Blessed are the Pure of Heart, for They Shall see God!

I have recently been struggling with temptations against purity and know that almost everyone out there has to a greater or lesser extent. I sometimes wish so badly that I didn't have to fight this fight, but I am willing to for as long as Our Lord wishes it! I was recommended a book awhile ago called The Courage to be Chaste by Fr. Benedict Groeschel. It is a good book from what I have read and below I would like to give an excerpt below that I believe the Lord shoved in my face today, knowing how it would help me!

"To prepare for the hour of trial it is best to overcome less powerful and virulent temptations. Every temptation that is overcome strengthens a person, even if there are subsequent failures. The most dangerous temptation for those trying to be chaste is what I call the "temptation of temptation."

The tempted person's mind is in a state of conflict. It is a painful time when the individual is pulled in opposite directions. He or she has little or no inner peace, is anxious about the immediate future, apprehensive concerning spiritual danger, and angry and frustrated over such a conflict. Then the temptation of temptation comes: 'Oh, get it over with! What difference will one more episode make. Then I will be at peace or at least able to pray with repentance. God will seem near, whereas He seems so far away now.'

If there is any place in sexual temptation where I am inclined to see the effects of the diabolical, it is precisely in this almost pious suggestion. The antidote to this enticement is to recall that every temptation resisted is a great act of worship of God. To put up with temptation and not seek the easy way out is a powerful acknowledgment of the sovereignty of God and of Christ, our lawgiver and king. Resisting temptation means seeking first the kingdom of God. Even if one falls later on, he has accomplished an act of obedient worship that will not be erased." (page 90 of The Courage to Be Chaste by Fr. Benedict Groeschel)