Compulsive Masturbation

QUESTION: Is overcoming compulsive masturbation possible?

ANSWER:

Overcoming compulsive masturbation is certainly possible. I have over 5 years of sobriety. However, before I discovered the secret, I was totally powerless over the situation. Pornography is so incredibly insidious. Images can be burned into your conscious memory for years. The only thing that I found that worked was confessing the sin to my wife, confessing it to friends, reading the Bible daily, and praying to be healed of it.

I know that probably sounds like a cop out when you are looking for some great strategy to manage compulsive masturbation addiction but that's the truth. There is actually a great biblical basis for it. James 5:16 says "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

Until I took these steps, I felt hopeless. There is great power in praying and acknowledging that you are powerless. When you humble yourself to others and especially your wife and share the pain, I truly believe you cut that pain and the addiction in half. James 4:6 says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

It is very humbling to admit you have a problem like compulsive masturbation. If you are still living with the secret and you are married, then your first step is to tell your wife. I prayed to God and asked Him to soften her heart. I prayed and asked that He would protect her from being so hurt that she would want to leave me.

Second, I confessed it to other men. Frankly, this was much easier than sharing it with my wife. Every man I spoke with was very understanding and prayed for me just as it says in James 5:16. Many of these men were close friends that knew me and cared for me.

Lastly, I started reading the Bible daily and praying. I found this to be the big hammer in this issue. God's Word is powerful. Jesus said that we are sanctified by the truth and that His Word is truth in John 17:17. Without a daily quiet time with God and His Word, I do not believe this horrible bondage would have been broken. When I realized what Ephesians 5:25-27 said, I truly believe that it set me free. "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." If you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior then you are already forgiven and washed clean. Now you just need to read His Word, believe it, and pray to be healed of it.