Prayer needed.

Brothers and Sisters I ask you pray for me that I would have strength to make a clean break from the world and a stronghold in my life that needs destroyed. That is the world of video games, not only have a wasted countless hours distracted by games but also in neglect of my children and beautiful wife. I have many friends associated with the game and I have sent them all messages tell them my intentions and I pray for a favorable response.

I also thank you and the Lord for set up against my wickedness a wall of light to contradict and constrast my actions and bring upon me a heavy conviction. After sending the messages I felt a very heavy weight off my shoulders that I just couldn't bear anymore, so now it is on the shoulders of Christ.

I pray that this is a clean break and that Satans chains don't entangle me any further but that I will rise up on wings like the eagles and run without weary away from this worldly thing. This time consuming, covetous, and selfish act. I felt the Lord faintly speak to my heart Which do you choose? Though I have avoided and ignored this question A LOT I no longer can.

I humble come before you to repent and I will be going to my wife as well to repent because she is by far the most effected by this. BUT I wanted prayers and make a Public proclaimation of Repentance amoung you all who I cherish as dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

God bless you Matt for listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit. I am sure your wife's love for you will rise to new heights! and that will be of greater importance then any friends you have gained online by playing games!

Your post is refreshing and encouraging...

God bless.

Oh I will pray!! I have never heard even ONE testimony of anyone desiring to break free from the stranglehold of those games! Praise the Lord....May God grant you strength...

Matt, we are dealing with this and other media issues with one of our younger sons. As his father I am responsible for his well being so do not think you are alone in this idolic removal.

Dear mguldner,

Praise Jesus for the eyes He has given you that enable you to see this 'game' for what it has become, an idol.

Praying you diligently replace the game with Godly activities. Remember the house that was swept clean of demons and then left empty - they came back with more of their kind.

Your open, public confession is a great beginning. Keep us posted, we are here to offer support.

Greater is He that is in you . . .

Kindest regards,
white stone

Brother,

I am overjoyed by this testimony.
Praise Jesus!

I am so thankful for all of your support, this is the first day I haven't play the game and still haven't played! Its already been profitable not playing praying with my kids was something that I haven't done in a while and something I intend to keep doing. I was teaching them about prayer and told them they can say whatever they want to Jesus to which my 2 year old sang "Yes Jesus Loves me wOOt wOOt WOOOOOOOooooo. :) I know this is an uphill battle but I know I don't do it alone. And I am keeping my eye on the prize, a deeper and loving relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not to mention my family back, it was foolish to think I could balance myself so delicately between God and the world, its either one or the other.

I am also glad many of you are encouraged by my testimony I hope my future testimony of complete freedom will encourage you even more because now I battle the desire to play despite the loving call of God, satan is up to his no good tricks by lying to me but I have met his lies with the Truth.

Praise God that He has brought this to light and freed you from it! It brought tears to my eyes reading your post and the others. I will definitely be praying for you! May God grant you the deliverance from even thinking about playing it.
I too struggled with this (yes even as a girl), but my break was not as clean as yours seems to be. God did not give me an "Ah ha" moment, I just very slowly lost interest in playing anything at all.
This is truly a snare for young men in America today. I pray that God will move and set more people free. And I pray that you will be a light and testimony to the grace and power of God to set men free of such addictions! Glory to God!
Thank you for listening to the Spirit and sharing with us. :) God bless you brother!
In Christ,
Veronica

EDIT:
I just re-read your last post where you said this: "Its already been profitable not playing praying with my kids was something that I haven't done in a while and something I intend to keep doing." And I just wanted to encourage you to keep doing this!! My dad is an unbeliever and I desperately wish I had a dad to pray with. Know that it is worth it and God will bless you for it! (Though the battles might get more intense, keep at it! Pray on through!)

Praying for you Matthew. I know how rough it can be, but after a while you won't miss them any more. Real life is much better.

I don't know if you remember but I posted about this a year or so ago as well. They are a major stronghold. My wife and I's marriage and family and ministry have been so much more blessed since this was eradicated from our home. The temptation is always there though. I have to admit it can still be a struggle some times, whenever things get hard, I can be tempted to go to games instead of prayer. But the Lord is strong to deliver.

Thanks Jeremiah I remember you posting it and to be honesty thoughts of you and your post followed me as a testimony to me. And now a year later I am greatly encouraged by your words to press in even further!

Hi there brothers and sisters,

Giving a small update for you :) I haven't played the games since I stopped and even now I don't have the strong desires to play them as I use to. Thank you for your prayers. Something to be even more in prayer for me though is as a result of not playing video games I have a lot of free time I didn't have before I have been using them to read the bible and listen to worship and pray, today I called up my dad and talked to him about starting up a prayer meeting at my house for anyone that wished to pray. My hope and prayer is that this is a blessing and pleasing fragrance to the Lord. So that is what I am requesting prayer for that the Lord flurish among the prayer meetings that I desire to start up, that the Unity of the Lord is strong in us and that it doesn't become a time of complaining about the day but a time to seek the face of the Lord.

Also my little brother and my little ones will be present so I pray they are touched and see the Lord in us as we come together and as we interact daily with one another.

You both who gave testimony have touched my heart to tears....I know from Scripture that NOTHING is impossible with God, but to hear actual testimony of believers wanting to be delivered gives me great hope. My 2 prodigals are addicted to these games as well. I will surely be praying for how God chooses to fill your time in its place, and for the Kingdom.....The testimony of an older brother to a younger - so needed in our day.....Bless you!

Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek."

It is power!

And I testify to that power and saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am a 22 year old and have a real background of media addiction: pornography, TV, anime series, TV series, games (MMOS, you name it).

Especially in the world of gaming. It was something I built my reputation on. I pursued it in such a way that I wanted to be recognized in it.

But like everything else in this world, its pleasure is but fake and passing, never satisfying, only driving you more hungry and hungry each time. That, "Just one more time and I know I'll be satisfied." Or that, "This is probably that last MMO game I'm going to play." It never came to that.

I'd spend hours upon untold hours, years building up characters in fantasy worlds, thinking it's helping me but all it did was help me become more lost, confused, hungry, and without purpose.

But man...Jesus Christ meant it when He said, "If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed!"

And it didn't come overnight for me. But that doesn't mean it has to. This is the truth: Deliverance is 100% in Jesus. No matter what anyone says, that's what the Word of God says. You are free indeed.

Here's a piece of encouragement, in the words of another but applies to me so much: It didn't take me 5 minutes to get into this and I don't think it'll take me 5 minutes to get out.

I would love to say that I got rid of everything overnight, but the fact that God would be so patient me that if only I started walking and trusting Him that He would shed off layers after layers of addictions and abuse.

And how He would surround me with people who literally love the CRAP out of me."

That's Jesus. His power to save, it's nothing like any other.

And that's why I'm proud to call Him my Father. :)

"For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life."

This is exactly what Jesus died for. True life and freedom from sin and the life that is bent on going to hell.

We can give you all sorts of verses, link you to oh so many verses, but honestly, it's between you and your Father.

And guess what? He's more than willing to help you out of it. Friend, if He saved me (I never believed He could. Never thought it possible. But that's the truth: What is impossible with man is possible with God!), what makes you any different? :D

Sin is sin.
Jesus Christ dealt with sin on the cross.

Hallelujah! May God meet you as you pray and seek God's face. His glory will eclipse every thing that is not of His.

Jesus loves you bro! And He will not let you go.

Thanks so much for the words of encouragement! They greatly help me in this battle against the flesh. I am 23 and I too come from a background of media abuse in all the areas you mentioned and it has been a tough road. Generally speaking it feels the world is beating me up from both sides but if I stay in the middle where the narrow path is then I am protected its when I get off balance and off kiltered that I seem to stumble.

I don't expect to be free from all the desires and urges of the "gaming world" but I am seeing victory after victory each day I don't mess with the stuff, and even more fruit from it all.

One thing that keeps me pressing in is my children and my responsiblity to be a good and Godly Father to them ie pointing them to the Father, at the rate I was going I was simply pointing them to be entertained constantly rather than being entertained by the Love of God.

Thank you for your words of encouragement again and your prayers! I need them at this point but nonetheless I cling to the Father even more.

Man the Lord is moving in awesome ways in my personal life! I was browsing Netflix for a good movie to watch and ran into what I would usually watch generally what our world would call a "manly" movie ie lots of fighting, explosions, etc. As I found the usual violent movie I am use to love watching the Lord spoke to my heart a Psalm

Psalms 11:5 "The Lord tests and proves the [unyieldingly] righteous, but His soul abhors the wicked and him who loves violence."

Usually these are the things that I ignore, my conscious harden to them Im sure, but slowly I am being more alert to the little whispers the Lord uses to guide us. Keep praying the Lord keeps these small convictions coming. Another issue I use to have is wasting time on Youtube videos that were ungodly but since the Lord told me to only go there for my Ministries Youtube page in managing it. Other than that I have yet to watch another ungodly youtube video.

There REALLY IS Victory in Christ Jesus!! Praise HIS NAME!