Archive of ‘Sexual Addiction’ category

Sexual Sin and God’s Grace | What to Do When You Keep Messing Up

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Sexual Sin and Grace

In the midst of the guilt, shame and pain of sexual sins, painful thoughts fill my mind, “I can’t believe I sinned… again. Does God hate me for my addictions? Will I ever find freedom?”

If you are struggling with sexual sin today, I’ve been in your shoes. I’ve spent a lot of time talking about finding freedom from sexual sin and the importance of fighting for purity on the blog, but I haven’t spent enough time talking about grace.

To help you better understand grace, here are a few definitions.
Grace is the beauty of following Christ.
Grace is unmerited favor.
Grace is God loving us when we don’t deserve it.
Grace is God’s riches at Christ’s expense.
Grace is the divine means by which God makes Himself everything we need.

When we mess up, God gives us grace. When we feel shameful and defeated, God gives us grace. When we hide from Him, God gives us grace.

Just like Adam and Eve who hid behind fig leaves after they sinned, we run, hide, and build our own fig leaves. What fig leaves are you hiding behind? (more…)

How to Live in Freedom & Stand in Christ | Galatians 5:1 Bible Study

/ Bible Study, Devotional, Freedom From Sexual Sin & Shame, Sexual Addiction / 2 Comments

Galatians 5 Bible Study In high school I was a religious hypocrite, yet I had no idea how I was damaging the gospel. I grew up going to church, but the gospel I heard was you have to be a good and perfect Christian to get to heaven.

This was an impossible goal to reach. As hard as I tried, I could never be sinless. And so I lived in this cycle of addiction. I lived in bondage. I would try to be perfect, fail and turn back to sin.

The cycle went on and on.

Living in bondage was exhausting.

I was a religious Pharisee. I told people that I was a Christian and that I felt called to be a pastor, my church even let me preach on youth Sundays, yet I didn’t even know God. One day on the way to school, I was walking up from the parking lot with my boyfriend and he looked at me and said, “You’re a bad Christian.”

I had no idea what it meant to be a Christian. My church added to the gospel and because of this, I believed I needed to earn my salvation.

Maybe you, just like me, sometimes still think you have to be a good perfect Christian woman. Maybe you’ve lost sight of God’s grace. These desires actually make us slaves. We become slaves to our sin and lose our freedom. Why is it that we allow ourselves to be burdened again by slavery instead of living in the freedom that Christ has freely given?

You are I are living our lives like the Christians in Galatians.

In Galatians 5:1 Paul says “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (more…)

8 Truths to Know When You’re Tempted to Sin

/ Bible Study, Devotional, Freedom From Sexual Sin & Shame, Healing, Pornography, Relationship with Jesus, Sexual Addiction / Comments Off on 8 Truths to Know When You’re Tempted to Sin

Tempted to Sin? | JoyPedrow.com The moment of temptation right before you sin happens in a matter of seconds. The enemy wants you to sin. He wants victory over your life. The good news is that God has promised us that no temptation is too big or too strong for us to conquer. In this post, I hope to provide practical tips and encouragement through Scripture to help you become more like Jesus, fight temptation, and experience freedom. (more…)

Why the Church Needs to Address Porn Addiction for Women

/ Freedom From Sexual Sin & Shame, Pornography, Resources, Sexual Addiction / 8 Comments

Pornography does not only hurt men. Porn enters into our churches and impacts men AND women. When was the last time you heard a sermon on porn in your church? If so, when was the last time you heard it preached to women?

Most female porn addicts feel alone. This could be because the church isn’t talking about it.
Instead of finding freedom, women live alone in shame and bondage. (more…)

Sexual Addiction and Freedom – The Power of the Holy Spirit

/ Devotional, Freedom From Sexual Sin & Shame, Healing, Pornography, Relationship with Jesus, Sexual Addiction / 1 Comment

Freedom. We want it, we crave it, yet we think it’s impossible to have.

Even as believers, there are a lot of us living in chains. Slaves to our desires. Slaves to our sin. We have heard of the concept of freedom, but we have never experienced it for ourselves.

Most days we think we can earn this freedom. Maybe if we pray more, do more, or work more, then we will experience freedom, but eventually we run out of steam. (more…)

FREEDOM: How to Find Freedom From Sexual Sin

/ Freedom From Sexual Sin & Shame, Pornography, Sexual Addiction / 7 Comments

“Why can’t I stop lustful thoughts? Why do these thoughts of sex control me? Why hasn’t God helped me to overcome this sin? Why am I addicted to porn? Why have I never experienced freedom?”

Have you ever asked one of the above questions? First of all, know you are not alone. Countless girls struggle with controlling lustful thoughts, sexual addiction and feel enchained to sexual sins. Secondly, I want to encourage you, you can find freedom from these sins. I used to have the mentality that the only way to rid these sins and experience freedom was through “doing” – pray more, know your temptations, set up boundaries, etc. These things are all important, but “doing” more will not fix the problem.  (more…)

8 Symptoms of Habitual Sins

/ Devotional, Freedom From Sexual Sin & Shame, Pornography, Sexual Addiction, Surrender Life to Jesus / 9 Comments

Habitual Sins

Have you ever felt so controlled by a behavior that you felt enslaved to it? You may be experiencing the results of habitual sins.

Habitual sins are destructive. These are sins that feel addictive, controlling, and always present. Most of the time the sin remains in the dark and consequently the person experiences tremendous shame and guilt. Sometimes the sin even begins to define a person and becomes the main issue in their life.

Habitual sins destroy you emotionally and spiritually. Here are a few examples: over eating, lust, alcohol and drug abuse, fits of rage, dependency on a person, constant gossiping, pre-marital sex, watching porn, and masturbation. Regardless of the form of sin, there are many common characteristics one experiences when struggling with it.

(more…)

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