Day 30

The Next Step

Great job being a finisher! 

I have lost count of the number of men, that I’ve known, who wanted to get free from porn as long as it didn’t cost them too much. They wanted to get rid of the guilt and shame, but they didn’t want to diligently pursue freedom. Peter challenged this mindset in yesterday’s lesson. I want to kick off by reviewing a few key things he said:  

• We escape lust through God’s promises. The power of sin has been broken but we must believe it to experience it.   
• We must diligently add to our faith the seven qualities mentioned(ie. moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love ).   
• When these qualities are increasing in our life, they make us useful and fruitful.

Peter is exhorting people to add these specific qualities to a faith that claims the promises of God. God desires the faith that enables freedom to also be a faith that diligently pursues freedom. Take the quality of moral excellence for instance. People have to decide if they are going to adopt standards for their movies and media that reflect God’s moral excellence. Many want the freedom but not the holiness required to experience it. As Peter says in verse 8, their attempt at freedom will be ‘useless and unfruitful’. If this is you, ask God to give you a heart to diligently pursue freedom by cultivating these qualities in your life.

Is true freedom even possible? Maybe you are doing better than you ever have and you’re wondering if that is good enough. What’s your definition of freedom?

The definition of freedom that I’ve adopted from Dr. Ted Roberts is:   

1. No acting out for a period of two years.   
2. Establishing healthy relationships and habits in their life.

 This is a good definition. You don’t have to settle for less. We can help you get there. Those who go it alone don’t make it.

The 30-Day Challenge is a small sampling of our free online porn addiction recovery program called the Freedom Fight. In our program, we address the six roots that drive a porn addiction. If these roots are not addressed effectively the addiction will always return. Not addressing them is like mowing a yard full of weeds, it looks great at first but the weeds always come back because the roots weren’t dealt with. Confronting these roots requires growth and development in key areas of one’s life.

Here are six roots of a porn or sex addiction and the area of growth required  to overcome them:

Root of Addiction → Solution/ Area of Growth  

• The Sexualized Society → Practical Holiness.   
• The Addicted Brain → Renewing the Mind.   
• Isolation → Authentic Relationships.   
• Negative Emotions → E.Q. and Processing your Emotions.   
• Shame → Living out of an Identity in Christ.   
• Trauma → Replacing Lies Deposited by Trauma with Truth.

Don’t underestimate how God will use the process of freeing you from porn to grow, develop and disciple you as a whole person. The Freedom Fight systematically works through each of these roots, giving a biblical, gospel-centered and clinical approach to recovery.

Someone can go through the program individually or in a small group. Going through it individually doesn’t mean going through it alone. You add accountability partners of your choosing.

Possible Next Steps For You:   

1. Start The Freedom Fight. It’s a free 50+  video online program endorsed by Josh McDowell as the #1 online porn addiction recovery program.    
2. Recruit a friend or group of friends to go through the FF with you. We encourage people to go through the FF in a small group if at all possible. We have a leader’s guide, discussion questions and other small group resources to make it easy to facilitate. With our help, whether you’ve personally had a porn addiction or not, you can lead an effective FF recovery group. Get started by reading the Leader’s Guide in our resource section.   
3. Recommend the 30-Day Challenge to some friends. 

Today’s Challenge:    

1. Answer the Reflection questions   
2. Take your next step!

Reflection Questions:   

1. What promise of God of freedom from sin are you going to claim? If you don’t have one, consider one of these(Romans 6:10-11, John 8:31-32,36, 1 Corinthians 10:13).   
2. Which of the seven qualities that Peter mentioned do you feel you need to grow in the most to help your personal purity?   
3. What is your next step?

Getting free from porn isn’t just about stopping unwanted behavior. It’s about establishing a new life. The life you were meant to live. The goal isn't just freedom, but it's to run free after Christ and His purposes (Hebrews 12:1-2).