April 17th

Love Abounding

“⁹And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.” Philippians 1:9-10 NKJV

Love is something porn addicts often loose grasp of because the porn persuades them to think of lust as love.  Lust is the opposite of love, and it spoils the good fruit that love grows.  If we’ve been loading our minds with lust, we’ll need to detoxify our thoughts by connecting with God.  

God is the source of true love and healing.  Connecting with him will help us re-learn how to love without lust.  God showed us what real love was when he sacrificed Jesus on our behalf.  Jesus suffered our punishment and died in our place.  When we place faith in Jesus, we open the spiritual valve that allows God’s love to begin filling our heart.  His love will transform our hearts, provided we don’t take a detour back into bad habits.  When we embrace sinful habits, our heart becomes hardened toward God and the transformation process is stifled.  Our heart begins to fill with lusts and delicacies of the world instead of God’s love.  Our spiritual vision likewise diminishes, such that right and wrong begin to blur.   

If we turn from our sinful habits and ask God for help in arresting them, we will be able to re-open that spiritual valve in our heart.  God’s love will start filling us again.  We can then pray that our love would abound more and more in knowledge and discernment.  The knowledge that Paul was talking about specifically addresses the day-to-day things we will need to do to walk in purity.   

Peter wrote that God’s “divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, ⁴by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:2-4 NKJV).   God has made everything we need to know for breaking addiction freely available to us through his promises.   

The way we learn these promises is by studying our Bible each day.  As we do this, the Holy Spirit will teach us and grow God’s love in us.  The amazing part is that we’ll become partakers of his nature, escaping the corruption in the world brought through lust!  The key word is “partake.”  We must keep scooping up God’s living water of the Bible into our minds.  As we do so, the corruption of lust will be washed from us.  We will grow in knowledge, love and spiritual discernment.  We will be able to quickly recognize what will help or hinder our relationship with God.   

Questions for further thought:

• Why is corrupting our love so important to the devil?  (Romans 13:8-10)
• In what ways have you sheltered lust in your life? How has this affected your ability to show true love?
• Considering John 4:1-14, what are the sources of good and bad “spiritual drinking water” in your life?

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, Thank you for showing us what true love is.  I confess that I have fallen short of showing true love to other people in so many ways.  Please forgive me and cleanse me from my sin.  I confess the sinful habits of _______(list) that I have tolerated in my life.  I turn from them now and ask for your help in stopping them completely.    Jesus, please refill me with your love today and may my love abound more and more in knowledge and discernment.  I want to walk in purity, pleasing you.  Please show me the way.  Thank you, Jesus. I praise you now and forever! Amen.”