A good army commander during the war anticipates the enemy's moves because not knowing what the enemy does will lead to a trap. It is a great advantage to know the enemy's tactics when you want to win a battle and eventually the entire war.

I’ve written over 60 articles on lust, addiction, temptation, and the guilt of pornography. I’ve read numerous articles, books, and listened to people share their experiences.

This has given me a clear picture of how addiction forms, its goal, and how it keeps one trapped. I'm lying out the strategy of the enemy. These are the three main steps lust uses to keep you stuck.

Step 1: Use Deep Fears to Prepare a Good Soil for Temptation

Everyone experiences difficulties in life. When we go through something painful, we develop hurt, fear, and insecurity. The enemy uses these to create desires to solve those feelings.

These emotions shape how we view the world. We feel like we need to act in certain ways to avoid getting hurt again, to prove our worth, or to escape fear. This leads to a desire to act. While this desire itself isn’t sinful, it’s where the root of lust begins.

Step 2: Strengthen the Desire to Feel Pleasure

In a broken world, we seek healing, comfort and fulfillment. These desires can lead us to seek the wrong solutions. Even when we know something is wrong, we choose it because we feel we deserve relief after all the hardship. The enemy convinces us that we deserve pleasure because of our pain.

Is it true?

Although a lot of things don't function the way they should because we live in a broken world, we shouldn't solve our pain through the wrong means. Sadly, we fall because of a lack of trust in the goodness of God to fulfill those deep desires and needs.

Instead of seeking comfort in God, we look for comfort elsewhere. Sin often becomes our response to pain, and we justify it because we were wronged. We justify the pleasure even knowing it's wrong.

Step 3: Once They Fail, Overwhelm Them With Guilt

A compromise leads to watching pornography, and after we fail, the enemy overwhelms us with guilt.

We feel we deserve to drown in guilt, and as it grows, it breaks down our self-esteem. We begin to identify with our failures, leading to more failures. The only release from this cycle seems to be more sin, and we feel stuck. We feel like we can't go to God or receive freedom.

The cycle continues, all because we embrace guilt.

Final Thoughts

It’s painful to see this pattern trapping people. But God’s heart is to lift us up and transform us. I hope this post helps you recognize the pattern of lust in your life and start reversing its tactics. Your hurts, insecurities, and fears can be healed by God as you draw closer to Him. He gives us the hope of eternal life. Guilt has no right to torture us as we pursue godliness and purity.

It's not about whether we deserve pleasure; it's about the fact that God deserves us. He paid a high price for us, dying while we were still sinners. We don't need to be perfect; we just need to surrender and allow Him to transform us into who we were created to be.

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After Writing 60+ Articles on Lust - Here’s the Destructive Strategy of the Enemy To Trap You