How to Battle the Passion of Lust | Ep. 97
Season 5, Part 6 Show Notes of The Raised & Redeemed Podcast
Do you ever feel enslaved by desires you can't control? Perhaps you find yourself in an endless cycle of acting on them, hoping they will fulfill you, only to end up feeling emptier than before. If you know you struggle with lust and are looking for real remedies to overcome it, this message is for you.
In this episode of Raised & Redeemed, we dive deep into Step 15 of "Thirty Steps to Heaven" by Fr. Vassilios Papavassiliou, exploring the difference between God's beautiful gift of sexuality and its devastating distortion through lust. Based on "The Ladder of Divine Ascent" by St. John Climacus, we'll uncover practical steps toward achieving true chastity and freedom.
Understanding the Battle: Lust vs. God's Design
What is Lust?
Lust is the disordered craving for sexual pleasure, torn away from the love and purpose God designed it for. When Jesus said in Matthew 5:28, "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart," He revealed that lust goes much deeper than just sexual immorality—it's a condition of the heart.
Like all the passions we battle, lust takes something God created as good and warps it through our misuse. God gave us sexuality and desire as beautiful gifts, but only when used as He intended: between one man and one woman, within marriage.
The Stark Contrast
Godly sexuality is selfless, sacrificial, and oriented toward love. It binds husband and wife together, produces children, and reflects God's covenant love for His people.
Lust, however, is sexuality removed from God's presence. It's selfish, treating people as objects of desire rather than children of God. It seeks pleasure without relationship, responsibility, or true sacrificial love. It feeds on shame, secrecy, and the forbidden, isolating us from true intimacy—both with others and with God—while darkening our heart's ability to love purely.
The Destructive Path of Unchecked Desire
James 1:14-15 gives us the progression: "But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."
When lustful desires are left unchecked, they manifest into various forms of sexual sin:
Fornication becomes commonplace in our culture where people marry later in life, if at all. Saint John of the Ladder points out that in biblical times, people typically married by age thirteen or fourteen, before sexual impulses fully arose. While we're not advocating for child marriage, we must understand why we face challenges previous generations didn't. When there are 10-15 years (or more) between sexual maturity and marriage, the battle against lust becomes much more intense.
Unnatural relations emerge when we distort God's design for sexuality, opening doors to confusion about identity and purpose. The LGBTQ+ movement, while claiming to celebrate love, often celebrates the very lust and pride that separate us from God's best for our lives.
Adultery becomes inevitable when lust is given free reign. The heart trained to seek its own pleasure will eventually cross any line to get it—even destroying marriage and relationship with God.
Fr. Vassilios explains: "God gives us reality; the devil gives us fantasy. And of course fantasy is always a disappointment. People can end up never being satisfied... because they are nothing more than fantasies. The devil is a liar. He likes to make us think we are missing out on something truly incredible, but the reality is we are not missing out on anything real."
The Spiritual Web: How Lust Connects to Other Passions
Lust doesn't operate in isolation. It both feeds and is fed by other spiritual passions:
Vainglory makes us obsessed with our own attractiveness and desirability
Gluttony leads to lack of discipline and inability to resist temptation
Pride turns sexual conquest into a source of arrogance
Envy creates jealousy over others' relationships or attractiveness
Despair emerges when lust fails to deliver the satisfaction it promises
Saint John of the Ladder describes the vicious cycle: demons first persuade us of God's mercy for this "natural" passion, leading us into sin. Then, after we commit it, they try to make us despair, claiming we've committed the worst sin possible and are beyond salvation. When despair subsides, they speak again of God's mercy, and the cycle repeats, leaving us enslaved.
A Personal Journey from Darkness to Light
I've been excited to share this episode because lust and disordered sexual cravings are some of the biggest demons I've fought—and still fight today. Growing up around a sex-addicted father who only dated strippers, I began to idolize sex, truly believing it was the way to get the love and attention I desperately desired.
I listened to those seductive demons, letting curiosity and love voids draw me in. I continued seeking each experience to fulfill me better than the last, since none ever did. I was always left feeling like I'd given away part of myself with no assurance of the love or commitment I thought it would bring.
This pattern continued until I became a stripper myself and entered a relationship with a married man I'd met there. As a New Ager at the time, I believed he was my "twin flame" sent to find me—another seductive lie from demons to get us to dishonor God's covenant of marriage.
But God doesn't mess around with His covenants. I began experiencing what felt like the Egyptian plagues in this relationship, as if I were Pharaoh and God was urging me to let His people go. The final straw came when God allowed me to see the demon that had enslaved this man. I saw it in his eyes, felt this spirit overpowering his flesh, and knew it was using sexual sin to keep us bound.
This supernatural encounter opened my eyes and led me to God. Seeing the spiritual world behind my choices helped me stay committed to standing strong against the spirit of lust. I learned viscerally that sexual sin is a portal for demons, and that the marriage bed is the only one protected by the blood of Jesus.
The Goal: True Chastity
Our goal isn't to condemn lust but to learn how to grow in chastity—lust's opposite virtue. St. John Climacus gives us a revolutionary definition: "The chaste man is not someone with a body undefiled but rather a person whose members are in complete subjection to the soul."
This isn't about never having sexual desire or never engaging in sexual activity. It's about having your physical desires properly ordered under your spiritual nature—control over sexual impulses rather than being controlled by them.
St. John explains that sex within marriage is blessed, not just for procreation but as an expression of love. A married person practicing chastity approaches their spouse with love, respect, and loyalty, having eyes and heart only for them.
The Stages of Chastity
St. John breaks chastity down into progressive stages:
Refusal to consent to evil thoughts - This means guarding our senses and protecting what we allow into our hearts and minds, remembering that sin begins in thoughts long before becoming actions.
Freedom from lustful dreams and bodily reactions - As the mind becomes cleansed through prayer, fasting, and watchfulness, even subconscious temptations may diminish.
Complete alignment - When mortified thoughts are followed by a mortified body, achieving full spiritual control.
The Path to Freedom: Practical Steps
The Foundation: Christ's Power
Here's the crucial point: struggling against lust in our own strength is futile. St. John states: "Do not imagine that you will overwhelm the demon of fornication by entering into an argument. Nature is on his side and he has the best of the argument... unless the Lord overturns the house of the flesh and builds the house of the soul, the man wishing to overcome it has watched and fasted for nothing."
Practical Strategies for Victory
Recognize the Spiritual Warfare: These urges aren't just mental or physical—they're spiritual. Demons delight in our lust and do everything possible to get us to act on it. Keeping this perspective can create righteous anger the next time lustful urges arise.
Contemplate Death: St. John recommends remembering that this life is temporary. When we live each day like it might be our last before meeting God, we gain strength to focus on eternal things.
Pray the Jesus Prayer: Pray "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner and save me" when you rise, when you sleep, and especially in moments of temptation. As St. John says, this is especially important before bed since we can't depend on much else while asleep.
Honest Self Reflection: Consider what you’re allowing yourself to think and how your own actions may be provoking lust to rise up.
Guard Your Senses: Be intentional about what you allow into your heart and mind through your eyes, ears, and thoughts. This includes music, movies, social media, and books. Remember, the beginning of chastity is refusing to consent to evil thoughts.
Embrace Fasting: Learning discipline over desire strengthens our ability to say no to other appetites. St. John Chrysostom said, "Fasting is the mother of purity, the friend of chastity."
Cry Out to God: In moments of sexual temptation, immediately pray for God's mercy, strength, and protection. Think of the other person as a child of God—this perspective shift can be transformative.
See the Other as a Child of God: True love protects others from stumbling in their journey toward God their Father.
Flee from Sin: Don't just resist—flee. Remove yourself from tempting environments. Don't drink excessively. Don't put yourself alone with someone of the opposite sex. St. Isaac the Syrian wisely said: "Whoever does not voluntarily withdraw himself from the causes of the passions is involuntarily drawn away by sin."
Redirect Your Energy: That burning energy of lust can be channeled into prayer, service, and good works. Turn every urge into a reason to pray, attend church, or surround yourself with holy things.
Seek Confession and Accountability: Lust thrives in secrecy. Bringing it into the light through confession breaks its power. Find trusted Christian friends, mentors, and spiritual fathers who can help redirect you toward God's voice.
Pursue True Love: Relearn what love means according to God. Often, when we're struggling with desire, we're actually craving emotional connection with our spouse or deeper intimacy with God Himself.
Cultivate Holy Desire: Ask God to transform your hunger - to hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6). Busy yourself with good and godly things so the devil has no idle mind to work with.
Persevere: Even amidst the demonic attacks and temptations because in Christ we CAN BE victorious over them and sanctified through our struggle.
Saints Who Overcame: Beacons of Hope
St. Mary of Egypt
Beginning her life consumed by lust and extreme promiscuity, St. Mary's turning point came when she couldn't enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. After sincere repentance before an icon of the Theotokos, she spent nearly fifty years in the desert, battling memories and temptations through extreme asceticism and prayer. Her transformation shows that even the most enslaving passions can be overcome through grace-filled repentance.
St. Moses the Ethiopian
Once a violent robber enslaved to lust and gluttony, St. Moses underwent radical transformation in a monastery through fasting, vigils, and constant labor. His victory over intense temptations teaches us that even the most passionate sinner can become a saint through humility, perseverance, and Christ's power.
St. John the Long-Suffering
Struggling with lust for years even while in a monastery, St. John's victory came not through sudden deliverance but through long, faithful endurance and trust in God's timing. His example shows that some battles are won through persistent faithfulness rather than immediate freedom.
These saints teach us that no one is beyond redemption, and the battle itself can make us holy if we don't give up.
Key Scriptures for the Battle
Hebrews 13:4: "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral."
1 Corinthians 6:18-20: "Flee from sexual immorality... Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?"
2 Timothy 2:22: "Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart."
2 Corinthians 10:5: "Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ."
The Promise of Freedom
Christ promises us release from these bonds, but we must struggle and repent. This means sacrificing the idol of our own pleasure and choosing to love as God loves—selflessly and sacrificially.
The energy that once went into lust can become the very fire that draws us closer to God. Many of the greatest saints were those who had the strongest passions but learned to redirect them toward divine love.
God doesn't give us these boundaries to control or fear-monger us, but to protect us from demonic forces that would love nothing more than for us to welcome them into our bodies instead of the Holy Spirit.
Remember Fr. Vassilios's wisdom: "The main principle of the ascetic life is to make the body our friend rather than our enemy. It must be trained and disciplined, and taught to love and serve the soul, to be a temple of the Holy Spirit."
A Prayer for Transformation
"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. Purify my heart, my mind, and my desires. Help me to see others as You see them—as beloved children made in Your image. Transform my passion into love, my lust into service, and my desires into a hunger for You alone. Give me strength to flee temptation and courage to seek help when I need it. Amen."
The battle against lust is real and challenging, but victory is possible through Christ's power. If this message resonated with you, know that you're not alone in this struggle, and freedom is available to all who seek it with sincere hearts.
Episode Resources
Book Referenced: Thirty Steps to Heaven by Fr. Vassilios Papavassiliou
Primary Text: The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus
Coming Up Next
Next Week: Step 16 - Overcoming the passion of greed with the virtue of generosity.
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