It's been a while since we've done any writing on the Battle blog, but that doesn't mean it's any less of a battle! Much to the contrary, as we get busy and tired with other things, the battle becomes harder. Why not take some time to review now? Ask yourself some accountability questions or get into some resources, including Internet tools.
Sometimes in the battle for purity, we get discouraged by a few setbacks. I found this when i first started implementing the disciplines outlined in Every Man's Battle in my life. It took a long time for my eyes to start "bouncing" like they were supposed to. It took a while for the desires that draw me away from purity to get to controllable levels. But they did. After about 6 weeks, i was amazed to find my eyes actually reacting the way i wanted them to. Now i can get through many more situations than i could before without impure thoughts.
But some people don't find it easy to break their impurity habits. If you've been struggling for a long time with your battle for purity without much change for the better, you need to ask yourself whether it isn't more than just bad habits. Somewhere along the way, you might have turned your habit into an addiction. This might be a hard thing to face - no one wants to be called an addict - but the cost of not facing it is even greater. You might find yourself identifying with this story. (Check out the whole blog at http://becomingsober.wordpress.com/.)
If you suspect you are addicted, check out these resources:
These pages have some simple questions you can ask yourself to help you assess whether you need to get help. If you do, don't wait another moment - get professional help as soon as you can. If you're looking for someone in the same area as our church, Peter Janetski and Associates would be a good place to start.