One of the common refrains we hear in Christian circles is to give our problem(s) “over to God”. Sounds like a great idea and I did it for a long time, or at least I thought I did.
One day I was meeting with my Lead Pastor about some problems I was having in my role at church. I was feeling really down and my attitude had taken a noticeable downturn and we were both concerned. Throughout the conversation I finally realized there were certain things I would have to let go of and give over to God. He was going to have to find the large number of volunteers I needed because I sure couldn’t do it.
My Pastor affirmed my new approach by saying, “Yes, give it over to him in Prayer”.
Did you catch it? The key word in that phrase? “…in prayer”
Maybe it sounds silly to you, but it was at that moment that I realized I hadn’t been giving my problem over to God… I had been ignoring them. All that time I thought I had been giving things to God I had been dropping them on the ground hoping God would come along and pick them up without my asking, like we’d pick up a nickel off the ground.
What does this have to with porn? Sometimes in our efforts to give up sin, any sin, but particularly pornography, we don’t really want to give it up so our half-hearted attempt is to “give it to God” which really means we’re going to ignore it. This allows us to continue in our sin without taking the blame because well, “we’ve given it to God”. In this way, if our sin continues it must be God’s fault.
What’s the difference maker? The difference, I believe, is intentionality. In the context of pornography you have to want to change, to be free from the bondage of slavery to pornography and you have to want God to help you do it.
There are many steps to healing which are covered elsewhere, but one of them is to ask God to help you, to realize that you can’t do this alone.
If you look up prayer in the dictionary it defines it as “an address … a petition … an earnest request … an act”. These are all active words, they are all intentional, they all require you to make a conscious choice and take action.
Healing and freedom sill aren’t going to be easy and some people have to fight harder then others, but it’s impossible without making a sincere, intentional petition to God asking Him for His intervention.
So examine yourself and see if what you’ve been doing is just throwing your needs on the ground or if you’ve been holding them up to a faithful God who loves you and wants to see you free!
I feel I should point out that I didn’t always get it wrong and I doubt you do either. We just need to be sure that we’re being intentional anytime we involve God in the process. He deserves nothing less.