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PaulWest
Member



Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas

 The Conception of Lust

One of the most important things a Christian must learn after coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is how to control the activity of his mind. A person may have a correct understanding of the love of God and the power of Christ’s blood to restore and redeem, but if the mind is left unruly and allowed to wander in unsupervised thought and fantasy, the believer will be overcome by the flesh again and again.

The unsupervised mind is like a promiscuous teenager. If left alone, it will sneak out a window to commit fornication with the first available idol it finds. There is a constant pull of lust within man which is always seeking to draw him out of God’s presence and into some enticement. Scripture teaches that every man is tempted when he is “drawn away of his own lust” (James 1:14). This means that lust is already in man, inbred into the flesh and seeking an opportunity to be “drawn out” by some kind of stimulus. The stimuli that draw our lusts out either come from within our own thoughts, from unlawful images and experiences previously uploaded and which are now resurfacing, or from an outside force injecting them in.

These enticements are the magnets which “draw” our indwelling lusts out into the open to be awakened and stirred. If our fleshly lusts make contact with these enticements, a conception can occur - an illegitimate spiritual pregnancy which brings forth sin (James 1:15), and then death. Our minds are like the wild donkey in Jeremiah, constantly sniffing the wind to find a mate, and available to any passerby who propositions her (Jer. 2:23). She must therefore be girded (I Peter 1:13). It is absolutely imperative that the believer in Christ recognize and regulate the harlotry of his mind. She must not be left alone in her room with strange men. They must driven out of her presence with the fiery sword of God’s Word, and her purity must be upheld and guarded. Shielding your mind from spiritual adultery is the responsibility of you, the donkey's master. If you do not call on God for restraining grace and make a determinate effort to gird your thinking, your ship will always be wrecking on the tempestuous sea of Satan's allurements.

Temptation arises when a troubadour comes to your mind's window, with his mandolins and love songs and tries to draw her out into an illicit affair with him. These enticements may come through an invitation to sexually fantasize; to explode in anger; to assassinate someone’s character; to grab the biggest and best piece of food; to exaggerate a detail for some personal gain; to lose your patience; to whitewash a motive; to criticize a flaw of your neighbor; to be discontent with your wages or salary; to tell an off-color joke; to complain about an inconvenience, etc. “Come out to me,” the troubadour invites your lust's ear. “Come out and let me embrace you; let me fulfill your deep cravings. Let us come together for a night of passion, and then you can return home. Your husband will forgive you!”

If your mind succumbs to temptation and leaps into her lover’s bosom, she conceives and becomes pregnant with sin. This is the clear teaching of God’s Word. This is why God's Word says, “blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life…” (James 1:12). Beloved, we are called to remain sober and endure these songs. We are called by God to resist the impure advances and corrupt charms; to mortify the flesh's lust; to shut the window and shield the music; to divert the attention. It is not merely enough to resist and divert, however; we must now train our mind's attention upon a new Object of Affection.

I want to show you how you can drive the troubadour from the window every night. The next time you hear music outside the window, the next time you hear promises of ecstasy and passion waft up from the courtyard of your mind, you must call immediately upon the Lord. You must be able to say, “I reject these thoughts,” and then call instantly upon the Lord Jesus Christ for grace to overcome the seduction. This is mortification at its purest level.

As the promises of pleasure and delight echo from the lover in the shadows, fix your eyes upon Jesus and recall that the true "fullness of joy" is in His presence alone, and that in His right hand are the true “pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). All else is vanity, a smokescreen. In the moment of need, call upon the Lord God for the grace to overcome through the holy blood of your Deliverer. He will manifest His glory and shield your mind from every fiery arrow. This is the Word of God. It is God's promise written in His Son’s blood - the promise to sanctify you wholly, to keep you from falling and preserve you; to elevate you like an eagle above all seductions and deceits of lust. His is a transcending power! It is power which has already defeated Satan and has overcome the entire world and all the angelic armies of darkness. Do you wonder now how Paul could say, "Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ" (II Corinthians 2:14)? What I am sharing with you is the secret.

Dear Christian, do you believe this? Are you now prepared to mortify? Is preserving the chastity of your mind worth putting to death all impulses of spiritual fornication and satanic solicitations? Cry out to God then in your time of need. Approach the throne of Jesus for the grace to drive out the enticements from your mind. Endure the trial and God's grace will soon grant the victory! You need never lose joy; you need never complain; you need never succumb to a fiery dart; your lust need never commit adultery with temptation and conceive sin. Our Forerunner Jesus Christ endured the same temptations of the flesh and hell, for he was tempted on all points such as we are – yet without ever conceiving (Hebrews 4:15).

Behold your birthright! His purity can be yours by calling upon God the same way He did: by putting to death self; by faith in the promises of God's Word; by faith in the sanctifying power of Christ's blood; by the enablement of grace through the Holy Spirit. At the very moment of temptation, Christ is praying that you will stand fast and resist, that you will endure, that you will conquer and overcome through His life. That you may never doubt God's love. Knowing this, dear Christian, may you stand in victory throughout all your trials, and be part of the conceptionless virgin bride the Father seeks for His Son.

- Brother Paul

http://understandingmortification.wordpress.com/


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Paul Frederick West

 2012/1/30 23:20Profile
OnwardUpward
Member



Joined: 2011/12/27
Posts: 39


 Re: The Conception of Lust


Thank you very much for this article.

David understood this when he said - "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts..." Ps 51:6.

And Paul said "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.." 2 Cor 10:5

The popular song "Be Thou my vision" has these lines "Thou my best thought by day or by night.." What a glorious thing! We want to have this every second we live.






 2012/2/1 8:28Profile
Lysa
Member



Joined: 2008/10/25
Posts: 3699
East TN for now!

 Re: The Conception of Lust


I was thinking also of 2 Cor 10.5b, "bringing into captivity every thought under the obedience of Christ." And that is not easy but with perseverance, it is possible. All glory be to our God. "The longest journey starts with the first step," if we don't ever take the first step of bringing each and every lustful thought before God (no matter how embarrassing), we will never start our journey.

Thank you for this good word and the truth it holds!!

God bless you,
Lisa


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Lisa

 2012/2/1 9:07Profile
jimp
Member



Joined: 2005/6/18
Posts: 1481


 Re:

hi, a priest who heard confessions for over 25 years said he never heard someone confess any coveting.looking,coveting produces lust. do not look and if you do ,do not covet.

 2012/2/1 9:18Profile
ginnyrose
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Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re:

jimp, have you ever noticed how one cannot commit one sin without committing a few others? It is like they are all intertwined. You have lust and coveting that results in adultery- all part of a whole. Of course, it does begin by not reverencing God in our heart which is a violation of the first commandment.

Meaty article, Paul. Lots of food for thought.


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Sandra Miller

 2012/2/1 11:57Profile
PaulWest
Member



Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas

 Re:

As far as "looking" equating to "lusting", we see in the first page of the Bible, in the Garden of Eden, right before Sin and Death entered into the cosmos:

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (logically beneficial for the flesh, despite God's forbiddance), and that it was pleasant to the eyes (aesthetically stimulating at the soul level), and a tree to be desired to make one wise (to the subsequent satisfaction of self-aggrandizement and autonomy), she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat (the manifestation in the flesh of the grand total of her covetousness).." (Gen. 3:6)

Notice that Eve's "seeing" of the tree came after Satan had already injected into her mind the poison of verses 4 & 5. This incident was later paralleled in Luke 4 with Jesus in the Wilderness. The difference between the first Adam and the last Adam was in the mortification of self-desire. Whereas the first Adam conceived, the last Adam remained a virgin: "and when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin - and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (James 1:15).


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Paul Frederick West

 2012/2/1 14:26Profile
brothagary
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Joined: 2011/10/23
Posts: 2556


 Re:

exceptional exortation ,paul

 2012/2/1 15:06Profile
murrcolr
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Joined: 2007/4/25
Posts: 1839
Scotland, UK

 Re:

Your post or article reminds me of what Paul the Apostle experienced

Quote:- Temptation arises when a troubadour comes to your mind's window, with his mandolins and love songs and tries to draw her out into an illicit affair with him.

Romans 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Paul the Apostle says that he found that when he would do good evil was present with him…

Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.

He wants to do good because in him there is a delight in Gods law....

So from the above two verses we can see that Paul the Apostle’s inner man delights in the law of God but there is a enemy outside that tempts us the ones that would do good…

But at the same time there is other forces at work

Quote:- These enticements are the magnets which “draw” our indwelling lusts out into the open to be awakened and stirred.

It's deeper than that let me explain what I mean..

Rom7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

When Paul the Apostle says “but I see” it makes me think that it came by revelation, what I mean in Romans 7:21 he says that he says “he found that” to me that in his walk with God it was something he experienced in that walk..

“But I see” is not speaking about and experience but something the Holy Spirit has revealed to him that there is another law in his members that brings him into captivity to the law sin in him…

Paul the Apostle sees two laws in him at work one is the law of sin the second is another law which brings him into captivity to that law of sin…

He uses very strong words to describe it “he sees that it makes war” Paul the Apostle is describing an enemy inside the one that would do good that hates God’s law so much that it makes war against the delight of God’s law in him and us into the captivity to the law of sin in our members…

The enemy is not only upon us that the “ones that would do good” but there is a enemy of God in us that hates God’s law in us and it wars against to bring us into captivity to the law of sin…

No wonder he cries “O wretched man” who will deliver me from this body of death… but thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

But like Paul we need to “see it”

Edited:- for spelling


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Colin Murray

 2012/2/1 16:07Profile
PaulWest
Member



Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas

 Re:

You're very right about the "law in our members" that brings a man into captivity. The only way to overcome this law is through another law: the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ (Rom. 8:2). Legalism arises when a person tries to overcome the first law without the second.

This "law of sin and death" within our flesh is constantly grappling with the spirit. When our inner man ebbs low in strength, the flesh bullies our mind. When the inner man is strengthened with might by the Spirit of God, the flesh is mortified and the mind is girded. This is the fruit of walking in spirit, and it is a state in which we should all seek to remain. Abiding in the spirit takes discipline. If our thought patterns are undisciplined, if we are negligent in guarding what comes in through our eyes and ears, we can get hit with a flaming missile. Being hit with a missile can lead to a fortress being erected in our hearts. This is what causes spiritual depression, defeatism, critical thinking, binging with pornography, bitterness.

If you get hit with a fiery dart and become infected with a stronghold, you'll need the Holy Spirit for deliverance. Many Christians have strongholds in their hearts - and they think it is the normal Christian life to always be hurting, defeated and depressed. They think it is normal to not have a living ministry that blesses. Well, it is not normal. It is totally abnormal! It is an oxymoron in the purest sense to be a defeated and depressed Christian. God's will for your life is absolute purity, power, abundant life, victory. Hallelujah!

I am convinced that spiritual depression and defeatism for a believer under the New Covenant is due to a judgment of God. At some point, God's commandment was transgressed: he or she lusted with their eyes, went after money, cheated their neighbor, spread a false rumor, judged someone, criticised another believer - and then didn't get right with God and repent. They may have thought they repented, and as result deceived themselves, but the judgment remains. They then adapt a doctrinal system that supports their reality. It's a fatal pit unless God intervenes.

They will remain defeated and bitter and critical until they settle the account with God and their neighbor. At the very moment they humble themselves and allow God to free them from the strongholds they have, emancipating love will flood their beings. The fortress walls will come down in an instant, their hearts will be set free, the darts will all dissolve. They will walk in love, and lest a more horrible thing befall them in the future, they will be very careful to mortify the flesh, gird the mind, and guard the heart.


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Paul Frederick West

 2012/2/1 19:09Profile





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