You've Been Lied About Triggers to P*rn- How to Become Untriggerable

Most advice on beating lust includes a section speaking about recognizing what triggers you into watching porn.

Then it’s followed by a call to action to avoid the triggers.

No matter what.

But there’s a massive problem - it’s unrealistic.

You can’t avoid all the triggers for the rest of your life.
You will not live for the rest of your life without a moment of weakness.
You will continue to be bombarded with sexualized content, inmodestly dressed women and trees.

Yes, trees. For a sexually sensitive man, even trees can remind him of naked body parts.

Something is bound to happen that will make you fall.

Then you will say, “It’s the [insert the trigger] that made me fail.”

Without intending, you just made a trigger the master you serve. Something, once it happens, you can’t say “no” to.

Do you believe the trigger is your master?

No.

And you don’t need to act like it’s true.

When your heart is untriggerable, you could enter a strip club and preach Jesus.

What Are Triggers?

To be frank, they are our favourite excuses allowing us to engage in behaviors we should avoid.

It feels like triggers impact us by setting us on the way to a sinful action. In reality, they reveal what the heart is already primed for. The trigger than acts as a reminder to engage about the possibility to engage in the sinful action.

Jesus taught that the reason we sin is not the environment but the condition of the heart.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. (Matthew 15:19, ESV)

To understand this, let’s speak about it in a different context.

Imagine a man who is single but has a deep desire to create a family. Every time he sees a couple or a young family with a small child, he feels a sharp pain of longing to have the same in his own life. Eventually, encountering couples makes him bitter, resentful and disappointed.

You get the point - seeing couples and families is his trigger.

The man struggled until he shared his struggle with a friend. The friend told him something that transformed the trigger leading him to a negative response into an opportunity to get closer to God.

“What if every time you see a young family or a couple, you make it a reminder to thank God for giving you the desire to create a family?”

In less than a week, the negative feelings disappeared.

All because of a new definition.

The trigger is not a guarantee of a stumble. It’s an opportunity to respond.

The Power of the Trigger

There’s nothing mindblowing about an exposed part of a woman’s body.

The power of the stumble lies in the story you tell yourself that connects with the exposed skin.

It may speak of:

• Comfort

• Intimacy

• Deep connect

• Love

• Acceptance

• etc.

Every man has slightly different needs and desires. You need to know yours.

What do you desire to fulfill when you encounter your trigger?

What does engaging in pornography promise to fulfill in your heart?

If you take time to do self-reflection, you will discover the root of the trigger. Addressing the root cause in a healthy way will render the trigger powerless.

The temptations are masterful at proving that our needs, desires and hopes can be satisfied in sin.

We both know it’s a scam. And we all fall for them too many times.

The heart can’t lose the prime for sin by avoiding desires or triggers that lead to pornography.

It will lose its hunger for sin when it realizes:

a) Porn CANNOT fulfil any need.
b) Your desires and needs are not evil.
c) Work towards your needs and desires.

You need to commit to making the right choices.

If you put effort into addressing the needs in a healthy way, you won’t be tempted to fulfil them in a destructive way. If you made the effort to get out there and meet new people, you won’t be tempted to watch pornography to address loneliness.

The triggers that made you struggle before will become a reminder of a new hope.

Check out this story.

Running from triggers fails to set you truly free because it doesn’t address the needs and desires your heart craves.

Don’t run; instead, self-reflect on why certain things trigger you.

It will be a sure and permanent fix.

Grab your 30-day mind renewal plan here. It’s free!