Today I would like to spend some time thinking about how we can redirect our thoughts when we begin to fantasize. I want to stress that entertaining sexual thoughts at any level about another man other than your husband is dangerous. We cannot control every thought that pops in our heads. What you can stop though is entertaining those thoughts…you know…when you keep pressing the rewind button and watching it again and again. We are going to look at some ways we can redirect the thoughts before they spin out of control. From what we learned early on in the study, why is it important to stop ungodly thoughts right away?

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If our thoughts are not halted and redirected, we are likely to rehearse them in our minds and speak them out at some point. We know once we speak them out we are feeding our flesh and it grows stronger. At some point you may come face to face with a similar scene you have rehearsed many times in your head and fall under a heavy temptation to sin. Remember, Satan is crafty. He schemes and plots attacks on your life. If he is the author of sexual temptation then he will do everything he can to get you to entertain sexual thoughts about another man. It’s possible he will present a temptation that you have been entertaining at some point down the road when you are not looking. I know this can happen, because I have experienced something similar in my own life. I was attacked with overwhelming mental pictures about someone. I was not choosing to have these pop in my head. At one point down the road, the same person that was popping in my head presented himself almost literally at my front door. Sounds crazy, I know. I would never have dreamed in a million years that the very thoughts attacking my mind would actually try to come to pass! As I spoke with other women about similar circumstances, they all had similar stories. They never believed any of the thoughts they were entertaining would actually manifest as physical temptations, yet most of them did. This is why we have got to get to a place where we pay close attention to what our minds are being bombarded with.

What are some ways you might be able to redirect thoughts that pop into your head about another man other than your husband?
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Let me give you a few examples.

1. Ask God to help you become aware of ungodly thoughts when they pop into your head.

2. Redirect thoughts about another man towards your husband. If you are having thoughts about what a romantic week in Hawaii would be like with the attractive man at your office, replace that other man with your husband. It’s perfectly okay to have sexual fantasies as long as it’s with your husband.

3. Look up scriptures that encourage you in your battle and rehearse them. Just like Jesus, talk back with the word of God when the devil is tempting you.

4. Put on praise music.

5. If another man continues to pop in your head that is not your husband, pray for him. That will really confuse the enemy! In fact, it will probably cause him to back off.

Jesus understood what it was like to be tempted. Although he was tempted, he never sinned. We can have that same power as well over temptation. Why? We have the Holy Spirit living within us.

Please read 1 John 4:4. “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

How does that speak to you in the battle to fight temptation?______________________________________________

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I believe it is saying that He that is in us (the Holy Spirit) is greater than the enemy who is in the world. If Jesus trumps the enemy, then we can know that when we come face-to-face with our enemy we can trump our “enemy” in Jesus’ name as well. Satan is a defeated foe. Sometimes the body of Christ gives Satan way too much credit. They think he is more powerful than God at times. The only power he has in your life is the power you give him. He is the father of lies. He is not as powerful as he tries to make you think. It is my experience that when you no longer give the enemy power, he will grow tired and leave you alone with those temptations. He will see that it’s no longer going to work with you. Then he will move on.

Most of the time the enemy tempts us with thoughts of being loved by another man. After all, we have been raised watching movies like “Cinderella”, and have had lifelong desires to be swept off our feet by Prince Charming. No wonder it’s so hard on us, we’ve been longing for something like that since we were little girls! Nonetheless, we have to choose to redirect ungodly thoughts that tempt us. We have to desire to want help from the Holy Spirit to resist lustful temptations. Ladies, we have to get real that lustful thoughts are not just limited to men. If that were true, how would men get women to have affairs with them? Satan does not respect people and boundaries. He wants to destroy women just as much as he wants to destroy men! He is feeding women counterfeit thoughts about love in order to trigger their emotions. Let’s get honest and realize this is not just a man’s battle.

When we became saved, the Holy Spirit came to reside within us. The bible teaches that the very same power that raised people from the dead is the same power that lives within us, because the Holy Spirit resides there. Everything we could ever need to walk blameless and holy is within us. We need to learn how to tap into that power. It is within you at the very core of your true being. Abandon yourself completely to His power-filled presence that lies within.