 Man, I'm tired. Oh, what do you mean exactly? Look, you know I struggle with lust, right? Yeah, you've told me that before. Okay, so I feel like all the advice that I'm getting these days is just complicated and overwhelming. All these rules and things to remember versus to repeat to myself. It's all good stuff, but when the time comes to flea temptation, I realize none of it has really made its way to my heart. I really just need a simple approach that when temptation comes, I know what to do. I totally understand. I want to share with you my deadly simple approach to killing lust in my own life that I think is going to help you in your life as well. And maybe, just maybe it'll help you too. One of the killer problems that people have is that they open themselves up to lust far before they think they do. So what do I mean exactly? Well, before you make that conscious choice where you realize, hey, I'm looking with lust right now, you're actually walking down pathways of thought that are not beneficial to you. First Corinthians 1024 says, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up or are beneficial for me. So here's just one example of what I'm talking about. Let's say you're listening to a podcast and out of nowhere, they spring up this idea of who's the most attractive celebrity. The two co-hosts banter back and forth, throwing out different names of who they find to be the most attractive, comparing and contrasting each one's physical appearance. You listen to somewhat of a passive observer. You don't think it's gonna last very long, so you continue on. Oh, well, I don't think that person's very cute or I don't think that person's very hot at all, or oh, actually, I think this person's pretty hot and attractive. You see, it began as something that you might have considered as harmless, but then you let yourself go down thought patterns that led you towards sin. So that leads us right into our first simple biblical idea, take every thought captive. Now this phrase is taken from Second Corinthians and though in the context, it's referring largely to apologetics, this four letter phrase has applications far beyond just that. As Christians, we're called to take every thought captive and put it under the submission of Christ. So what does that mean for Christians? Well, we're gonna experience thoughts that are untrue, that are lies, that are lustful, that are sinful, and thoughts will reproduce according to their kind. So if you stew on a lustful thought, it's going to create more lustful thoughts, but we shouldn't let these thoughts set up shop in our mind. I believe it's Charles Spurgeon, you can correct me if I'm wrong, who said something to the effect of we can't stop the birds from flying through the trees, but we can stop them from making a nest. That is to say that you can't necessarily stop a passing lustful thought, but you can decide what you continue to do with that thought. To put this lie under the submission of Christ is to say where is the lie in this thought? Where is the deception? Oh man, that person is really hot. I wish I could be with that person. Take that thought captive. In the midst of that thought, I am assuming that this person is there for my pleasure. They are an object. I'm not seeing them as a child of God in that moment. Take the thought captive. Then let it die. The more routine this becomes, the quicker you're able to identify the lie within the thought. And you're able to extinguish a dangerous thought pattern. So why do we even bother taking every thought captive? And why is less such a big deal? Why do we really need to serve God and honor and obey God in this area of our lives? John 14.15 says, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. I think of a father who's working hard to provide for his children. At the beginning of the day, he gives them each a piece of paper with expectations on it. One of the children goes forward and seeks to fulfill the expectations of the father, doing exactly as he's asked them to do. The other child decides that he has more important things to do. Though he'd love to fulfill the tasks on the paper, he has his own desires and wants and a predetermined schedule of how his day was supposed to go. So he fulfills that. Where are these two children's loves oriented towards? The first child's love is towards his father. The second child's love is towards himself. Now, some might misunderstand what I'm trying to say here and concern themselves only with the commandments themselves, but that's not the main point. What I'm saying is, is that we should be concerning ourselves with our love for God instead of just focusing on what I need to do or I need to do this or struggle against this sin. I need to be asking God, God, give me a greater love for you because in that, I'll be able to obey you more fully. It's not a bad prayer at all to ask God to help you keep his commandments, but ultimately these days, I end up praying a lot more for God to give me a greater love for him because it is out of that love that obedience flows. Why have love for God? Because while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were still rebelling against him, he came to this earth to die on the cross for our sins. The more you love the God who died for you, the more you hate the sin that put him on that cross. Earlier on, I briefly touched on this idea of putting lust to death. Now, this is a pretty common phrase, but we need to get in the nuts of bolts of what this actually looks like. So the first thing, you take the thought captive and you don't let it reproduce. Now, very simply, what do you do to kill something? You starve it. You stop feeding it. I think the challenge for a lot of us is that we've fed this sin for so long that we can't see a path out. We can't see a way out. It's become so strong. It's become such a challenging stronghold in our life. We don't see a path to victory because it's part of our routine. It's part of how we operate in this world. We haven't developed those thought patterns of going to the scriptures, of deciphering what this lie is. Where is the distortion here? Taking the thought captive, that takes time. But I'm a big believer that we shouldn't do this alone. As we're seeking to kill this sin and take every thought captive, I want to offer you guys a really beneficial resource. One of the worst things you can do when you're struggling with pornography is keeping it in the dark. And that is exactly why I think us as Christians, we should be inviting other people into our battle. Covenant Eyes is an online software that invites somebody trusted in your life, a family member, a friend, to have access to what you've been doing online. And this sets up a level of accountability. That way they can ask you about what you've been doing and you can't hide anything. You can't keep anything in the dark. And this might sound intrusive or invading, but it is so important as we're struggling with this that we leave everything out in the open. That way we are not ashamed. We don't need to stay in guilt. And actually this begins to build this closer bond where inviting people into our struggles. I just think this is such a beneficial thing. To learn more and sign up for Covenant Eyes, visit the link in my description. It will give you 30 days off. The promo code DailyDisciple will be automatically applied when you use the link below. So you have these practical tools in your toolbox and I encourage you to use them, to utilize them. They're important. But then we also need to understand the spiritual reality at hand. The scripture says that if I walk by the Spirit, I will not gratify the desires of the flesh. So as Christians, we're called to walk in this Spirit, to walk with Jesus, to walk according to His ways, to not stray from the path, but only through His power and His presence in our life. Can we continue to walk with Him? So that should be a daily prayer. Lord, help me walk in the Spirit. Help me walk with You. Help me walk empowered by Your presence in my life to flee temptation and not succumb to these things, these routines, these patterns of being that seem so normal to me, but rather help me hate sin. Let's continue this conversation in this video here. I'd love to hear you guys' stories in the comments down below. So please share them. Thank you again for watching and I'll see you next time.