, as God, Christ brought a new level and depth of understanding to ancient scriptures than any man before or since. All of this was done before Our Lord underwent 40 days of temptation and prayer prior to His public ministry. So, Christ was prepared with a perfect knowledge of scripture before He submitted Himself to extreme temptation, an incredible trial which he undoubtedly passed with the aid of constant prayer. Scripture as the foundation fortified by heartfelt prayer for understanding, wisdom and the assistance of God's grace.
     
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  10. timcia

    timcia Fapstronaut

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    Timing is important in knowing which is more important. Running to key verses is more important if:
    1. Work, school, or your day was terrible and you are mad about life when you get home.
    2. Life just ran you over, and now you are home alone.
    3. Frustration keeps building and building.
    4. You are in a steady downward spiral with life.
    5. People have let you down yet again.
    6. Temptation is overwhelming right now.
    7. You are bored beyond belief.
    8. Negative emotions overwhelm you.

    Key verses are 100% God talking to us. In the above severe conditions, we need Him talking to us.
    Second, when angry do a Google search "verses anger." Take a minute to consider if scripture might help you understand or fight back against what is causing the severe crisis.

    Prayer

    Prayer is vitally important when:
    1. You are at work, school, or out and about and your day is falling apart.
    2. Frustration is building and life is starting to run you over.
    3. You realize that you need to pray about changes to change your current bad momentum.
    4. When people let you down, pray. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will show you... this person didn't even know what they were saying. The old phrase is "The devil made me do it." Did he encourage the other person beat on you so that you would fall into his grasp again? It could be.
    5. When you are bored, pray intensely about what God wants you "to do." Then read articles from this site on what to do.
    6. When negative emotions start to wreck you, pray about them and fight back.

    When we fail to pray intensely when situations start to develop, we may never make it to the key verses. But when we continue to pray when we are being overwhelmed instead of running to key scriptures... bad things happen.

    Will we submit to what God says in scripture? Will we submit to every verse? When we do, great things start to happen.
     
  11. timcia

    timcia Fapstronaut

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    At this point prayer and Bible study are both vital. When we do both and then add praising the Lord, good things happen. Praising turns our bad attitude into a good one. Praising lifts our spirits. Praising turns our darkness into light. Consider striving to make praising the Lord a consistent part of your life. It turns the light on.
     
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