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Waging War Against Impure Thoughts
When we win the battle of our “thought life”
we begin to have victory over sexual sin. |
When we win the battle of our “thought life” we begin to
have victory over sexual sin.
The lives of many immoral people in Scripture warns us against
the dangers of sexual immorality.
We should ask God for the grace to view others with the
eyes of Christ—not with eyes of lust.
God dwells within His children. Our impure thoughts defile
God’s dwelling place.
By recognizing and obeying the Holy Spirit, we live above
the sensual control of our lower natures.
Reinforcing our wills with a bond of accountability is a
powerful way to conquering impure thoughts.
Satan delights in seeing Christians fulfill their God-given
desires and drives in ungodly ways.
Enslaved to Impure
Thoughts
When we win the battle of our “thought life” we begin to
have victory over sexual sin.
Someone who has repeatedly fallen into sexual sin often
comes to believe that he or she is helpless to win the
war against immorality. In the first article in a
seven-part series on conquering impure thoughts, Dr. Debbi Dunlap explains that when people fall into sinful sexual
habits they feel powerless to overcome their disobedient
lifestyles until they win the battle of their thought
life. In the words of Proverbs 23:7, “As a man thinks in
his heart, so is he.”
Many Christians experience discouragement and often
despair, because of their inability to conquer sinful
sexual habits. I counsel people weekly who are involved
in every sexual sin imaginable—adultery, premarital sex,
homosexuality, prostitution, masturbation, and
pornography, to name a few.
A sinful action always begins in the mind.
They come seeking help because they feel powerless to
overcome their disobedient lifestyles. They are unaware
that they are fighting the wrong battle. Immoral actions
grow out of impure thoughts. I encourage each of them
with the scriptural truth that, as they win the battle
of their “thought-life,” they will begin to have hope
for victory over sinful actions. We read in Proverbs
23:7 that actions are the result of thoughts: “For as he
thinks in his heart, so is he.”
Many Christians have been trapped in sexual sin for so
long that they have given up hope of ever being
victorious over it.
People who have repeatedly fallen into sexual sin often
come to believe that they are helpless to win the war
against immorality. They resign themselves, instead, to
reducing the number of defeats that they experience.
God, however, commands us to fight sin wholeheartedly.
He does not permit us to settle for anything less than
an all-out victory over sin. James reminds us in James
1:6,7,
But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because
he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and
tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will
receive anything from the Lord.
We must commit ourselves to resist sin, no matter what
the cost may be.
When we expose our minds to sexually graphic images, we
are unlikely to forget them.
We harm ourselves spiritually when we view sexually
explicit movies or read unwholesome books or
magazines that stir us sensually. From these ungodly
sources, we collect secret pictures that exist in
our minds.
When we encounter sexual temptation we revive these
pictures and focus on them. These pictures fuel our
impure thoughts. Fighting to remove the pictures from
our minds usually does not work, but superimposing God’s
pictures over them is an effective tactic.
Jesus died so that we would no longer be enslaved to
sin.
The first vivid picture that we should have is that of
Christ being bruised for our iniquities. In Scripture,
the word iniquity is most often used to refer to
moral impurity. David prayed in Psalm 51:2,
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.
The galleries of our minds should include pictures
of our own iniquities nailing Christ to the cross,
and of His horrible suffering, and then of His
triumphant death that freed us from the bondage of
iniquity.
In Romans 6:6, Paul explains,
For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so
that the body of sin might be done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves to sin.
Again in Romans 8:5-9, Paul provides us with a
scriptural foundation for why we must discipline our
minds to win the war against impure thoughts,
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their
minds set on what that nature desires; but those who
live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set
on what the Spirit desires…Those controlled by the
sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are
controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit.
If God’s Spirit lives in us, our highest goal is to walk
in a manner that is pleasing to our heavenly Father. The
Bible tells us plainly that a sinful, lustful mind is
hostile to God.
Examples of Moral
Failure
The lives of many immoral people in Scripture warn us
against the dangers of sexual immorality.
Many men and women in God's Word experienced tragic
consequences in their lives because they lost the battle
against impure thoughts. In the 2nd segment
of a seven-article series on conquering impure thoughts,
Dr. Debbi Dunlap urges reader to familiarize themselves
with scriptural examples of moral failure. He also
encourages us to carefully study the lives of people in
Scripture who experienced victory over sexual
temptation.
The second strategy for overcoming impure thoughts is to
familiarize ourselves with scriptural examples of moral
failure. There are several men and women in the Bible
who experienced tragic consequences in their lives
because they lost the battle against impure thoughts.
Samson forfeited his strength, his freedom and his life
because of sexual immorality.
The writer of Judges 16:1 tells us that mighty Samson
went to Gaza where he saw a prostitute and spent the
night with her. Because he gave in to adultery he ended
his life in chains, with his eyes gouged out, groping
around in darkness.
A man after God’s own heart, King David had walked
closely with God and had experienced His hand of
blessing on his life. We read, however, of his
anguish and grief after he committed adultery with
Bathsheba and then murdered her husband. The
consequence of his sin was a divided family and
kingdom.
Amnon’s sin demonstrates how lust turns to violence,
hatred and death.
David’s son Amnon, sexually violated his half-sister
Tamar. We read in 2 Samuel 13:15, “Then Amnon hated her
with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he
had loved her. Amnon said to her, ‘Get up and get out!’
” He paid for his crime of rape with his life. His
brother, Absalom, plotted revenge for two years and then
ordered his servants to kill him.
Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of the old priest Eli,
were both sexually immoral. We learn in 1 Samuel 2:22,
“Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his
sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with
the women.” God’s judgment fell on both sons when they
were killed in battle against the Philistines.
An account in Genesis 19:24 describes one of the most
dramatic biblical examples of God’s judgment on sexual
sin. People living in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
practiced unrestrained sexual immorality and perversion.
“Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone
and fire from the Lord out of heaven.”
We should study the lives of people in Scripture who
experienced victory over sexual temptation.
In contrast to these examples of moral failure, we
should also be acquainted with the radiant portraits
of those people in God’s Hall of Fame who won the
battle against impure thoughts. Among these Bible
heroes are Sarah, Hannah, Rachel, Joseph, Daniel,
Job, Ruth, John the Baptist, Stephen, Timothy and
Paul.
God commands us to maintain a clear conscience toward
Him and our fellow man.
Christians must understand the importance of dealing
biblically with sexual sin that involves other people.
When we have been involved in sexual immorality with
someone, we should first confess the sin to God and ask
Him for forgiveness. Then we should seek forgiveness
from the other person who was involved in the
immorality.
Paul assures us in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” When
scenes of past moral impurity with others begin to arise
in our minds, we must learn to picture the words, “I
forgive you,” covering over the sinful images.
When our goal is to gratify our own lustful desires we
diminish the scope of our consciences. Additionally, we
grow increasingly less aware of how we hurt other people
with the sin of sexual immorality. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7
is one of the sternest warnings against sexual
immorality in all of Scripture,
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you
should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should
learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and
honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who
do not know God; and that in this matter no one should
wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord
will punish men for all such sins…for God did not call
us to be impure, but to live a holy life.
Controlling Our Eyes
We should ask God for the grace to view others with the
eyes of Christ—not with eyes of lust.
As Believers, our goal should be to train our eyes to
see what Jesus sees. In the 3rd installment
of a seven-part series on conquering impure thoughts,
Dr. Debbi Dunlap reminds us that as Jesus encountered
various people in His earthly ministry He viewed them
with eyes of compassion and selfless love. Dr. Dunlap
explains that lust is the opposite of love. Love is
self-giving and lust is self-gratifying.
The writer of Galatians 5:17-21 reminds us that our
flesh is constantly at war with God’s Spirit,
For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and
the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in
opposition to one another, so that you may not do the
things that you please…Now the deeds of the flesh are
evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy.
Job purposed to look at a woman’s face, not her body.
We find in the life of Job, an example of the third
principle for overcoming impure thoughts. Job was one of
the most righteous men who ever lived. We read in Job
31:1, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look
lustfully at a girl.”
Controlling our eyes is the key to controlling our
minds. A Christian should focus his or her gaze on the
countenance of each person that he or she meets.
A person's facial expression often reflects the
intent of his heart.
Because a person’s countenance reflects the
condition of his or her heart, it gives other people
clear direction in how to respond to him or her.
Jesus explains in the Sermon on the Mount that the
eye is the light of the body. He goes on to say that
if our eyes are evil, with sensual thoughts toward
someone, our bodies will be full of spiritual
darkness.
We must have as our goal, a desire to train our eyes to
see what Jesus sees. As He encountered various people in
His earthly ministry He viewed them with eyes of
compassion and selfless love. Lust is the opposite of
love. Love is self-giving, while lust is
self-gratifying.
Christians should ask God for the grace to view others
with the eyes of Christ Jesus.
When we were lost in our sin, Christ looked at us not
for what we were but for what we could be through Him.
If we are to think God’s thoughts, we must ask God for
insight into what He wants to accomplish in the life of
each person that we meet.
God will grant us the ability to visualize how the most
ungodly person could be a radiant and beautiful
expression of Christ. This prompts us to have right
responses toward people rather than to lust after them.
It puts us at ease to talk with them and it builds the
godly restraint that we all need in our thought lives.
We must also heed the words of Matthew 25:45,
I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of
the least of these brothers of Mine, you did not do for
Me.
God wants us to view every person we meet as having
been created by Him and loved by Him. Then we will
come to the scriptural realization that when we do
not think pure and godly thoughts about him or her,
we are sinning against the Lord.
We read a reinforcement of the concept of a “covenant
with our eyes” in Proverbs 4:23-25,
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the
wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look
straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.
Fighting Impure Thoughts with Scripture
God dwells within His children. Our impure thoughts
defile God’s dwelling place.
Satan poses as an angel of light and he offers God’s
children glamorous, temporal pleasures in exchange for
the destruction of their souls. God knows that our
natural inclinations often betray us and we must have a
strategy to conquer the enemies of the flesh, the world
and the devil. In the 4th part of a
seven-article series on conquering impure thoughts, Dr. Debbi Dunlap advises Believers to memorize specific
passages of Scripture.
Our battle against impure thoughts is far more than a
mere mental or physical struggle. It is spiritual
warfare. We read in Ephesians 6:12,
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but
against the rulers, against the authorities, against the
powers of this dark world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Satan poses as an angel of light and he offers God’s
children glamorous, temporal pleasures in exchange for
the destruction of their souls.
God knows that our natural inclinations easily betray
us, and He wants us to conquer our enemies—the flesh,
the world, and the devil. We can accomplish this only as
we memorize Scripture so that we may use His holy Word
as a weapon of warfare.
The writer of Ephesians 6:17 instructs us,
Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
Our victory depends not only on resisting the
onslaught of sexual temptation, but on preparing
ourselves between temptations. A Christian should
commit to memory at least ten very helpful scripture
passages if he or she intends to conquer the sin of
impure thoughts.
1. Our
body is the dwelling place of the Lord and impure
thoughts defile it.
Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and
that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys
God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is
sacred, and you are that temple. 1 Corinthians 3:16,17
2. Other
people face the same temptations that we do. We must
bring every thought under Christ's control.
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful
that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except
what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not
let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when
you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that
you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:12,13
3. No
one and nothing can entice us to sin until our own lust
draws us away.
When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’
For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt
anyone, but each person is tempted when he is lured and
enticed by his own desire. James 1:13,14
4. Self-gratification
diminishes the scope of our consciences and our
awareness of how we hurt others.
Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in
order to please God…For God did not call us to be
impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who
rejects this instruction does not reject man but God,
who gives you His Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 4:1,7,8
5. We
can transform the same energy that we use for
sensuality, into spiritual power as a weapon for God.
Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so
that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts
of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but
rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been
brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your
body to Him as instruments of righteousness. Romans
6:12,13
In the next article, we continue to consider various
scripture passages that are helpful as we wage spiritual
warfare against the defilement of impure thoughts.
Fighting Impure Thoughts with Scripture, Part 2
By recognizing and obeying the Holy Spirit, we live
above the sensual control of our lower natures.
When we reset our affections of Christ, we begin to
deaden evil desires. Memorizing strategic passages of
Scripture helps us overcome the sin habit of impure
thoughts. In the 5th article of a seven-part
series on conquering impure thoughts, Dr. Debbi Dunlap
suggests further verses that when committed to memory,
succeed in cleansing our lives. He reminds us that if we
walk in the Spirit of God, we will not fulfill the lusts
of the flesh.
If a Christian desires to overcome the sin of impure
thoughts, there are certain Scripture passages that he
or she should commit to memory. This is a continuation
of a list of those verses.
6. By
recognizing and obeying the Holy Spirit, we live above
the sensual control of our lower natures.
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not
to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if
you live according to the sinful nature, you will die;
but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of
the body, you will live, because those who are led by
the Spirit of God are sons of God. Romans 8:12-14
7. If
we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of
the flesh.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness
and self-control…Those who belong to Christ Jesus have
crucified the sinful nature with its passions and
desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in
step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-25
8. When
we reset our affections on Christ, we deaden evil
desires.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your
hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the
right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not
on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now
hidden with Christ in God…Put to death, therefore,
whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual
immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Colossians
3:1-5
9. We
should never give up. It’s always too soon to quit.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud
of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders
and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run
with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix
our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our
faith…Consider Him who endured such opposition from
sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose
heart. Hebrews 12:1-3
10.
We cleanse
our lives by delighting in His Word.
How can a young man keep his way pure? By living in
accordance with Your Word. I seek You with all my heart;
do not let me stray from Your commands. I have hidden
Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.
Psalm 119:9-11
The fifth principle for overcoming impure thoughts is to
remove any hidden provisions for defeat. The writer of
Romans 13:14 warns, “Do not think about how to gratify
the desires of the sinful nature.” This command is far
more important that we realize. When we allow ourselves
to think about sinful pleasures, we not only expect to
fail, but we invite ourselves to give in to temptation.
We should ask God to reveal to us the things that we
have brought into our lives which set us up for
failure—impure books, magazines and videos, sensual
music, activities, or friendships. As we remove
these ungodly influences from our lives, we
demonstrate to God that we sincerely desire to
resist the devil so that he will flee from us.
Making Ourselves
Accountable
Reinforcing our wills with a bond of accountability is a
powerful way to conquering impure thoughts.
Do you make promises to yourself, only to find that your
resolve quickly dissolves? When we commit to ourselves
to do a certain thing, we have only ourselves to answer
to. If we confide our plan in a trusted Christian
friend, however, we double our accountability. In the 6th
article of a seven-part series on conquering impure
thoughts, Dr. Debbi Dunlap encourages readers to make
themselves accountable to others in the battle against
impure thoughts.
We find one of the most powerful means for conquering
impure thoughts in the sixth principle. We must
reinforce our wills by a bond of accountability. When we
resolve within ourselves to do something, we have only
ourselves to answer to. But if we confide in a trusted
Christian friend and tell him what we plan to do, we
double our accountability.
We find God-given strength in a spiritual bond of
accountability.
It is helpful to make a covenant with a Christian friend
to contact him or her, to ask for prayer each time we
are tempted to entertain impure thoughts. The thought of
having to tell this friend will be a powerful new
motivation to resist the temptation. Our need for prayer
will prompt him or her to be a more effective spiritual
protector for us. His or her prayers will also be an
effective force for our victory over temptation.
There is no need to go into detail when we request
prayer. The Bible instructs us not to speak of the
details of evil. Our accountability partner,
however, should check with us later to see whether
his or her protective prayers were effective.
In this way, we fulfill the command of James 5:16,
Confess your sins one to another, and pray for one
another, that you may be healed. The effectual, fervent
prayer of a righteous man avails much.
God has a double blessing in store—for us and for our
accountability partners.
When we choose to make ourselves accountable to
someone, God offers us the opportunity for a double
victory each time we are tempted. First, we realize
the need to memorize Scripture and second, the
person who is responsible for our spiritual
oversight is motivated to greater godliness.
Many people who have established this covenant and who
have been faithful to follow through on a bond of
accountability have been amazed and encouraged by the
results.
Marriage partners may choose to become accountable to
one another for their thought lives. One of the most
effective and reassuring requests that a husband can
make of his wife is to ask her to help him guard his
eyes in public. When she notices him taking a second
look, or a long first look at another woman, she should
make a statement about the woman that would help her
husband to see her from God’s perspective.
At the same time, she would be reminding her husband of
the need to guard his eyes and his heart. This type of
accountability actually draws the couple together and
strengthens their communication with each other.
We should not expect to instantly win the war against
impure thoughts. We must press on in faith.
The seventh principle for conquering impure thoughts is
to realize that we must fight many battles in order to
win a war. Too often, we expect overnight success in our
endeavors. Regardless of the sincerity of our
commitment, or the earnestness of our prayers, we will
inevitably fall at some point. We should not, however,
be discouraged when we fail.
The writer of Proverbs 24:10 admonishes us,
If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your
strength!
Instead, we must be determined to continue fighting the
battle against sin, by the grace of God. We should heed
the words of Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray so that you
will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing,
but the body is weak.”
Awareness of God's
Presence
Satan delights in seeing Christians fulfill their
God-given desires and drives in ungodly ways.
Sincere Believers cannot entertain sensual thoughts
unless they temporarily blot out of their consciousness,
the presence of God. In this final article of a
seven-part series on conquering impure thoughts, Dr. Debbi Dunlap reminds us that the fear of the Lord is a
moment-by-moment awareness that God is watching and
weighing our words, thoughts, actions and attitudes. He
urges us to quickly reject every impure thought.
God informs us in Proverbs 16:6, “By the fear of the
Lord, men depart from evil.”
The eighth principle for conquering impure thoughts
states: Christians must learn to live in the fear of
God.
A Christian must willfully ignore God’s presence in
order to think impure thoughts.
A sincere Christian cannot entertain sensual thoughts
unless he temporarily blots out of his consciousness the
presence of God. If we truly believed that God evaluates
every one of our thoughts, we would quickly reject those
that are impure.
This is precisely what the fear of the Lord is—the
moment-by-moment awareness that God is watching and
weighing every one of our words, thoughts, actions and
attitudes.
The writer of Proverbs 15:3 reminds us of God’s
presence,
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the
evil and the good.
The words of Proverbs 5:21 reinforce this truth,
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, He
ponders all his goings.
If someone we know entertains impure thoughts toward us,
that knowledge sinfully influences our own thoughts. We
further fortify our minds against harboring impure
thoughts when we project to other people an awareness
that the Holy Spirit lives within us.
One woman, for example, was discouraged because she
was making very little progress in overcoming impure
thoughts. She was unaware, however, that her
immodest clothing had prompted impure thoughts
toward her in the minds of men who saw her.
When she changed her style of dress and asked
forgiveness of the people whom she had defrauded, she
made significant progress in her thought life.
People often “flirt” or communicate sensuality with
their eyes and their facial expressions.
When someone has a pure heart and a godly countenance,
he or she projects to those people around him or her, an
awareness of God’s presence. This results in a wall of
protection and restraint.
The ninth step toward achieving a pure thought life is
to learn God’s limitation to curiosity. Undisciplined
curiosity is one of the most common ways that we
sabotage ourselves in the war against impure thoughts.
In Romans 16:19, the Apostle Paul explains that we must
be “wise unto that which is good and simple concerning
evil.” God never intended us to learn evil by doing
evil. He desires, instead, that we discern evil with our
minds and spirits, and that we flee temptation. We read
these instructions in 1 John 4:1, “Try the spirits
whether they are of God.”
The more we become mighty in God’s Spirit, the more
ability we gain to discern evil. In Galatians 5:17 we
learn that we cannot become mighty in spirit until we
conquer impure thoughts,
For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the
Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful
nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that
you do not do what you want.
In order to apply this verse practically to our
lives, we must remove from our homes a host of
books, magazines, television programs and
discussions that are unwholesome and ungodly.
Satan delights in seeing Christians fulfill God-given
drives in ungodly ways.
The tenth principle states: We must use sensual thoughts
as a springboard to gain spiritual insights. Every
temptation we face is based on a legitimate human need.
Satan prompts us to fulfill these needs in his way. Yet,
God calls us to give Him every need or expectation, and
trust Him to fulfill it in His timing and in His way.
Impure thoughts that enter our minds become sin when we
nurse them and dwell upon them. When we expose each
sensual thought to the Lord and ask Him for strength to
resist the temptation, He will transform our ungodly
desires into spiritual power. |
