How can you overcome habitual sins of impurity?

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mpineda

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Hi All,

Just became a member and finally worked the know how and courage to post on CA. Im a cradle Catholic and thankful that the Lord allowed me to be raised in His Church.

At the moment I’am dealing with sins of impurity that are habitual since the age of 12 and I’m now 30 years old. In the last 2-3 months I have really made an effort to correct it and be done with this awful habit. I try to go to confession almost every week and i feel that I confess these same sins over and over. At times I begin to feel dishearten and wonder why i keep falling if I’m making the greatest efforts to stop? What hurts the most is that it makes me feel disconnected from my wife and young daughter.

Has anyone else gone through this same problem and can offer guidance but most important your prayers.
 
I’m a few years younger, but in the exact same boat as you. I’ve been at it since I was eleven, and only started trying to correct it about half a year ago.

Weekly confession has helped quite a bit. The priest has assured me, ad infinatum, not to be ashamed or embarrassed, but rather rejoice that I feel the call of God to continually try to better myself. Everybody sins, everybody falls, and the best we can do is to pick ourselves back up and try again.

I’ve been trying to say the rosary daily. It’s helped me out more than I can say, and I definitely suggest it to you.
 
My brother,

Don’t watch pornography, because this really throws your efforts off. It is like the devil giving you a bullet to your gun to shoot yourself in the head. Pray the rosary daily, ask Our Lady to intercede for you and pray with you to the Lord for strength overcoming the temptations when they come. I’m 26, this has really helped me. At night I even pray the rosary without the rosary beads. This helps to keep me safe from the temptations. I usually fall asleep praying the rosary, but I wake up the next day feeling great, because I won the day’s battle with the help of Our Lady, and power of Our Lord Jesus Christ.:tanning:

Hope this helps. It sure has helped me.👍
 
Well, I haven’t been dealing with sins of impurity for as long as you have, but I definitely understand how habitual these sorts of things can become. My advice is to pray, and pray often.

I’ve taken up the devotion of three Hail Mary prayers every morning and night, asking the Blessed Mother to pray for my protection against all mortal sin. It’s helped so much I’m honestly flabbergasted. (Don’t you love that word?) Also, the Rosary is an incredibly powerful prayer. Say it every day.

I also found it helpful to remove anything that might lead me into sin. Try to make your environment prayerful and conducive to right behavior. Pictures of Jesus and Our Lady, etc. help remind us to honor God in our actions. For example, I like to pray in my school’s chapel because a beautiful painting of Jesus there helps keep my mind on Him.

And above all, trust in God’s forgiveness. No one is perfect and we all have our faults, but if we earnestly seek to do God’s will, He will show us the way.
 
mpineda said:
Hi All,

Just became a member and finally worked the know how and courage to post on CA. Im a cradle Catholic and thankful that the Lord allowed me to be raised in His Church.

At the moment I’am dealing with sins of impurity that are habitual since the age of 12 and I’m now 30 years old. In the last 2-3 months I have really made an effort to correct it and be done with this awful habit. I try to go to confession almost every week and i feel that I confess these same sins over and over. At times I begin to feel dishearten and wonder why i keep falling if I’m making the greatest efforts to stop? What hurts the most is that it makes me feel disconnected from my wife and young daughter.

Has anyone else gone through this same problem and can offer guidance but most important your prayers.
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Many are going through this same problem, friend. First, you must root out what is called the occasion of the sin, or that by which the sin enters into your life. If it is your computer, only go on for work, keeping a strict time and content limit to your web access. Keep a holy card of Our Lord by the computer, to remind yourself of whom you offend by your sin. You may reverently kiss the card as well, asking for God’s protection through Christ.

But most importantly, your spiritual life must be strong. If you only fight the occasions, you shall be less externally only. You may still internally be greatly tempted, and will still fail, if you do not have a strong interior defense, for your temptation will often overwhelm you and lead you to more greatly harm yourself and your loved ones.

The best answer for that is to pray the Holy Rosary! Our Lady is a most powerful intercessor, more powerful than all the saints, and God listens to every petition she sends for the children of her Rosary, for she is so humble that her will is completely united to God’s. Pray at least one 5 decade Rosary a day. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the model of purity, and she will place you under her protection.

When tempted, reach for your Rosary and say a few Hail Marys asking for protection. Or say an ejaculatory prayer, such as “Lord by Thy Holy Cross, Defend me from my enemies,” while making a Sign of the Cross. Very effective!

Pray to St. Michael the Archangel as well, saying the prayer of his, for more protection from the snares and traps of the devil.

Weekly Confession is still good. It is very good. Do not give up, for God wants you to perservere and win! Nothing is impossible with God!

Last, but not least, get a spiritual director priest. He will be a good aide and counselor to you in your battle with lust and the devil.

God Bless You!
 
YoungCatholic21 said:
Many are going through this same problem, friend. First, you must root out what is called the occasion of the sin, or that by which the sin enters into your life. If it is your computer, only go on for work, keeping a strict time and content limit to your web access. Keep a holy card of Our Lord by the computer, to remind yourself of whom you offend by your sin. You may reverently kiss the card as well, asking for God’s protection through Christ.
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YES. Figure out what it is that gives an occasion for sin and get rid of it! This has also been a great help for me, and when you begin to avoid things that might lead you to sin, it becomes easier to abandon them entirely. One day you will wake up and wonder why you even bothered with those things in the first place.

Pray to Our Lady and Jesus every day! Throw temptation out of your life and replace it with prayer! Praying for everyone in this thread!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against…the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

Ephesians 6:10-13
 
To all the men who commented, thank you very much. Your words of concern and spiritual advice are comforting. I move to make these actions part of my life and hope in the Lord that these impurities will have no control over me. Again, thank you and pray for me as I will pray for you.
 
May I encourage you to join the “Impurity Addiction Support Group” on these forums? forums.catholic-questions.org/group.php?groupid=369

Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed. No one knows who you are, it’s the largest group on this website and I myself am a member. The only person who wants you to remain in hiding with this habit and/or addiction is Satan. It certainly is not God.

It doesn’t matter if this is just a habit due to immaturity or if you’re a full blown sex addict in need of a recovery program. You’ll probably find that this group is a good start.

God bless.
 
The_Bucket said:
May I encourage you to join the “Impurity Addiction Support Group” on these forums? forums.catholic-questions.org/group.php?groupid=369

Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed. No one knows who you are, it’s the largest group on this website and I myself am a member. The only person who wants you to remain in hiding with this habit and/or addiction is Satan. It certainly is not God.

It doesn’t matter if this is just a habit due to immaturity or if you’re a full blown sex addict in need of a recovery program. You’ll probably find that this group is a good start.

God bless.
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Dear Bucket,

You must of read my mind. I just asked to be a member of the group about 10 minutes ago. Look forward to learning more from others with the same struggle. Your words about Satan wanting me to be ashame could no be more true. It really struck me. Thank you and God bless.
 
mpineda said:
Dear Bucket,

You must of read my mind. I just asked to be a member of the group about 10 minutes ago. Look forward to learning more from others with the same struggle. Your words about Satan wanting me to be ashame could no be more true. It really struck me. Thank you and God bless.
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Yeah well it sucks when you have to learn it first hand. I’ve dealt with this addiction for the better part of a decade and I grew up in a house where my father was a full-blown sex addict and had multiple affairs that he and my mom covered up while trying to portray all of us living in a strict Catholic household. It’s not fun stuff. But we all come from broken circumstances because we’re all fallen. It’s not an excuse to carry on with our grave habitual sins.

I’ll surely level with you that it’s grave matter, though culpability is different if it’s a full-blown addiction. Unfortunately, that just makes it harder to dig out. The good news is that Jesus knows all your faults and failures. And guess what? He loves you anyway. Really and truly. All He wants is you to accept His love. Do it. It will change your life. Uprooting this sin requires work. Jesus never promised us that if we believe in Him our lives will be roses. No. He said to deny ourselves and take up our cross while we follow Him.

I assure you, however, that living in the light is way better than living in the darkness of this sin. I thought I couldn’t live without an unfettered connection to the Internet at home. I thought I could not live with other people knowing about this addiction. The truth is that I couldn’t live WITH that connection to the Internet and I couldn’t live WITH it being a secret.
 
Well, it’s embarrassing, but I’m just gonna throw out that I’m actually a girl. 😊

In all seriousness though, everyone goes through this. It’s not worth putting your soul in danger to avoid embarrassment, and I’m proud of everyone in this thread and on CAF who is man (or woman) enough to admit they need help and to ask for it.

Praying for everyone! With God all things are possible, and even though we all stumble, our God is a merciful God who is slow to anger and quick to forgive. Bucket is right; Satan wants us to think we can’t be forgiven. He wants us to be too ashamed, embarrassed, and despairing to ask for forgiveness. He knows he’s going down, and he wants us to go down with him. Put your trust in God, and don’'t listen to the doubting voice inside you. God loves all of us, and that’s a fact.
 
classica87 said:
Well, it’s embarrassing, but I’m just gonna throw out that I’m actually a girl. 😊

In all seriousness though, everyone goes through this. It’s not worth putting your soul in danger to avoid embarrassment, and I’m proud of everyone in this thread and on CAF who is man (or woman) enough to admit they need help and to ask for it.

Praying for everyone! With God all things are possible, and even though we all stumble, our God is a merciful God who is slow to anger and quick to forgive. Bucket is right; Satan wants us to think we can’t be forgiven. He wants us to be too ashamed, embarrassed, and despairing to ask for forgiveness. He knows he’s going down, and he wants us to go down with him. Put your trust in God, and don’'t listen to the doubting voice inside you. God loves all of us, and that’s a fact.
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Oh hey I didn’t realize women had struggles with lust. Or with anger. Or with any sin that’s deemed more “masculine” by society. Please. We’re all sinners. If priests deal with sexual thoughts and lustful temptations on a daily basis, I’ll wager that even the most cloistered nun does the same. It’s the easiest way for the devil to get in so that’s the door he typically chooses. He’s a path of least resistance guy.

And then when he gets you there, he keeps you there by going after your sense of self-worth and your pride. Our broken nature and prone to lust may trip us up into grave sin, but it’s shame that keeps us there. I’ve seen it in my life, I’ve seen it in my father’s life, I’ve seen it in a lot of men and a couple of women who attend S-meetings. It’s all the same.

Satan does a darn good job of convincing us that we’re not worthy of God’s love or other people’s love because we’ve committed “nasty” sexual sins. Even if they’re “just” sins with ourselves. Sometimes that’s worse! We’ve kept ourselves from sinning with others but we can’t stop sinning when no one else is around, so that reveals that we’re truly disgusting. Right? Wrong. We’re just people. We’re just human beings who are fallen. We should never accept these kinds of sins and deny their reality. We should never say “oh hey, it’s fine to look at porn, masturbation is natural and good etc.” We should say “Yeah, people fall into this sin all the time. It’s not to be condoned, but everything’s going to be OK if you take five minutes to go to confession and accept His love. If you’ve got a habitual problem or an addiction, seek some real help. You’re not pathetic. You’re choosing to win. You’re choosing to quit fighting on your own and letting God do it for you. Now let Him love you!”
 
Bucket, you just made my day. 😃 Sending prayers and good vibes to everyone in the thread!
 
This is all 12th step stuff classica87. If I’m not carrying the message to other people, I’m not following through on my recovery.

And that’s not to say that I’ve got this all licked or whatnot. The steps, while done sequentially, are never actually fully accomplished. You’ve got to go back and knock them out over and over again even after you’ve run through them the first time. Accepting our powerlessness, surrendering to God, asking him to remove our defects and following nothing but His will is a daily task, an hourly task.
 
Brothers/sisters,

For anyone struggling with sexual impurity: Please visit settingcaptivesfree.com Thousands are free through their Bible based course including myself after 13 years of bondage!!!
 
Extremely Useful One Sentence Aspiration Prayer:

Jesus, save us or we perish!

chapter and verse = ____________________
 
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