Prisoner of Lust

We are prisoners today! Prisoners of lust! Some of you men can’t look at women without lust. Some of you women can’t look at men without lust. Round and round. Round and round. Lust is your master. You can’t shake it off. It is your master. Why? You have laid your faith aside. You have quit believing in God’s power. You depended on your own strength, and lust has whipped you. It has you. You can’t enjoy the presence of the opposite sex, because of the evil thoughts in your mind. Let me tell you something, friend. There is a prison. There may not be iron bars on it, but “iron bars do not make a prison.” Many people are in prison today that never saw the iron bars, but they are more in prison than if they were in a state penitentiary. Prisoners! Prisoners!

Prisoners! Some of us are prisoners of lust, but we are not prisoners of fear. Round and round. Round and round. Round and round. Prisoners of fear. We are afraid of cancer. We have a fear of insanity, a fear of criticism, a fear of failure, a fear to face life, a fear of death. We are afraid. We can’t sleep for our fears. Our nerves are upset. We have produced functional diseases in our bodies: heart trouble, high blood pressure, ulcers, various allergies. Our bodies are beaten down with functional diseases which have no organic origin, which are produced by upset conditions.

Prisoners! A lot of us church people are prisoners – of creeds that have no power, rituals that have no meaning, theologies that have no anointing. We go to church all right, Sunday after Sunday. Round and round. Round and round. Warming a church pew. The only place that get warm is where we sit. We are not getting warmed in our hearts. Our souls are not on fire for God.