I'm usually not real big on acronymns in lessons. Granted it is an easy way of getting the listener to remember the lesson but I've heard sopme pretty crappy ones. We had a men's meeting almost two and a half years ago at my church in Nashville that I was attending ahile I was in graduate school. the meeting mainly dealt with sexual purity. This is a topic that most people feel uncomfortable addressing and many avoid discussing it in church, in a small group setting, and even in a one on one mentor type relationship. I can understand the reason it is this way. This manifests itself in things like masturbation, pornography, Internet, adultry, and even things such as preactical voyeurism and sex in marriage. It is not a very nice or very comfortable thing to talk about, but even so we can't avoid it. It's too in our face. There is a scene in the second Lord of the Rings movies where King Theoden is arguing with Gandalf and says that he will not risk open war. Aragorn interjects and says something to the effect of, "Open war is upon you whether you like it or not." I think it is this way with sexual sin. The war will come to us whether we choose to address it or not. We can't avoid fighting it.

So hear is the plan:

D.I.R.T. - A Battle Plan For Fighting Sexual Sin

"Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God." (II Corinthians 7:1)

Determine

"I will be careful to lead a blameless life—when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart." (Psalm 101:2)

We must determine that we do have something that needs to be dealt with and that we will, by God's grace, progress and find victory. I love how AA does it. "I'm Bill and I'm and alcoholic." We first have to admit we have a problem and then we must be determined to do something about it.

Identify

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." (Hebrews 12:1)

Identify those things that are our particular pitfalls and weaknesses. Bear in mind that due to a number of factors like our past exposure to certain sins, certain "channels" of habit have been cut into our emotions and thinking. In other words we are products of our own actions. If we can identify the certain situations or enviroments that we tend to fail when faced with them we can beeter set or own limits and grow in that area.

Resolve

"I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me...Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end...My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end." (Psalm 119:8, 33, 112)

Make resolutions, or vows, of particular things that you will do and not do. Some general ones:

1. Make a covenant with our eyes. (Job 31:1)
2. Take every thought captive. (II Corinthians 10:4-5)
3. Keep our hearts with all diligance (Proverbs 4:23)

It is also important to get more specific as well addressing those things that are identified as weaknesses. Some common pitfalls for for sexuall sin can be: TV, Internet, shower, personal interaction, catalogs, magazine racks, billboards, women's clothing section, book stores, etc.

Track

"Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil." (Proverbs 4:26-27)

A good idea is to keep a record in a private journal or computer of your victories as well as defeats. It can be a pretty sobering thing to do. You might be suprised at the frequency and patterns that you see emerging.

Finally I just want to say that it is so important to be consistant and patient. We definately live in a culture where we want to see results right away. Life just isn't that way. Some have been struggling with things like this for years and the truth is you can't spend years digging a hole and exect to be able to fill it up over night. It takes committment and God's grace.

I hope many of you who read this will find it as helpful as I did. This isn't something that you are alone in. there is no temptation that is unique to just one individual (I Corinthinas 10:13). Those of you who are strong when it comes to fighting sexual temptation, odds are you once were not so strong. Remember those times when you see someone who is currently struggling with it. Do not look down upon them for we all have strengths and weaknesses. Help them out. Walk with them and pray for them. We are the body, rememeber?

Love you guys!