FREEDOM FROM SEXUAL ADDICTION

“Help us for the glory of your name.” Ps 79:9 NLT

For fifteen years Mike Cleveland, airline pilot and founder of “Setting Captives Free,” seemed powerless as his addiction to online pornography devastated his life, his marriage and his family. The spiral of lust enslaved him “until there wasn’t a moment of his days free from its tortured domination.” The cycle of prayers for deliverance, followed by repeated indulgence in porn, XXX DVDs and sex chat-rooms, plunged him deeper into the darkness of despair and self-loathing. He longed to escape the slimy, secluded underworld of secret soul-destroying sin, but every pathetic attempt left him unchanged, unhinged, and uncertain that freedom was possible for him. Mike turned to self-help books, counselors and friends without success. His repeated disappointment, when every effort failed, led to increasing guilt and self-incrimination. When his wife insisted on a last-ditch visit with her pastor (all other remedies had been exhausted), the lights in their bleak prison cell suddenly came on. Mike learned that “deliverance belong(s) to the Lord” (Jnh 2:9 AMP), and its rules are all dictated by Him. Mike’s old motivations for getting clean—“saving my marriage for my kids’ sake; I’m a Christian, a seminary graduate and preacher”—were full of “loopholes and escape clauses” and produced one botched disaster after another. His pastor taught him that the only viable motivation for getting clean and staying clean was a commitment to glorifying God in all of his decisions, because God delivers the powerless, “For the glory of [His] name.” When Mike learned, “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1Co 10:31 NIV), the doors to freedom from years of sexual addiction began to open. Yours can too!

Share