Control your thoughts and get rid of wrong thoughts.

There is a difference between being tempted (a thought entering into your mind) and sinning (dwelling upon an evil thought and wallowing in it). It is important to understand that when a thought enters your mind, you examine it based upon God's Word and determine if you should continue down that path or reject the thought and replace it with another thought. If you have already allowed a habit to form in your thought life, it becomes more difficult to change the path of your thoughts, even as it is hard to get a car out of a deep rut and onto the hard surface road.

Take control of your thoughts and get rid of wrong thoughts:

1. Be in God's Word so that when a sinful thought enters your mind (a temptation), you will be able to recognize it for what it is and know what course to take. Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4) responded to each of Satan's temptations with Scripture that applied to the direction He knew His mind should take instead of beginning down the path of the sinful thought.

Quoting Scripture in a time of temptation serves the purpose of getting your mind onto a biblical track, but you need to know the Word of God AHEAD of time in order to accomplish this. So, a daily habit of being in the Word in a meaningful way is essential. If you are aware of a certain area of constant temptation (worry, lust, anger, etc.), you need to study and memorize key passages that deal with those issues. Looking for both what you are to avoid (negative) and how you are to properly respond (positive) to tempting thoughts and situations—before they are upon you.

2. Live in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, chiefly through seeking His strength through prayer (Matthew 26:41). If you rely upon your own strength, you will fail (Proverbs 28:26; Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 26:33).

3. You are not to feed your mind with that which will promote sinful thoughts. Proverbs 4:23. You are to guard your mind—what you allow into it and what you allow your mind to dwell on. Romans 13:14 states, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts." Thus, you are to avoid things and situations that will set you up for a fall.

4. Pursue hard after God, substituting godly pursuits and mindsets for sinful thoughts. Use the principle of replacement. "Putting off" wrong actions and thoughts but then "putting on” godly actions and thoughts (Ephesians 4:22-32). Merely seeking to put off sinful thoughts without replacing those thoughts with godly ones leaves an empty field for Satan to come along and sow his weeds (Matthew 12:43-45).