Run from anything that gives you the evil thoughts but stay close to anything that makes you want to do right.
2 TIMOTHY 2:22
Remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.
1 CORINTHIANS 10:13
We may sometimes feel that a temptation is too overpowering for us to bear, but that’s a lie from Satan. God has promised never to allow more on us than he puts within us to handle it. He will not permit any temptation that we could not overcome. Let us refocus our attention on something else. We are told to “resist the devil,”we are advised to refocus our attention because resisting a thought doesn’t work. It only intensifies our focus on the wrong thing and strengthens its allure.
Every time we try to block a thought out of our mind, we drive it deeper into our memory. By resisting it, we actually reinforce it. This is especially true with temptation. We don’t defeat temptation by fighting the feeling of it. The more we fight a feeling, the more it consumes and controls us. We strengthen it every time we think it. Since temptation always begins with a thought, the quickest way to neutralize its allure is to turn our attention to something else. Don’t fight the thought, just change the channel of our mind and get interested in another idea. This is the first step in defeating temptation.
The battle for sin is won or lost in our mind. Whatever gets our attention will get us. Have we ever watched a food advertisement on television and suddenly felt we were hungry? Have we ever heard someone cough and immediately felt the need to clear our throat? Ever watched someone release a big yawn and felt the urge to yawn ourself? (We may be yawning right now as we read this! Lol 😆) That is the power of suggestion. We naturally move toward whatever we focus our attention on. The more we think about something, the stronger it takes hold of us. That is why repeating “I must stop eating too much . . . or stop smoking . . . or stop lusting” is a self-defeating strategy. It keeps us focused on what we don’t want. It’s like announcing, “I’m never going to do what my mom did.” We are setting ourself up to repeat it.
Most diets don’t work because they keep us thinking about food all the time, guaranteeing that we’ll be hungry. In the same way, a speaker who keeps repeating to herself, “Don’t be nervous!” sets herself up to be nervous! Instead she should focus on anything except her feelings — on God, on the importance of her speech, or on the needs of those listening.
Temptation begins by capturing our attention. What gets our attention arouses our emotions. Then our emotions activate our behavior, and we act on what we felt. The more we focus on “I don’t want to do this,” the stronger it draws us into its web. Ignoring a temptation is far more effective than fighting it. Once our mind is on something else, the temptation loses its power. So when temptation calls us on the phone, don’t argue with it, just hang up! Get up and walk away and leave. To avoid being stung, stay away from the bees. Do whatever is necessary to turn our attention to something else.
Our mind is our most vulnerable organ. To reduce temptation, keep our mind occupied with God’s Word and other good thoughts. We defeat bad thoughts by thinking of something better. This is the principle of replacement. We overcome evil with good.Satan can’t get our attention when our mind is preoccupied with something else. “Be careful how we think; our life is shaped by our thoughts.”Don’t allow trash into our mind. Be selective. Choose carefully what we think about. We can reprogram the way we think. God’s solution is plain: Don’t repress it; confess it! Don’t conceal it; reveal it. Revealing our feeling is the beginning of healing.Hiding our hurt only intensifies it. Problems grow in the dark and become bigger and bigger, but when exposed to the light of truth, they shrink.Realize our vulnerability.
The Bible repeatedly tells us to keep our minds focused: “Fix our thoughts on Jesus. “Fill our minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.”
