Ryan Swanson: Hello and welcome back to the Satisfied Program here on Thee Generation Podcast. This is Ryan Swanson, and we are continuing in our series of testimonies of victory, especially in this area of purity. Today, we have a testimony I’m excited about that came in from a young man named Luke. And this was an email that he sent in about his testimony of purity, describing where he’s at in his journey now and where he has been. He was a pastor’s kid that began looking at inappropriate images when he was 15 years old, and it really began a significant battle for him. But I’ll read in his own words the story of what God used in this young man’s life to bring him to a point of sustained victory and purity.
Testimony from Luke: “It started with me just knowing where to find it, but just scroll past it as fast as I could, especially at the bottom of sports articles. I would scroll through the ads and there would be inappropriate ads. But it was still indulging. I knew it was wrong but I couldn’t stop and it just progressed from there. About six months in, I knew I had gone too far so I told myself, ‘you’re done, stop it.’ It would work for about a day or two but then I heard about the Thee Generation podcast. I would listen to the podcast and previous messages from the Youth Summit that would help me for about three or four days. But just like you mentioned in your last podcast, I would indulge and ask God for forgiveness after. This went on for several months until I listened to a message by Dr. Jim. God was convicting me to go tell my parents about the sin. I knew what I needed to do, but for about a half hour, I struggled and cried. I didn’t want to let my parents down and for them to think less of me. So I said, ‘give me one more chance and I’ll fix it once for all.’
As you probably already guessed by the fact that I said I’ll fix it in the last sentence, I didn’t. So about a week later I was looking at inappropriate pictures on my phone and my dad caught me. I didn’t know for sure if he did, I hoped I was fast enough closing out the app, but no I was not. The next morning he asked me what I was doing on my phone the night before and he was giving me one last chance to confess, but sadly I did not.
He then talked to me about how it was wrong and there would always be a temptation and I would have to want to stop because God wanted me to. Well it was a good talk and I didn’t look at anything for about two weeks, but then the temptation came back and with a vengeance. I couldn’t resist. I thought I had to indulge in my sin and it was a terrible feeling. So I went back to trying to fix it again myself, but I still continued to fail. I would tell God every Sunday service, ‘alright, I’m done, take it away,’ but I really didn’t mean it. But God started working in my heart and telling me, ‘you’ve tried and failed, you’ve tried and failed, when are you going to give it up to Me?’ But I still continued to sin until one day when something really tragic got my attention. My sister had a bad allergic reaction and to be honest, I thought she might die that day. So in desperation I prayed that, If God would keep her alive, I would never intentionally look at another inappropriate image. Now that did help, but what really helped was going to a men’s conference that showed me I can’t do anything without God and He is the only way you can get victory over your sin. That brought me back to all the sermons and podcasts that I had heard and it finally clicked in my head, even though I had heard it a million times. I finally got it. You can’t get over this sin by any amount of try or try harder, I had to totally depend on God’s strength and not my own. And boy, that was a great feeling to know that God would take me and give me the strength to walk on water. All I needed to do was step out of the boat and trust Him to keep me afloat. I can honestly say I have never purposely looked at another inappropriate image.”
Ryan Swanson: Well praise the Lord for that testimony from Luke. He goes on to describe the continued ongoing battle in what God’s doing to help him combat the battle in the thoughts arena as well. But to see sustained victory like that in pornography addiction is an incredible thing and a miracle every single time, and we do give God the glory for that. Now there are many things that we could pull out from this testimony and so many crucial truths throughout his journey that Luke shared with us.
I want to start though and emphasize one right at the very beginning when he talks about confession. Now, one of the misconceptions about pornography addiction is that the answer is confession. Most of the preaching that is done on the topic will end with a call to action, which is to tell your parents or tell your youth pastor or tell a counselor and confess that, get that off. And don’t get me wrong, that is the proper call to action. However, the confession is just the next step. It does not equal victory. I cannot emphasize this enough. Confession does not equal victory. Again, confession does not equal victory, but it always starts there.
Luke mentions a couple of times at the beginning of this testimony that he was trying to reason different ways around not telling his parents, even though he knew God wanted him to. He was trying to make a deal with God, well, how about you just deliver me and then I’ll talk to them. And I remember personally going through that same thing, trying to think, well, how about I have a couple weeks of victory and then I’ll go talk to them and then it will be a little bit easier and won’t be as hard on them. And you know, we try to make it sound unselfish. I’m doing it because I don’t want to hurt them so badly.
But you know the verse in Proverbs 28:13, He that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
That mercy comes when we choose to take a step. The first step of confession and then taking the necessary follow-up steps to forsake that sin. God’s mercy is right there and waiting, but it’s waiting for just that–for us to begin.
with the step of confession. So again, there are several truths that Luke brings out throughout this testimony of victory and his journey and what the Lord has taught him, especially that last one at the end being the most crucial, the 0/100 principle, as my father-in-law calls it, that it’s going to be 0% dependence on my own effort, my own strength, and 100% dependence on Christ. And obviously from his testimony that, when that’s set in for Luke, that made all the difference. That was the most freeing thing for him.
But I really appreciated his candidness at the beginning and I think there’s incredible insight in how he describes the battle in his mind on whether or not to confess. Confessing is not the answer, but it always starts there. What that means, it’s a two-sided principle. Don’t be waiting around hoping you can get some measure of victory and then maybe you’ll go confess it.
It’s not going to happen that mercy is waiting for you to take the next step of confession. But the other side of it is, don’t go confess because that equals victory for you. When you confess, you will inevitably get kind of a spiritual high. I mean, it feels really good to take that step and finally feel the weight of that sin that you’ve been bearing yourself for so long come off of your shoulders. And it’s going to be shared by whoever you are confessing that to many times to the point where they themselves will feel that burden and the sorrow and the shame from it and there may be emotions and tears in that moment because they are bearing that burden with you. And it’s a hard moment when that happens but afterwards especially if there is a proper response of forgiveness and wanting to help you and that kind of thing and if it’s A positive meeting you’re gonna come away from that and just feel relieved and feel like I’m never gonna do this again. I have left it behind. This is over. I feel amazing. I feel like a different person. That is awesome, and that is God-given, and that joy should be there. But you need to understand that confession is just the first step. And let he that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. That is not the end of your journey. It’s the beginning.
Get excited! It is a wonderful journey that God’s going to take you through. And it does begin with that step of confession. It must begin there. But it’s just the beginning. Buckle up. Get ready. God has more for you. He has more people to help you. He wants you to continue to be open and shed light on this area and others of your life. Continue to take steps following Jesus. This is just the first. You think it’s great now. You think you’re excited now. Continue to take steps from here. Don’t stop. This is just the beginning. Ask him once you take that step of confession. Say God what’s next? I’m in for the long haul. I’m in on this journey. I want you to lead me to complete sustained victory. I’m in So remember that principle from Proverbs 28:13 confession does not equal victory, but it always starts there
Friend, do not put your purity journey on hold from God’s mercy while you take time to reason with God on whether or not you should confess or when to confess. Don’t put God’s work in your life on hold while you wait and delay this confession to your parents or to a spouse or whoever it is that needs to know in your scenario. Luke’s journey began when he was finally willing to confess and yours can begin there too.
Well, praise the Lord for this testimony from Luke. I love hearing these stories, and I hope it’s as encouraging to you as it is to me. We’re going to continue to share these stories of victory. So if you would like to share your journey, either in its entirety or maybe just a segment or a specific truth that has been helpful to you, we would love to learn from how God is leading you on your journey. Please send an email to me at satisfied@theegeneration.org. Again, send that email to satisfied@theegeneration.org and let us know what God is doing in your purity journey to lead you to be less gratified and more satisfied with Jesus Christ.
