Below is the first in a series of original articles which will form a guide to recovery from unhealthy compulsive sexual behaviors, such as pornography addiction.
Please note: There is no set blueprint for recovery. Most often people need to spend a year or two of hard work and trial and error to find the unique combination of coping skills in order to enter recovery, some need only to take a few serious steps in order to get to the same point, and a rare few are healed from their addiction by an immediate miracle. However, most paths to recovery have commonalities, and we will attempt to highlight those common areas of opportunity that you can take advantage of in order to speed yourself toward freedom.
I. Foundation in Christ through Prayer
If you build your home on sand, it will be structurally weak and tear apart in the storms of life. If you build your home on rock, it will stand firm through the same storms. So always build on rock. This is the advice Christ gives to his disciples.[1] Jesus’ words and ways are our rock. To live as Jesus teaches, we need His strength. To receive the gift of His strength, we must grow close to Jesus. To grow close to Him, we must converse with Him. Without conversing with Jesus, we cannot make claim to a relationship with Him — just as we cannot lay claim to a relationship with any other living person with whom we never speak. Prayer is conversation with Jesus. Prayer may be expressed in many different forms. The most commonly understood version is formalized prayer, said out loud.
As you will discover, if you have not already, Jesus is the key to conquering evil in our lives. He is the “cornerstone” which holds up all the other stones.[2] He has conquered death and sin. He is God — all-powerful, all-loving, and all-forgiving. He is our best friend and our greatest ally. Going to battle against the forces of evil in our lives, without Him at our side, is like building your house on sand. The stresses which come from life’s storms, i.e. the winds of evil, will pulverize any home of ours which stands alone upon the sands, apart from our Lord and Savior. And so we must pray.