Often times when faced with the wickedness of our hearts our tendency is to ask God to give us victory. Some teachers encourage us to "let go and let God", "claim the promises", or "rebuke the spirit" of whatever it is that besets us.
Many believers become frustrated when things don't change. But let's think about what we are asking God to do. Praying for victory or deliverance in matters of the heart (ie lust, pride, etc) is essentially asking God to eliminate our sinful natures completely. This is not biblical.
It is important to understand God's promises in this way. God has given explicit promises when dealing with external circumstances such as food, clothing, persecution, ministry, health, etc. When we are saved we are given a new heart, new desires, new understanding. We are given the Holy Spirit to empower, comfort and guide us, we are given the Word of God to direct us, and a church body to encourage and support us. We should trust Him with all of these aspects of our lives without wavering, even calling on His promises through constant prayer. (God's Promises)
But praying for victory over the "spirit of pornography", or for deliverance from our own lust is a different matter. These are lazy prayers that ask God to take away a part of our hearts that He has chosen to let us struggle with our entire lives, ie the sinful nature. Praying for deliverance from the evil in our hearts is an attempt to deflect our role in sanctification and make God responsible for mortifying the sinful nature! Remember, God has supplied us with all the tools and power we need to defeat sin, and promises us we will never face more than we can bear (I Cor 10:13).
It is our responsibility to use what he has given us to be obedient and follow Him.
Followup: :Doesn't Jesus instruct us to pray to be deliver from evil? (Matt 6:13) for so He does and so we should. It is good and proper to pray for deliverance from evil (also, the evil one). Indeed the Lord does supernaturally deliver many from sin that He knows they cannot bear. The problem comes when our deceitful hearts seek to escape the power of lust without working and learning. The Lord cares enough to let us struggle with lust and overcome so that we may produce the good fruit of the Spirit. If He were to deliver us from every desire of the heart we would stumble around from one pleasure to the next and never draw closer to our Father.
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