Hey everybody, only 2 blogs left in our 26 Principles to Stop Looking at Porn blog series with Jay Dennis! To catch up on what we’ve been discussing, head here.

 

Today we’re just going to give you one new tip, but it’s a good one:

 

WAR with Your Sinful Thoughts and Fantasies

 

II Corinthians 10:4-5

 

This is where the war with porn will be won (or lost). Utilize the “S.T.O.P. the Thought” Method. Dr. Arch Hart suggests that when a sinful thought enters your mind, use the technique of saying out loud, “Stop the Thought” to interrupt the flow of the sinful thought.  A method a colleague and I developed was taking the acrostic for S.T.O.P. and applying it to your thought life in order to win the war with sinful thinking.

 

Sinful Thoughts Confessed Immediately

Scriptural Basis:

I John 1:9

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

 

Think on These Things

Replace a sinful thought with a God thought based on biblical truth.

Scriptural Basis:

Philippians 4:8

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”-nlt

Practice Replacement Thought Therapy. Biblical meditation is an effective way of overcoming sinful thoughts.  Biblical meditation empties the mind of wrong thoughts so that if can be filled with what is right and true according to God’s Word. It is objective and has a definite focus (God, God’s Word, God’s works, etc.), not subjective which simply empties the mind of all thinking, opinions, and desires. Christian meditation is reflective thinking and contemplation on God and the things of God. The goal is to internalize and personalize God’s Word so that its’ truth can affect how we think, consequently affecting how we live.

“If a man thinks something often enough, he will come to the stage when he cannot stop thinking about it.”

Paul tells us not only to stop our sinful thoughts, He further tells us how by replacing them with God thoughts.

 

Order Every Thought

Scriptural Basis:

II Corinthians 10:5

“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

The thought battles cannot be won by conventional weapons. Our thoughts can become devices or weapons of Satan to lead us into sin. Paul teaches us that immediately when a sinful thought enters our mind, by an act of the will, in the power of the Holy Spirit, you command the thought to leave your mind and place it under the blood of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. You order the thought which demands commanding it, not suggesting it to leave. You cannot deal lightly or gently with a sinful thought.

 

Pursue the Mind of Christ

Scriptural Basis:

I Corinthians 2:16

“For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.”

Philippians 2:

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.”

You pursue the mind of Christ by:

  • Renewing your mind daily through Scripture.
  • Practicing thinking about God things.
  • Disciplining your mind through the spiritual disciplines.

Scriptural Basis:

II Corinthians 10:4-5

“for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”