Conquering Destructive Desires

Conquering Destructive Desires According to the Bible

Conquering destructive desires is the will of God for every believer. The Bible is very clear that we are constantly in battle, and the battle begins in our minds.

If you don’t fight in your mind, it will reach down to your will, and your will fulfill the lust of the flesh.

The word conquer is a military term, when you conquered, you are victorious and a winner. These desires are destructive and harmful to your spiritual growth. They are unholy, evil, and malicious desires.

And we need to find a way to deal with them, but before we look into that, let’s establish some truth that will help us see the urgency of dealing with these destructive desires.

The Christian Teenagers in A Corrupt Society

2 Timothy 2:22 KJV

[22] Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Proverbs 16:32 KJV

[32] He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

It is no doubt that those who are born of God, believers are in a constant battleground against the wicked one. Just because you are saved does not mean you are going to experience the victorious Christian life.

It is truly simple to be saved because Christ did the hardest part, but where the problem is living a victorious Christian life. God does not want to stay on the other side, but you are to be in Canaan.

In order for you to conquer, you just understand the pipe piper of these destructive desires.

Satan meaning adversary knows that he can not get you to hell again, but he will make sure that you are not useful for the one who purchased and bought you with a price.

He does not want you to live your life for him, he wants to render your life useless and unproductive for the Lord.

Having the knowledge of his devices against you will make you prepare for his attacks. But most of you are ignorant of his tactics against you. “Lest Satan Get advantage of us”

Paul wants to remind believers of the spiritual danger ahead in their Christian journey as they embark on their new life in Christ.

As we pass the time of our sojourning here on earth, we should not take Christian living lightly.

We must beware of the temptations and snares of the devil along life’s (rough and rocky) journey as we.

The desire is also referred to as lust which we see in this passage of the Scripture. God has warned us about the effect of these desires, but the greatest joy is that we can conquer these destructive desires.

But brings joy to my Christian life is the reality of me through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit to conquer those sinful desires.

You say, pastor, I do not think I have destructive desires, I am good the way I am, I do not think that I struggle with anything at all.

In conquering destructive desires, there must be an identification of these wrong desires that want to dominate our lives.

List of Destructive Desires 

• Anything that Bible calls sin is destructive 
• Anything that seems like Sin is Destructive
• Anything that leads to a sin is destructive
• Anything that is wrong to have now 
• Anything is unholy- it could be unholy feeling
• Anything that arouse your flesh desires – pornography

Let me simplify this to your understanding, maybe you will understand this better, what Bible calls sin is sinful, regardless of what our society says about it, and it is definitely destructive.

Behind every abortion today is a destructive desire untamed or uncontrolled, behind every prison cell and jailhouse is the unconquered desires.

I will tell you that your pastor loves you enough to tell you how these desires have ruined the lives of men and women who were supposed to do a great thing for the Lord useless.

That is why we need to be informed about how these destructive desires work, and not be ignorant about them.

How Do These Destructive Desires work?

It is important to understand how these destructive desires work and operate in the lives of believers.

• They are deceptive 
• They are dishonesty 
• They are damaging
• They are developed

How Do I Conquer Destructive Desires?

1. Understand and Believe It is Possible.

I can do all things – 

The grace of God helps us- Titus 2:11-12

Ask the Lord- David in Psalm 51

One of the best ways to consistently have victory over sin is to realize that Christ has already won the victory, you just have to access to the victory.

Ill- Children of Israel

Joshua 1- Be strong and have good courage 

Righteous are as bold as lions.

If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse. You can not fight the spiritual matter with fleshly weapons. God wants us to conquer the destructive desire through the power of the Holy Spirit.

How do I have this spirit? Ephesians 1:13-14

1. Take Initiative- 2Tim 2, Proverbs 6

The step you need to take is to run

• Run from- There is a time to run, and there is a time to fight. Don’t fight when you are supposed to run, and don’t run when you are supposed to fight. 
• Run to
• Run with

Don’t make provision for sin to fulfill the desires thereof- 2 Corinthians 7:1

1. Renewing your mind. 

Here’s where a “renewed mind” comes in: “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2b).

Believers are to have a radical transformation by renewing their minds if they want to be conquering destructive desires. They are to change their thinking pattern from worldliness to godliness. 

The Greek present tense of the verb used here tells us that God desires the renewal of mind to be an ongoing, continual, prevailing action. Only then can a victorious Christian life in accordance with the will of God be a reality. 

This is how God intends the renewing of mind to be “be ye continually transformed by the renewing of your mind”—through God’s Word, of course!

Exercising the mind on spiritual things, guided by the Holy Scriptures, will bring about this desired spiritual outcome in our daily living. Giving our heart and mind to dwell on what the Lord has commanded through His written Word (the Scriptures) is the utmost important spiritual exercise for every believer. In so doing, he is able to differentiate between the godly and the worldly, and thereby keep from being trapped by the snares of the devil. 

• Develop a spiritual warfare mentality 
• See the world as a battle ground

1. Remember your identity in Christ.

• you have divine nature
• Children of light
• The more you reaffirm who you are in Christ, the more your behavior will reflect your true identity.

1. Seek Biblical Help

One of the lies of the devil is, your sins are hidden, and many young people have been deceived into this. And that is why you watch pornography secretly and do other things that are destroying your life.

Numbers 23:23

When you properly deal with your sins, confess them, it shows how humble you are, and God is going to give you more grace, to deal with those habits.

But you are lying to yourself thinking you are fine, hey you just fool yourself.

You can never fool Go, and this is one of the reasons why people failed, and backslide because they cannot open up about their tough situation.

Ill- I struggle with sin.

Conclusion 

Conquering destructive desires is possible, and you can do it with God’s help.

If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse.

There may be some sins a man cannot speak, but there is no sin which the blood of Christ cannot wash away. Why do you need to conquer these desires, it is for your good, for those around you, and for the glory of God?

If you are not saved, you have never trusted Christ alone for salvation, please don’t leave without making a decision.