How To Overcome A Dirty Mind

By David J. Stewart
August 2017 | Updated May 2021

       If you are struggling with sexually impure thoughts and pornography, I have some things to help you.

Psalms 119:11, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." You need to spend more time abiding in the Scriptures.

Psalms 119:9, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word." Memorize these three Scripture verses.

1st Peter 2:11, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul."

Here's a helpful video sermon by Pastor Steven Anderson titled:

"PORNOGRAPHY AND PROSTITUTION"

Here's another helpful MP3 sermon by Pastor Hyles titled, "I HAVE SINNED"...

http://www.soulwinning.info/sermons/hp020903.mp3

And here is a helpful MP3 sermon by Pastor Dan Meaders titled, "PORNOGRAPHY"...

http://www.dividedbytruth.org/sermons/dan_meaders/pornography.mp3

Every Christian struggles with sin, as did the apostle Paul (Romans 7:14-25). I receive many emails from people seeking help with various issues. A man recently wrote to me and said that he struggles with pornography. We exchanged several emails. From reading your past e-mails, I see that you've just been saved for one year, so you are still growing much in grace. Don't beat yourself up too much, but purpose in your heart that with the Lord's help you're going to get the victory over pet sins. Everyone struggles in different areas of weakness, everyone!

And may I say, kindly, nearly everyone today has a dirty-mind to some degree. This is especially true of anyone who has grown up watching American television, which is extremely perverse and dirty-minded. Thinking dirty is an American way of life (Walt Disney is really horrible), sad to say. Many women have very dirty-minds, as do most men. But this isn't because there was anything wrong with that person at the start of life, normally speaking; but rather, their mind has seen and heard so much filth for decades, that that's all they know. Consequently, now there is something very wrong with them!!! In other words, if you subject a normal child to enough of America's perverse culture, absent the Holy Bible, you'll raise a demented human being! That's largely what we see across America today, people who's minds are total garbage pails. Some people have it so bad that they cannot even go for five minutes without uttering something filthy, obscene or immoral.

So how does a dirty-minded person clean up their mind? You start by getting saved. You get saved by believing the Gospel. A person cannot change until they've been regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. Then as God's child, you abide in the Scriptures day and night (Psalms 1:1-6). Temptations will come, they always do, again and again. The choices we make define who we are in life! No one ever has to do wrong, we CHOOSE to do wrong! An evil person has no problem choosing to do wrong. I can tell you this—You'll never conquer a filthy-mind as long as you continue to saturate your mind with garbage!!! Garbage in, garbage out! Goodness in, goodness out! That's why we all need to hear hard-Bible-preaching on a regular basis, to help us think right! We all need to read or hear the King James Bible daily. The Word of God is our spiritual food. Would you skip a meal for a day? Perhaps, but if you do, you'll become weak. Likewise, when we don't feel like abiding in the Scriptures on any particular day (and we all feel that way at times), we start to grow spiritually weak after a day or so. So, as much as you can tolerate in your sinful flesh, abide in the Scriptures. The more you abide in the Scriptures, the better off you'll be in life. Right decisions come from right thinking.

Here's an article about sexual sins in general, from Dr. John R. Rice...

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Sodomy/john_r_rice_exposes.htm

You need to set SAFEGUARDS in your home and life. It is very important that you avoid sensual garbage on television, since you are struggling in this area. I have the symbol of a cross on both of my computers, which constantly reminds me that I am a Christian when I go online. I named my server network "KINGJAMESBIBLE," which is a safeguard. I wouldn't want people seeing a guy with "KINGJAMESBIBLE" going somewhere on the internet where he shouldn't go. I don't know if you are aware of this or not, but every picture that you download or upload is permanently recorded at your hosting company, along with the date, size, time and location of the file on your hardrive or server drive. All your internet activity is stored. They are legally binding transactions. The police, government and hackers can see all of that. There's no such thing as internet privacy. So keep that all in mind, you are being watched. Moreover, our God is always watching, whom we should fear rather than man.

Sadly, some of the filthiest and most evil websites today are the New York Post and New York Times and Washington Post, which are very sensual, raunchy and immodest. I avoid those ungodly websites. Colossians 3:5-8, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth."

Another safeguard is to avoid places such as the beach, where women walk around in their colored underwear. Some ungodly women even go naked in today's wicked world. When I do go to the beach, I stay busy picking my guitar and looking at what I'm doing, not women passing by. But if you cannot look away, don't go. If you cannot control what you watch on TV, get rid of it. I don't have TV. There's too much filth and I always end up seeing the wrong things, because I like science fiction and certain topics, which oftentimes comes with the smut, so I don't have TV. I save about $1200 a year too. I might get TV again someday, but I have no interest right now, and haven't for 3 years. I don't need TV. I have movies that I watch over and over, like Rocky and the first three Jurassic Park movies. I know what I am watching. Today's movies surprise you with filth, and I don't like having garbage set in front of my face. All of today's movies are trash. I read the family ratings before watching a film, because it has deteriorated so badly. We are living in perilous times.

When I am at church and standing in the pew, for congregational singing, I sometimes see an attractive woman standing in front of me. Instead of looking down at the song book, where her backside is directly in view over my songbook, I instead hold my songbook up a little higher, to cover the woman's buttock's area. Perhaps you say, “Boy, you have a dirty mind!” No, I have a man's mind. There's not a normal healthy man who isn't attracted to another woman, especially if she is attractive in the least. A wise man guards his mind to please the Lord, and because he knows where dirty-thinking can lead (to a lot of frustration and unholy lusts that cannot be fulfilled without sinning or committing some crime). It all starts with wrong thinking. This is what the Scriptures mean in Proverb 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Certainly, it is frustrating to suppress one's lusts, but this is a mere yoke of wood, compared to the yoke of iron that sexual immorality and perversion brings. You're going to bear a burden in the matter of lust, one way or the other, but you can choose the lesser of two woes.

Men can live right in 2017 if we want to. No man is over-sexed, only under-charactered. I speak in general concerning all men. One of the attributes of the "fruit" of the Holy Spirit is temperance (self-control). Galatians 5:22-25... walking with God gives us self-control. The fruit of the Spirit (capital S, for the indwelling Holy Spirit) is "love, joy, peace, suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, temperance and patience. Many believers aren't interested in walking in the Spirit, until their life falls apart, and then they come running back to God in obedience. David did this in the Old Testament. Psalms 119:67, "Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word." Sin thrills and then it kills. Sin fascinates and then it assassinates.

Avoid people and friends who are filthy-mouthed and filthy-minded. You don't need friends like that. The beginning of having a pure heart and a clean mind is desiring it. Good character is not an accident, it comes from the habitual doing of right. This is why David prayed to God in Psalms 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." If a man doesn't want to live right, he never will. One of the characteristics of a righteous (saved) man is that he desires to live right, even though he fails continually. He GETS BACK UP! Proverbs 24:16, "For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief." You are going to fall into sin (or better said "God into sin) at times. We all do. It is not acceptable to God, and we shouldn't ever sin, but because we are sinful in nature, even as born-again Christians, we will still sin sometimes. Albeit, at any given time we can choose to do right if we want to, but we won't always make that right choice because we are sinners.

An old back preacher once likened the new nature (which is Christ in me) to the old nature (the flesh), by comparing two dogs, a white dog (good) and a black dog (evil). Which ever dog I choose to feed will be the stronger dog. So if you want to conquer wrong thoughts in your life, you and I have to feed that good dog!!! Read your Bible, pray every day, and you'll grow, grow, grow! I listen to Alexander Scourby read the King James Bible while I'm sleeping. It really helps me...

https://youtu.be/FZ8tkCqfwIk?t=1s

You'll always struggle with impure thoughts, as do all normal healthy men. Purpose in your heart that you would rather die than betray God. Looking at women does nothing but lead to frustration. Only within a proper legal marriage can those desires be rightfully fulfilled. I don't know if you're married, but I recommend doing so if you're not. I've lived alone for the past 11 years, since my wife divorced me in 2006. It hasn't been easy. I'd like a wife. So I especially have to be careful how I think, what I look at, so as to not create unholy desires that cannot be fulfilled, since I am not married. If I see a pretty woman, I look away immediately and think of other things. It works. It is mind over matter.

I've never been on a nude beach, but I have talked to men who have, like Haulover Beach in north Miami, Florida. If a man gets aroused, he is immediately escorted by security off the beach. So if a man can keep his cool and not become aroused with naked women all around him, then that proves men can control themselves. It is a matter of what a man CHOOSES to think about. The Bible confirms this truth in 2nd Corinthians 10:5-6, "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." We learn two truths here for this Bible passage:

First, we are taught to captivate every thought (lust, hate, complaining, et cetera) and force that thought into compliance with the Word of God. This is not mind-control, this is yielding to the Holy Spirit Who lives inside every believer (1st Corinthians 3:16-17; Romans 8:9; 1st John 3:24). Character is the subconscious doing of right. The way you develop good character is to keep doing the right thing, and it will become a habit.

Second, we learn from this helpful passage that we ought to "revenge all disobedience." You messed up today. Okay, then you determine in your heart, never again! I won't make that mistake again. You probably will do it again, but you'll come a lot closer to NOT repeating that sin or mistake, if you revenge all disobedience by getting tough on yourself. The Holy Bible teaches that if we take care of the problem as believers, then God won't have to do it for us... 1st Corinthians 11:31, "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged."

Is It A Sin To Masturbate?


Souls Are Dying!

Precious Christian Testimonies

How Permanent Is Your Salvation?
(an excellent MP3 sermon by Pastor Hank Lindstrom, 1940-2008)

“The mark of the child of God is that he loves everybody!”
(a quote from Pastor Jack Hyles' classic MP3 sermon, “FORGIVENESS”)


Ye Must Be Born Again!

You Need HIS Righteousness!