Fast From Pornography
Have you found yourself to be somewhat addicted to internet pornography or sexual behavior? Then you might want to try the FORTY DAY FAST. In terms of pornography, this means a total visual or "image withdrawal" for forty days. This is especially important for men who have been addicted to internet homoerotic pornography. If you have been taking "snapshots" of homoerotic pornography, your mental camera is loaded. You retain a memory bank of imagery on which you continuously depend. This loaded camera of images compulsively, impulsively draws you to want to see pornography because it is exciting and euphoric. This is why it is important for you to have an extended fast from all imagery; to have an "image withdrawal" so that the film of these images has time to fade . During the 40 day fast you will wipe your mental screen free of all such imagery and purify your mind.
If it is homosexual behavior from which you want to fast, you can also use the following accountability tools for that purpose as well. God's Word says, "Draw close to the Lord, and he will draw close to you. Cleanse your hands, and purify your hearts, and don't be double-minded any longer".
The most common thing about sexually addictive people is that they have a thought/imagination door which is always open, and addiction begins in the mind. If they allow the first thought/imagination, they are soon under a sexual "trance" which they experience as irresistable. Romans 12:2-3 says, "Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed-how?-by the renewing of the mind".
Addicts are people who are especially vulnerable by reason of (l) A set-up or state of chronic emotional de-vitalization, and (2) Their hair-trigger reactions to homoerotic stimulation. Given these conditions, as soon as a sexual thought/imagination is formed and indulged for awhile, they are on their way to inevitable sexual behavior in one form or another. They must learn to close the mind or thought/imagination door as quickly as possible. How? How are sexual thoughts formed?
Through four doorways. (1) The eyes, (2) the ears, (3) touch, and (4) memory. When he sees, hears, touches or remembers some homoerotic object of attraction, he is instantly triggered to act-out sexually. Once a thought/imagination is formed by whatever passes through these doorways, he finds himself unable to resist. This is why the door to the mind/imagination must be closed quickly and decisively. Addictive people cannot indulge even a small thought/imagination without it compelling their wills and actions. Again, this is why a FAST is so important to clear and clean the mind and heart completely and to learn self-control at the entrance of these doorways.
It is my experience that God Our Father in His love for the addict will stop you if you cannot stop yourself. He allows you to experience a "break-up, a break-down, so that you can make a break-through and break-out" of your former compulsive, impulsive, obsession with the sexual. I have found that He usually allows a crisis to enter a person's life when they are out of control sexually. It seems to take one or all of four forms: (1) The person becomes extremely emotionally miserable, depressed, troubled to the point of some form of emotional breakdown. (2) The person's physical, medical health is effected by sexually risky behavior, or by mental health related complications. (3) The person finds himself in serious trouble with his family, and other relationships. (4) The person gets in trouble with the law. So before Our Father administers serious discipline, here is what you must do!
Use the Daily Accountability Sheet or the Hourly Accountability Sheet for your Fast. (If the links do not open, write me and I'll send these sheets along to you). If you are using the Daily AS, simply place a NP when there has been NO PORNOGAPHY for that day next to the day's date. The DAS is for you if you feel you are not under intense and extreme temptation to pornography and believe you can manage a day's stretch of accountability at a time. At the end of the week, send these sheets to me (via e-mail or post) so that you have a source of accountability and a person who will pray for you during your entire fast. You can remain fairly anonymous by using a code name if you'd like. If you send in your responses by e-mail, I will know your address but you can be sure that I shall respect your privacy and confidentiality.
If you should "break" your fast in the first twelve days, you will need to begin again. This is necessary because you need twelve days of complete abstinence in order to gain headway and strength. After the twelve days, if you break your fast at any time, all you need do is add a day on to your 40 day period of fasting, rather than starting all over again.
What are the benefits of such a fast? Like the film in the camera, after forty days, you will experience a fading of both the images and the desire for the images. You most likely will experience a sense of freedom and strength. There will be a freeing of your mind. As it says in Romans 12:2: Don't be conformed to the world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will know what is the perfect and pleasing will of God for your life!
However, not everyone is able to take a day at a time and find themselves successful, though you might want to begin by using the DAS system. If, at any time, or even right from the beginning, you are feeling highly tempted and under great pressure to indulge pornography, then you should start with or switch to the Hourly Accountability Sheet. When you are using the Hourly AS; at the end of each hour place a NP when there has been NO PORNOGAPHY and a P when you have indulged in PORNOGRAPHY. Again, you can send these to me via e-mail or postal mail (if you need to on a daily basis) or weekly. That's all there is to the 40 Day Fast!
It is my experience that men who are using the Forty Day Fast (very useful as a Lenten 40 day discipline) find that they become more confirmed and strengthened in the three relationships which make up their IDEAL SELVES, namely:
a. Your relationship to God- You feel at peace and at one with God. You recapture your best feelings with God, times of His presence and activity in your life. Your closeness and fellowship with the Father will feel alive and intimate again!
b. Your relationship to important others-your family members especially. What is their best image of you as father, husband, son, relative, friend, Christian man or minister? The fast will remind you of how these people view you and how you want to be seen by them. You will be at peace in these various roles. You will be integrated, have a good conscience, be undivided and content.
c. Your relationship to your work-The fast will remind you of your best ideal image of yourself which comes through your work. Think of how others see you; e.g. skilled craftsman, accomplished musician, expert in your field, etc. You will find yourself more productive, effective, and content with your work, your vocation or ministry and your avocations.
TRY THE FORTY DAY FAST
Mark 9:29 "And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting." MARK 9:28-29 Prayer and fasting do not drive certain demons out. If the name of Jesus and faith in His name won't do the job, then fasting and prayer won't either. Jesus is saying that fasting and prayer are the only ways of casting out this type of unbelief. An unbelief that comes as a result of ignorance can be done away with by receiving the truth of God's Word (Rom. 10:17; 2 Pet. 1:4). However, the unbelief that hindered the disciples in this case was a "natural" type of unbelief. They had been taught all of their lives to believe what their five senses told them. They were simply dominated by this natural input more than by God's supernatural input (God's Word). The only way to overcome this unbelief that comes through our senses is to deny our senses through prayer and fasting. Fasting accomplishes many things. One of the greatest benefits of fasting is that through denying the lusts of the flesh, the spirit man gains ascendancy. Fasting was always used as a means of seeking God to the exclusion of all else. Fasting does not cast out demons but rather, it casts out unbelief. Fasting is beneficial in every aspect of the Christian life - not only in the casting out of devils. The real virtue of a fast is in humbling ourselves through self denial (Ps. 35:13; 69:10), and that can be accomplished through ways other than total abstinence. Partial fasts can be beneficial, as well as fasts of our time or pleasures. However, because appetite for food is one of man's strongest drives, fasting from food seems to get the job done the quickest. Fasting should be a much more important part of our seeking God.
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Note: If you are responding by e-mail, copy the sheet on a word document and then type in the NP or P.
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Read the Book: Forty Days To Freedom by LOMAS
Christ-Centered 12 Steps
Sexual Addiction Recovery
Online sexual Addiction Services
National Council of SA and Compulsivity
Sexual Recovery Institute
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