Internal Ally Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Internal Ally ------------- Date: 03/14/1999 Keywords: "cleanse" "new spirit" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Ezekiel 36:25-27, 32*   25. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 32. I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign LORD. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, O house of Israel! Questions   1. What encouragement does this passage give about our struggles?   2. How could that help us resist pornography?   3. Why does God say that he’s doing all this?   Practical help   If you’re fresh off a failure with pornography, this passage might seem off base. It claims that you are clean before God. It also says that he gave you a new heart and a new spirit. Furthermore, it states that God’s Spirit will impel you to do good. For people acquainted with weakness, such strong words seem out of line. But here’s the thing. The words are true. Even if our experience doesn’t seem to match, the words are true. This is one of many mysteries of Christianity: God declares us righteous and says we will live that way. We must toss our views out the window. When it comes to pornography, this means that we already have God’s Spirit inside us working with our new spirit to do the right thing. He’s our internal ally. But lest we get too proud, Ezekiel makes it abundantly clear why we received this helpful gift. (Hint: It ain’t us.) eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 1999 by eXXit *Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version, © copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.