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A simple prayer... a little story

While working on some tedious tasks at the day job, I regularly listen to YouTube videos.

However, the ads on the app have been filthy and disgusting. I didn't know what to do (I have custom ads off--I loathe tracking and don't trust this company). They've only been showing me sexual images (massively immodest images of women and drugs for men--you get the idea).

This morning, I got fed up while scrolling content and seeing these ads in my feed, which has become mostly Catholic videos. In that moment of annoyance, I silently prayed to not see the sexual ads, a prayer to banish the demons of lust and sexual perversion (as suggested by exorcists).

I should have done that sooner.

Voila!

No more sexually perverse ads. Suddenly it was all real estate and household products. I didn't change any setting. (edit: I forgot to mention that one of the ads changed right in front of me on the screen. How's that for amazing?!)

All glory to God! He made everything and controls everything. He can do whatever He wants. When we seek to grow in the virtues and avoid sin and vice, He loves that from us because it is how we show we love Him.

(According to exorcists, we have authority over our belongings, so demons have to listen (they are literally lawyers from hell!); however, if one is in a state of mortal sin, the demons have ownership over the soul, so such prayers may not be effective in ridding demons of lust, greed, gluttony, envy, etc. After the initial baptism, detaching of demons and forgiveness of mortal sins only comes from the confessional, which reconciles one with God through the priest in persona Christi. It is the hardest, most humiliating sacrament to present yourself before Christ in the earthly presence of the priest with true contrition, but such a great cleansing of the soul! Once we're out of mortal sin, all those demons are detached from us and we then have full authority to banish them from ourselves and our belongings.)

Every morning, I pray the little prayer suggested by Fr. Dan Reehil, which he learned from another priest, and it's the neatest thing, producing incidents like this. It's the Permission Prayer and is simply this:

Lord, I give you permission today to use me in any way you desire, and I ask you to give me the grace to see your hand in action so I can give you all the glory.

God did. I saw it. I shared it. I give God glory for these amazing graces and demonstrations of His power (like the previous story about spiritual warfare and the cell phone in the confessional), which leave me in awe and wonder. It doesn't happen every day, but it has been happening a LOT since I started offering that little prayer every morning.

Incredible stuff!

God bless!

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5/20/25 Edit: adding these to emphasize the point on confession:

Confessing sins... a spiritual bath

About confession: 

1. 
   Confessing sins to a priest is Biblical. 
2. You are not confessing to the priest but to Jesus. You're simply receiving a guaranteed absolution of sins through the priest in persona Christi by the priest's authority granted in his ordination through apostolic succession (not available from any protestant pastor).
3. Confession is a bath for the soul. You don't always feel peace/relief immediately after confession, however. Sometimes it doesn't hit until later in the day or the next day. I've wondered about the delay at times, but it's usually a case that I needed to get over my anxiety about confession.
4. Confession is nerve-wracking for EVERYONE, no matter how many times you've done it. 😬 However, the priest is not judging you. You are making reparations to God for your disobedience.
5. It is recommended at least once a month or immediately after committing a mortal sin. Mortal sin separates us from God, while venial sin does not but does desensitize us to worse/more sins.
6. Confession is healing. I've had issues that would not leave me until after I confessed them, no matter how small of a venial sin or defect. Frequent confessions for issues that you trip on will continue to help until you no longer commit those sins. As the exorcists say, sin attaches those demons to you and confession detaches them, which leads to the next point...
7. Confession is more effective than 100 exorcisms! (Some say more than 1000 exorcisms.)
8. Be prepared. As soon as you confess, it seems like that's when the devil will tempt you the most to sin again. He does NOT want you becoming a saint. He wants you in hell where he can torment you into eternity. The more resistant you become, the worse the temptations are but the more readily you recognize them to avoid the trap.

Confession is one of the greatest sacraments to bring us closer to Christ and his divine mercy.