In my book, Winning the Battle with Him, I try to bring out that there's two critical areas that have to be dealt with. One is to understand my identity and my position in Christ, and the second is to win this battle for our mind. But first of all, what you have to do is to break the bondage. Now, the basis for this I think comes right out of Romans 6. Romans 6 is our Emancipation Proclamation. We are clearly identified with Christ and His life, His death, His burial, and His resurrection. And as Paul goes through this passage, keep in mind that all he is talking about until you get to verse 11 is past tense. that we are united with Christ, that we are united with Him in His death, His burial, His resurrection. All of that has been accomplished because of who we are now in Christ. And given that basis, that position, that identity that we have in Christ, we're not a pervert, we're not a sex addict, we're children of God. He says, therefore do not allow sin to reign in your mortal body. Now that's our responsibility. How are you going to do that? Do not use your body as an instrument of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your body as an instrument of righteousness." Think about what Paul is saying. It's my responsibility not to allow sin to reign in my mortal body. How am I going to do that? Don't use my body as an instrument of unrighteousness. Well, you can't commit a sexual sin without doing that. So, if you've committed a sexual sin, you've used your body as an instrument of unrighteousness, you've allowed sin to reign there. And you say, ok, that probably happened to me, then how did you resolve it? Well I confessed it, didn't resolve it, did it? And now you are in what I call a sin, confess, sin, confess, sin, confess, I give up cycle. And chances are you will stay there all your life. But truth of the matter is the Scripture says it is sin, confess, repent. Now, add on to that another important truth, 1 Corinthians 6 says, don't you know that your body is the Temple of God? Therefore, don't join your body to a harlot, lest you become one flesh, for you are one spirit with the Lord. Here's what we've learned to do. We do this when we help anybody with any type of a sexual problem, whether it's severe cases like homosexuality or abuse or whatever, or just porno addictions, these kind of issues, is we'll have them pray and ask the Lord to reveal to their mind every sexual use of their body as an instrument of unrighteousness. And God does. Amazingly, he usually starts with the first one. And for each one, we have them pray. Lord, I renounce having sex with so-and-so and ask you to break that bond spiritually, mentally, emotionally, whatever it may be. And I don't really understand this folks, I'll be honest with you that we become one flesh with that person, but I know that a bonding takes place. And unfortunately what happens is that there have been many experiences like that, especially amongst Believers, then when they come to Christ and they get married was intended by God to be there probably won't be there for them. For ladies what happens is they will look at sex as kind of dirty, sometimes they don't want to be touched. Men have developed a lust problem hoping that somehow marriage would solve that, but it doesn't solve that, it exposes it is what actually happens. Your spouse can meet your sexual needs but they can't resolve your problem with lust. And any attempt to ask your spouse to do that is really going to destroy the intimacy that God wants you to have in marriage. And so my point is, is that if you want to get out of the sexual bondages, whatever they are, whether it has been to you or by you, I said somehow you have to break the bondage first. And that is why I think in Romans 12, verse 1, I urge you by the mercies of God to present your bodies to God as a living sacrifice. It comes before the renewal of your mind. And once you broke that bondage, then the possibility of renewing your mind is infinitely easier to do that. And so that's the next step, is to not only break the bondage, and we'll share later how to do that, but to also be in that position. Once the bondage is broken, then I can be transformed by the renewing of my mind. ♪ Your passion beats for Christ alone In the book I wrote, Winning the Battle Within, I talked about breaking the bondages that really resolve the conflict through genuine repentance to get people connected with God so the very life of Christ can work through me. Then the ongoing battle is to renew my mind. In chapter 12 of Romans verse 2 it says, "...no longer be conformed to this world, because we all were, but be transferred now by the renewing of our mind." Now that's going to take time to do that. Think of it this way, think of your mind like a coffee pot and you put a lot of coffee in there and it's dark and it's smelly and you can see it and then one day you decide, boy I'm going to clean up my mind. Now how am I going to do that? Is there any way that I can filter out the coffee that's been put in there? Unfortunately, no. But imagine beside the coffee pot there is a bowl of crystal clear ice and on it it says the Word of God. Now I wish I could take that whole bowl and dump it in there, but you can't. But you can take one cube a day. And if you go back and read Psalm 119 in the first chapter it talks about, how shall a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to thy word. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I may not sin against you. Now if you kept doing that, just taking one little cube a day, and just keep doing that, after a while you wouldn't taste, touch, or even see or smell the coffee grounds. It's actually still in there. But it would become less and less and less and less. Now that will work provided it's not one cube, one internet access, one cube, one playboy. You're doing that, you're at best treading water. Now, does it take time to do this? Yes, it takes time to do that. And I think if you understand the process, some of this for a lot of us, and it was for me, it's gonna be one step forward, probably one step back, two steps forward, one step back, three steps forward, one step back, 10 steps forward, one step back, 20 steps forward, one step back. I remember when I first began this battle, I was a new believer, I was an aerospace engineer at the time, and I would do a few trips for the company, and I'd go to the airport, and there'd be that stack of Playboys over there, and it was like, in the Odyssey when Homer talked about the sirens and where he was going to sail by that island and the draw was incredible. I could just see other men just like you are drawn to it. And then after a while you just kind of look, what's that doing there? And then after a while you say, isn't that disgusting? wish I could say this happened overnight, but it doesn't, at least it didn't for me. But it was a process over time where it just lost its hold on me. And I tell people if you want to win this battle when you come to Christ it is like you step through the door, and Christ is the door. You stepped out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's Beloved Son. And there is Christ, He is right ahead of you. We are told to fix our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. But on each side of the hallway is like a doors and windows and people are popping their heads out and pimps are there and come on in, you want to do this and you know you want to. And there are three responses to that. One is to just go in there or to just believe it or sit down and I'm stupid, I'm dumb and ugly and just believe it, nothing really happens. Actually you are a child of God, you are in the Kingdom of God. You could get up and walk but have enough faith as a foundation probably later in your life to know that and to choose to do that. Then there is the person who says, no I'm not going to do that, I'm not going to go in there, you can't make me do it, I know who I am. You say, boy he's fighting the good fight. I said, actually he's losing. He's just letting the devil set the agenda. Put up the shield of faith, put on the armor of God, look at Jesus and just keep on walking. fix your eyes on Him. And don't pay attention to that. And boy learning to do that is just critical. It is critical for all of us. I said don't go there, don't go there. Keep on looking upon what is true. Anxiety, anxious means literally double mindedness. In Philippians chapter 4 verse 6 it says, be anxious for nothing. Don't be double minded about anything. single-minded. And let your requests be made known to God. So turn to God and the peace of God will guard your heart and your mind. But you don't end there, you turn to God. But then look at my responsibility, finally whatever is true, whatever is lovely, whatever is right, Think on those things. Don't try to not think negative thoughts. Don't try to, gee, I'm not gonna think lustful thoughts today. That won't work. Think upon what is true. We're not called to dispel the darkness. We're called to turn on the light. But that alone is not enough. The next thing is put into practice that. So do the right thing. Do the truthful thing. Do the honorable thing. Do the pure thing. And then the peace of God will be with you. First book I ever wrote was, Victory Over the Darkness. I'm just thankful to God. It's in many, many languages and sold well over a million copies. And I think the key to that was to realize who we are in Christ, what it really means to be a child of God. When I left the pastorate to teach at Telva School of Theology, I really didn't know. I may have known theologically, but the sense of Abba Father really wasn't there in my life. And I discovered that in about 1983. And that was such a paradigm shift for me in understanding really who I am. That my Heavenly Father is my Father God. You know I really didn't have the best human father and I suppose a lot of those images carry over into my Christianity. But I have a loving Heavenly Father and I know who I am, I'm a child of God. That's why in the Lord's Prayer we pray our Father. But over the years I've discovered that every hurting Christian I've dealt with had one thing in common, none of them knew who they were in Christ. Now why is that the case? If the Holy Spirit is bearing witness with my spirit, I'm a child of God, why aren't they sensing that? The good news is once I helped them genuinely repent, find their freedom in Christ, suddenly that Abba Father was there. And now they read their Bible and they see it everywhere. I'm in Him, I'm in Christ. And I bring this out in this passage because it's so important to realize how we label ourself, how we see ourself is so important in terms of my recovery from whatever problems that I've had in my past. I'm not just a product of my past anymore, I'm a product of the work of Christ on the cross. I'm a new creation. You can't fix your past, God doesn't either, He sets you free from it. I remember walking in the rescue mission in Los Angeles several years ago and And this wasn't the noon speaking thing for evangelistic purposes. I was there to talk to those who had made their decisions for Christ, were in their interning program, and then later to talk to their counselors. And when I walked in about 60 minutes to them and clapped, I looked around and thought Billy Graham had followed me in. I didn't know at the time that they were watching our video series. And the reason they really were responding to me wasn't because of me, it was really because of what I stood for and what the message was. And that was my message that morning, is to look them in the face and say, you're not a drunk, you're not a pervert, you're not gay, you're not homosexual, you're a child of God. And that's their ticket out of it. That's everybody's ticket out of there, is to realize who we are in Christ and what it really means to be a child of God. that's Paul's whole theology, that's his basis. In Colossians 2 it talks about the need for us to be firmly rooted in Christ in order that we may grow in Christ, in order that we may overcome in Christ and live in Christ. But everything comes back to that relationship with God. And I think what happens is around the world is that so many Christians are laboring under just a third of the Gospel. We present Jesus as the Messiah, He came to die for our sins, and if we pray to receive Him into our life when we die we get to go to Heaven. Is that ok to you? Well, partly ok. The problem is that would give you the sense that eternal life is something you get when you die. That's not true. That's not true. What Adam and Eve lost in the Fall was life. And what Jesus came to give us was life. And He who has the Son has the life. If all you see is the cross, then we're just forgiven sinners. Now what we really celebrate is a resurrection, because it's a resurrection, the Easter story, that gives us new life in Christ. And that new life in Christ is what identifies me. And I can't say this strongly enough, and you're in any kind of recovery movement to sit around and just say, hey, I'm Neil, I'm an alcoholic, or co-dependent, or co-addict, is to reinforce a failure identity. That's not who we are, we're children of God. We may struggle with those issues, but to identify myself for who I was in Adam is not Paul's answer. Paul's answer is to identify us for who we are now in Christ, that I'm a child of God. I really can't overstate this, how important that is because even in the secular world they know if you want to come out of sexual identity confusion, homosexual thoughts and tendencies or whatever else, if that is who you believe you are then how are you going to overcome that? here is a leap of faith for some people." I said, actually in the New Testament you are never identified as a sinner, you are identified as a saint. Now a saint just identifies who we are in Christ, what it really means to be a child of God. But if you really want to get out of this then lay the right foundation. The right foundation is to be a new creation in Christ to be a child of God. See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God and such we are. As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God. Beloved, you are not a drunk, you are not a pervert, you are not a homosexual, you are not gay, you are a child of God. I've had a lot of people who come see me and identify certain problems that they have, and this is my problem. My problem is I'm depressed or I'm anxious or I have a sex problem or alcohol or drug problem. And I said, well, that's the symptom that you're having right now, but I don't think you should ever look at your problem as singular in that sense. that somehow or another I have just a sex problem. We all have a life problem. We're all in this mess because of the fall. And the reason I'm stating that, I'm not denying the fact that you're struggling with some sexual addiction or that you've been abused or that you're depressed over it. I said, you show me anybody who's addicted to anything and I'll show you somebody who has a poor self-image, which is a symptom, not a cause. I'll show you somebody who's depressed, who's anxious, who's feeling guilty, who's struggling with anger and guilt and shame. And I said, somehow or another, you're going to solve that problem by abstaining from sex, or alcohol, or drinking? That's not going to work, folks. And this is a problem throughout the whole recovery industry. that somehow or another, if I can just get you to abstain. I said, if you're looking at alcoholism, now you got a dry drunk. He's more miserable than he was before. And that's why the failure rate is so high. And so I think what we have to look at, if you really want to get out of the kind of problems that people have in our world today, you've got to look at it holistically. have to realize that we are all in this mess because of the Fall. And people's flesh patterns will vary all over the place. And just trying to identify the flesh pattern, aha, you're this, or that, or that. I said, it's not going to be an answer. You have to see this as God's answer is to help people get back into a righteous relationship with God. Now here is what I've discovered over the years. I personally believe that if you want to have an adequate answer to get back in a righteous relationship with God, then you have to see Christ as the answer. In our book, Discipleship Counseling, probably about the only book sadly on the market today that sees God Himself as a wonderful Counselor. I'm convinced only God can set you free and bind up the broken heart. That's a role I can't have. And so when I sit down with somebody to help them, I always have in the back of my mind that there are three parties present. myself as an encourager, and the one who's inquiring, trying to find an answer for his life, and God. And there's a role that God and only God can play in that person's life. And if I try to play that role, I'm inadequate for the task. But if I allow God to be God in this process, and include Him in this process, which is what we do in our steps to freedom in Christ, everything starts to change. I find out I don't have to point out anybody's sin anymore, because God is a convict of sins. The biggest transition came for me years ago, not just in terms of theology but really of methodology. I remember I'd get stuck with people and didn't quite know where to go next and so I'd pray and ask for wisdom because God says that if you lack wisdom praying and ask for it and God will give it to you. And I was very honest with folks, I would tell them, gee I don't know your answer but I know God does and so I'm just going to stop right now and ask for that wisdom so I would have the means by which I could truly help you. And I remember sitting one time with a person for 15 minutes, I mean honestly just sat there waiting upon the Lord and they were patient. And then I started to think, isn't that interesting? I'm asking God to tell me so I could tell that person. That would make me a medium, wouldn't it? And there's only one intermediary between God and man. So I thought, why don't I have them pray? Boy, everything changed. Everything changed. And when they would pray and ask God who do they need to forgive, they may have told me about the one bad relationship that they had, but another 20 came out. Now here's my point. God knows this intimately. He knows things about my life I don't even know. He knows how many hairs I have in my head. I don't know that. Another five years, I'll have a good idea. but that's because I'm losing my hair. But God infinitely knows that and infinitely loves that person and He is the convictor of sin. And so what happened was when I put that back onto them in terms of their responsibility and dealt with them holistically out came all these other issues that are important in terms of their relationship with God. Well of course sex is going to be a part of it. But so is the need to forgive. And so is the need to deal with my pride, and my rebellion, and maybe the occultic junk that I got myself involved to. And once all that issues are dealt with, what I actually ended up with is the Ministry of Reconciliation. which is what God gave to the church. I'm helping people remove the barriers to their intimacy with God. It's gonna be hard to solicit God to be the wonderful counselor and the great physician in my life if I'm hanging on to my bitterness when God himself will turn me over to the tormentor, or to hang on to my pride when God's opposed to me. So if you want God to be God in your life, then deal with these other issues in your life. look at it holistically, and once I brought God into the process, and He knows what all those issues are, and He's the convict of sins, and they all surface, not for the purpose of sharing them, but to resolve them, guess what happens? People walk out free. And now the whole ability to be transformed by the renewal of their mind is increased dramatically.