How can I get rid of lustful thoughts?

"C. E. C." We deeply feel for you. We do not at all believe you have committed the unpardonable sin. It is quite right that your conscience should be exercised before God as to your very thoughts. You have only to give yourself to earnest prayer and waiting upon God for entire deliverance from those horrible thoughts which so afflict you. Ask Him so to fill your heart with Christ, that there may be no room for aught else. May He give you full victory, and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. There is a very wide moral difference between a person who treats evil thoughts as intruders, and one who entertains them as guests — between one who only seeks to expel them, and one who provides them with furnished lodgings. But the most effectual safeguard against evil thoughts is to have the mind fully occupied with good. Some one has truly said, that "the secret of peace within, and power without, is to be only and always occupied with good."

It is not the first step that leads to a public fall. There must be the secret encouragement before things get to the point of open scandal. In the Sermon on the Mount it is “the PURE in heart” that will see God. It is well to be exercised about the thoughts of the heart, for if they are kept in captivity to the Lord actions will be right. Spurgeon said, “You cannot forbid unclean birds flying over your head, but you can hinder their making a nest in your hair.”

Thoughts unbidden come into the mind that clearly are not of the Spirit of God, but of the flesh. We need not trouble about them, unless we are so foolish as to willingly give them a lodging place in our hearts. The wise man knew full well where the citadel of life is situated, when he wrote to his son, “Keep thy HEART with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23).

Now the Spirit in our chapter shows us on the one hand the works of the flesh: fifteen different wicked works, all manifesting the flesh. The first three are sexual sins, and how common these are. How easy it is to allow impure thoughts to enter our minds, and even to dwell there. In Matthew 15:19, the Lord tells us what comes out of the heart of man, and the first on the list is "evil thoughts." We sometimes excuse ourselves by saying we cannot govern our thoughts, that these things will enter our minds unbidden, and that we hate them. However, if we let the Spirit lead us, even evil thoughts can have no power over us; instead, through Him, we may lead "captive every thought into the obedience of the Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5). And alas! impurity may not only be in thought, but in word and in deed. How careful we should be! Every one of us has the flesh in us, and these hateful, filthy sins come first on the list of its works.

Sexual desire may become very strong so the requirement to live in this way may be considered a hard imposition. In such a case it is helpful if the young Christian concerned talks confidentially to a mature Christian of the same sex or a couple to find the help, support and prayer he or she needs. Beware of any ‘alternative solution’ (masturbation, pornography, films, etc.)! This will only make you unhappy and increase your burdens, and it will bring you into spiritual free fall. ‘For the rest, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are amiable, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if any praise, think on these things’ (Phil. 4:8).

We have to keep the cover on our souls. If we keep our eyes and ears open to every folly and sin we are unclean. We must withhold our eyes from beholding vanity, and keep our ears closed from listening to sin; and the best way to do that is to have Christ for a covering for the eyes, and have our ears open to His voice. We touch the dead body often in the things we read, and things we see and hear. How often we find evil things that we have read, or seen, or thought, come back to us at the most sacred moments. We need the water of separation for these. And to be preserved from them we need to think of the things that are true and honest, and pure, and lovely, and of good report. In that way our vessels will be covered and we are preserved.

Would you avoid the danger and the evil of lust? Humble yourselves, submit yourselves to God, resist the devil, draw near to God, purify your conduct, feel your state. All these things which wound the pride of the flesh are suited to maintain you in a true state, in the presence of the Lord who will exalt you, when this can be without danger.

Verses 7-10. Do you desire to avoid the danger and the evil consequences of lust? Humble yourselves, submit to God, resist the devil, draw near to God, purify your conduct, feel your state. These things wound the pride of the flesh, but are able to keep us in a true state in the presence of the Lord who Himself will lift us up, and then it will be without danger.

Encourage the mind to dwell upon what is good. "Abstain from all appearance of evil." And thus cultivate a pure and holy mind. Learn to say with the Psalmist, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Thy comforts delight my soul."

Anxious care being driven out of our hearts there is room for all that is good to come in. Of this verse 8 speaks. One can hardly exaggerate the importance of having the mind filled with all that is true and pure and lovely, the highest expression of which is found in Christ. Our lives are so largely controlled by our thoughts, and hence it says, "As he thinks in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7). Hence to have our minds filled with what is true and just and pure is like a high road leading to a life marked by truth and justice and purity. We have of necessity to come into contact with much that is evil, but needlessly to occupy ourselves with it is disastrous, and a source of spiritual weakness.

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things." First, cast all the troubles and cares upon God, and then our minds will be at leisure to turn and think upon whatsoever things are lovely, etc., alone - all these blessed things, which, notwithstanding Satan, grew as fruit. If the soul is occupied with the evil, there will be weakness, but if occupying ourselves with the good, the soul will be strengthened.