For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Galatians 5:17)

Over the past years, we have been studying why people are so foolish. They insist on doing things that harm themselves, but refuse to do things that would make them successful and more normal.

A little over a month ago, we began to pray for the Guangdong area. Why pray for this area? Because many of our brothers and sisters from this area have difficulty thinking. We look at these people and wonder, Why are they so silly? This is closely related to the spirit of lust.

The Spirit of Lust

In Chinese, the spirit of lust is described as the seven emotions and six desires. The seven emotions are joy, anger, sorrow, thought, grief, fear, and shock. The six desires are the desires of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. These all belong to the seven emotions and six desires! The Bible does not write of joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness, but of rivalry, jealousy, etc. These things are related to the spirit of lust. A person controlled by the spirit of lust will suffer greatly. Their thinking becomes very slow, and it is difficult to describe things clearly when speaking. Joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness are likely higher-level demons in the demonic kingdom, concentrated in places like Sichuan and Guangdong in China. Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible were ruled by the spirit of lust and eventually perished.

Sexual Disturbances

Anything related to the sexual organs, such as frequent masturbation, nocturnal emission, premature ejaculation, and women's blood leakage, is all the work of the spirit of lust. Many people especially like to watch pornographic films, romance novels, and TV dramas. As they watch, they become foolish. Some of our brothers and sisters have lustful thoughts in their minds, which leads to a lack of focus and mental confusion.

Emotional Disturbances

In addition to sexual issues, a person's emotional problems are also closely related to lust. Emotional instability and easy agitation, impatience when encountering problems, and saying inappropriate things when emotions rise are all signs that the spirit of lust needs to be cast out.

No Enjoyment in Doing Proper Work

What kind of people are controlled by the spirit of lust? Those who do not enjoy doing proper work find it arduous. For example, if you find studying hard when you are at school or working hard when you are at work, you are definitely heavily controlled by the spirit of lust. After being controlled by the spirit of lust, it becomes even more difficult. You dawdle in doing things, and the whole day passes without accomplishing anything, only doing chaotic things, which causes inner discomfort. When you feel uncomfortable, you want to seek temporary relief, but this only deepens your entanglement, like drug addiction. Some people describe lust with harsh words, calling it thinking with the lower body, failing to control themselves when aroused, especially in sexual relationships, which leads to promiscuity. Promiscuous people have a characteristic: they do not like to do proper work. People who love to do proper work are busy all day and do not have much time for these things.

In fact, enjoying work is one of God's images. Not enjoying work is very painful. Those who do not do proper work because they do not enjoy it are anxious. People controlled by lust suffer throughout their lives. Some say that when they do serious work, everything hurts except their hair.

Laziness

Some people who are very lazy are a concentrated manifestation of lust. Lazy people are very considerate of their feelings and their flesh. When laziness arises, their minds easily think of evil ways, and they often do things that corrupt themselves. They feel great and happy while doing them, but afterwards, they feel very painful, uncomfortable, and inferior. The devil often releases certain chemicals in their bodies. Lazy people and those who indulge in their flesh are easily deceived and live more and more like useless beings, unable to do what they want to do and doing what they do not want to do. Such people really need deliverance.

History of Idolatry

We have found that many people who are controlled by the spirit of lust have a history of idolatry. Why do people worship idols instead of the true God? How can idolatry be related to lust? People worship idols because they have needs and problems that need to be solved. When we need to solve problems, we want this and that. We think that after worshiping idols, we will get these things. In fact, it is our inner lust that drives us. If we worship gods because of the lust inside us, it is no different from worshiping idols.

Why do people have emotional problems? Because they cannot get what they want. People want money, this and that. Often, they are seeking from idols, wanting to obtain what we desire through spiritual things, which are lustful things. Emotion refers to the seven emotions, and desire refers to what we want. If we cannot get them, we become devastated. Idolatry is a form of lust, so lust is very bad.

Overcoming Lust Through the Power of the Holy Spirit

Know that first, accusation is ineffective; second, relying on the flesh is useless. Only by relying on the Holy Spirit can we overcome this spirit of lust. The Holy Spirit comes to help me overcome this spirit of lust.

Continue to rely on the Holy Spirit until death to deal with the control of lust within us. Begin to fight and pray, relying on God to gradually take control into your own hands. The feeling of being controlled by the spirit of lust is very real, and it is truly impossible to overcome it by yourself. But when we loose it in the name of Jesus Christ and declare that we will take back control of our emotions and take back our initiative, we can regain strength in God's love. By constantly praying and fighting, the Holy Spirit will help us. There may still be times of weakness, but as long as we do not give up and continue to fight and pray against it, the devil will surely retreat, and the spirit of lust will also retreat. You will find that the control over your feelings is getting weaker and weaker, and the control over sexuality and various feelings will also weaken. You will increasingly regain control of your body.

Relying on Faith, Not on Works

To deal with the spirit of lust, you must rely on faith to continuously overcome it. Many people have not made a breakthrough in the issue of lust because they lack faith. When they encounter a little problem, they feel worthless and hopeless. Many people are very anxious when doing things because they lack care. When a person has faith, they are calm and at peace in learning and working. This happens gradually, step by step, and cannot be rushed. Faith can instantly lift up a person's inner strength, hope, and expectation. With faith, a person will be less and less disturbed by the spirit of lust.

One brother said, I often watch pornographic films and read obscene novels. I watch them all night long, and I spend the whole day on TikTok. It does not matter. God understands your weakness. Has God killed you? Know that our God is here to save us. As a result, they used to do this 10 out of 10 days; then 9 out of 10 days; then 8 out of 10 days; and then it got better and better. Therefore, to combat this stubborn evil spirit, the spirit of lust, which controls people deeply, is very stubborn. It forms a very stubborn bad habit in people's bodies over the years, but as long as you have faith, a faith that does not rely on works, you must believe that these spirits of lust will become less and less, and people will become more and more noble, intelligent, and free!

Shaping People to Pursue Mingding Doctrine

To overcome lust, it is very important to have Mingding Doctrine. Why do we come to this world to live? If living is only for the sake of procreation, then we are no different from beasts!

Lot moved his tent and gradually moved to Sodom, wanting to live a better life. That place was like the garden of the Lord, very fertile, with very expensive real estate, a very developed economy, and a very strong lust. That place was called Sodom and Gomorrah. Therefore, Lot lost his Mingding Doctrine, entered into lust, and was led there by lust. Later, when God's fire came down, he had no property left, only a jar of wine. That was a tragedy.

Many people are excited about their desires because they care too much about living, have very small minds, and take many things too seriously. They are either fighting, jealous, or concerned about face, and they cannot see through the essence of human life, thinking only of themselves every day. What kind of people are emotionally stable? Those who see through everything in human life and are willing to give everything to live for God. If a person can see through things, pursue Mingding Doctrine, and not value their own affairs, if they understand, they will definitely be able to walk out of the control of lust.

Continuous Learning and Understanding Becoming Clear

Lust is closely related to the dirty thoughts in our minds, and dirty thoughts are closely related to our ignorance. Our ignorance affects our judgment of things, and we often make decisions that corrupt ourselves.

Demons cannot deceive people with clear understanding. Only ignorance can control the thoughts in our minds. As soon as a person is ignorant, they immediately become lustful. Lust is closely related to our inner ignorance. Only by striking the spirit of lust can a person become intelligent. To strike the spirit of lust, people must be released from ignorance. While we deal with lust, we greatly promote the growth of understanding, pushing our brothers and sisters into learning and into the practice of solving problems, training people to think constantly and develop the habit of pondering. As a person's understanding continues to improve, the problems of inner stupidity, indulging in the flesh, and the control of emotions and feelings will gradually fall away!

Effect

When we begin to pray and fight intensely, striking the evil spirits behind lust with sustained faith, we truly see that many of our brothers and sisters have very obvious physical reactions. During this period of dealing with the spirit of lust, many brothers and sisters cry, have diarrhea, and vomit during prayer. Recently, while we have been fighting, we have strived to promote the growth of brothers and sisters in understanding, starting to learn, breaking through the indulgence of feelings, cultivating them to learn to think, and learning to clarify things, the demons of lust manifest in large numbers in the exercise of solving problems. Among us, those brothers and sisters who are very lazy and unable to do anything, some people have several lumps on their heads, headaches, and feel very, very irritable. These are all demons! In this way, through fighting, praying prayer, changes in understanding, and continuous learning, many people feel that their thinking is becoming clearer and clearer. People who were once trapped in some very bad habits have also begun to focus on doing serious things and live a more prosperous, free, and healthy life!