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Hello Mike.

I am a Christian who loves your site.

But I have a problem. In spite of all the revelations and all, I have a problem and I need your prayers and advice.

I somehow got hooked to pornography, smoking and masturbation after many years in the Lord. I need help. Can you pray with me and give me some advice.

I really need help. I am ashamed of  this behavior. Hope to hear from you soon.

Hi,
I certainly will pray with you that God will give you the strength to take dominion over sin in your life.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you cannot, through Christ in you, overcome sin in your life. Christ did not die to sin so you could live in it. He died to sin so you could die to sin also. This is what God’s Word teaches concerning sin in your life:

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [ in the likeness] of [ his] resurrection:
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [ him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Rom 6:8  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

Having said all of that, you need to be aware that this is not accomplished in us overnight. In Truth we are told:

Pro 24:16  For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

“Falleth seven times” does not mean seven times at all. It will much more likely be seventy times seven. What ‘seven times’ does mean is that we all must come to see that “we can of our own selves do nothing.” What we must come to see is that we of ourselves are a complete disaster, hopelessly sold under sin. We must come to see that of ourselves we are “enmity against God… not subject to the law of God neither indeed [ capable] of being subject to God’s law.” Only after we come to understand this fact of our very makeup at the hands of the great Potter Himself, does the Potter crush us to powder and then make us a new man in Christ.

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make [ it].

Only then does He give us strength we did not have before though we sought it for many years and continued to blaspheme His name among the heathen, while we claim His name.
The apostle Paul did this and forced others to do so:

Act 26:11  And I punished them [ Christians] oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.

Realize that you must and you will overcome sin in your life when you indeed have Christ as your captain. But also realize that salvation is a process. Read the letter entitled Seven Steps to Salvation and learn to be patient. God will in His time bring you to despise and abhor the weaknesses which are now your masters. He will one day, just out of the blue, bring you to realize that you are never going there again.
I speak from experience. But learn to be both vigilant and patient. Here is a very important scripture of which you need to be aware:

Luk 21:19  In your patience possess ye your souls.

Beg God daily to give to your the spiritual strength to overcome the Adversary who will never miss an opportunity to tempt you.  Eventually Christ in you will make you able to do this:

Jas 4:7  Submit [ yourself] therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

I hope these brief words give you some direction and some hope that one day soon you will be able to say:

Phi 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

I am praying for you as so many have prayed for me!
Mike