THE BATTLE AGAINST LUST: A SHORT STORY

The hideous creature sneaked stealthily through the window. He visits this room at precisely midnight every day. He knew his victim would be about to go to bed. Lust, the high-ranking demon-warlord commissioned by the dark prince to corrupt the young, stood for a while and smiled. “Here goes another easy prey,” he thought to himself.

John had laid his bed and put on his pajamas in the bedroom, ready to sleep after a tough evening. The creature slithered his way through the dark corners of the room, hissing in eerie demonic excitement until he arrived just above the pillow where John had laid his head. Then it began. He began to pour streams of filthy thoughts into John’s mind. He made him recall the seductively-dressed lady who sat across from him in the hospital lounge. “Oh my! That babe was hot. Nice legs and curves, succulent body. Everything was looking soft and delectable.”

Streams of filthy thoughts rushed through John’s mind. His body began to react. He had been urged to the peak. His hands began to reach for his privates. Just then, a flash of white light appeared on the other side of John’s bed. Heavenly backup had been sent to create the way of escape. “Do not yield…” was the whisper deep in John’s spirit.

That instruction sounded familiar. It was a portion from the verse John had read in his quiet time that morning from Romans 6:13. “Do not yield your body parts to sin as instruments of unrighteousness.”

“Go ahead!” interjected the wicked spirit, losing its patience. “You are a worthless sinner anyway! You already started doing it, so why not just continue. God is already angry with you. You can ask Him for forgiveness later”.

“Oh God, what should I do”? cried John in the heat of temptation. “I really want to be holy. I really want to live above sin. But this temptation is too strong for me”.

“Use your sword!”.

“What”? John asked, puzzled at the unexpected instruction.

“Use your sword!” was the repeated instruction.

So, in the heat of temptation, John- a soon-to-fall Christian soldier, took hold of the only offensive weapon in his armory- the sword of the Spirit.

Filled with faith, he began to declare boldly:

“I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.”

“My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.”

“I will not yield my body parts to sin as instruments of unrighteousness.”

“My sinful nature was crucified with Jesus at the Cross.”

“I am more than a conqueror.”

“Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.”

“I am born of God. The divine nature dwells in me. I can no longer be a slave to sin”.

The evil creature moaned and wailed painfully as John, using his tongue, swung his sword accurately, slicing through the blanket of lust that was about to overcome him. He groaned as he fell through the window, brutally injured. He had lost the battle tonight, but he would return tomorrow – backed with reinforcement.

A few moments later, John drifted into sleep. He did not yield.

How about you, dear brother/sister?

Use your sword. Do not yield.