“Why doesn’t God just take this from me?” Help for Pornography Users (2019)
“Why doesn’t God just take this from me?” Help for Pornography Users
Why doesn’t God just take this from me?
Many of us pray sincerely that God will take our pornography issues away, believing that He has the power to do so, if He only will. However, He is more concerned with our development and growth than He is with making our difficulties go away. In this video, others share their discovery of God’s loving nature and how He has helped them find their way forward.
What does God expect of us?
When we are struggling with pornography, we can experience feelings of discouragement and frustration. We often hide these feelings from others and especially from God. We may feel we can’t approach Him for forgiveness until we have solved our problems on our own, but our loving Heavenly Father has provided a way for us to work through our challenges with the help of the Savior.
Christ has already borne our griefs and suffered for our sins, and God wants us to share with Him all of our emotions—both the positive and the negative.
How can we work with God when we feel unworthy?
The adversary wants us to feel ashamed and unworthy of God’s love. Satan wants us to believe that because we’ve done something bad, we are bad. When we feel that shame, we may feel incapable of ever being forgiven. However, God’s love for us persists no matter what we do. God wants us to pray and communicate with Him, no matter how imperfect we feel we are.
Remembering our true identity as children of God can help us avoid feeling shame or like we’re unforgivable. As children of God, we know that Heavenly Father loves us and wants to help us succeed. Making mistakes does not change our identity or make us into bad people.
Ideas for Taking Action
Here are some ideas that others have found helpful. Prayerfully consider what actions might be best for you, taking into account that those actions may or may not be listed here.
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Consider studying the principle of prayer, including its purpose, how it can help you improve, and how to express all of your feelings—both positive and negative—to the Lord for His help.
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Evaluate your social environment and assess how your relationships encourage or discourage you in developing a relationship with God. Who might positively influence you right now?
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It may be helpful to write in a journal and honestly express your feelings (both positive and negative) about God, His nature, His desires for you, and how you feel when you pray.
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Evaluate what might keep you from expressing all your feelings (both positive and negative) to God in prayer. What can you do to more fully disclose your feelings to the Lord?
Related
“Principle 1: Find Hope and Strength in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ”
“Why do I feel so bad about myself?”