How can I overcome my evil thoughts even though I am Christian already?<\/p>\n\t
I’ve always been amazed at how many people think that Satan gives up and goes away just because a person has become a Christian. Satan isn’t going to stop tempting you with sin (evil thoughts), he is going to work all that much harder to bring you back into his camp. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world<\/em>” (I Peter 5:8-9).<\/p>\n In order to tempt you with sin, Satan has to get you to think about the sin. If you never thought about the sin, then Satan would be unable to tempt you or anyone else. Where thoughts of sin become wrong is when you seriously consider them as something you would like to do, but you just haven’t had the opportunity. Such thoughts are lusts. For example, “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart<\/em>” (Matthew 5:28). This is not simply seeing a woman or having a passing thought that she is attractive, but entertaining thoughts of committing adultery with a woman. Such thoughts are sinful.<\/p>\n You battle Satan by resisting the urge to think and pursue the things you know are wrong. That is what God asks of you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: How can I overcome my evil thoughts even though I am Christian already? Answer: I’ve always been amazed at how many people think that Satan gives up and goes away just because a person has become a Christian. Satan isn’t going to stop tempting you with sin (evil thoughts), he is going to work…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[185],"class_list":["post-13470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-temptation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7919,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-sin-comes-from-our-thoughts-does-this-mean-there-is-no-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":13470,"position":0},"title":"Since sin comes from our thoughts, does this mean there is no Satan?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does the following passage mean that there is no Satan or demons that cause men to do evil?: \"He summoned the multitude, and said to them, \"Hear, and understand. That which enters into the mouth doesn't defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1334,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-does-adultery-start\/","url_meta":{"origin":13470,"position":1},"title":"How does adultery start?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 10, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How does adultery start? In what way then is it looked upon as adultery Answer: James describes the steps leading to death from sin as thus: \"Let no one say when he is tempted, \"I am tempted by God\"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17050,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-disagree-with-the-idea-that-satan-cant-put-thoughts-directly-into-someones-head\/","url_meta":{"origin":13470,"position":2},"title":"I disagree with the idea that Satan can’t put thoughts directly into someone’s head","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I disagree with\u00a0the idea that Satan can't put thoughts directly into someone's head. What about: John 13:2 \"And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him,\" John 13:26-27 \"Jesus answered, \"It is he to whom I shall\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12618,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-does-satan-know-what-to-use-to-tempt-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":13470,"position":3},"title":"How does Satan know what to use to tempt us?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How does Satan know what to tempt us with? He is not God, so how does he know what tempts us? Answer: The simple answer is he doesn't know. He makes guesses and is sometimes wrong. You can see this when Satan attempted to bring down Job. \"So Satan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37488,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-you-constantly-watch-porn-will-god-give-you-up-to-vile-affections\/","url_meta":{"origin":13470,"position":4},"title":"If you constantly watch porn, will God give you up to vile affections?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, If you constantly watch porn will God give you up to vile affections? I'm constantly worried that when I watch porn and fail that God will give me up to vile affections and make me gay and stuff for punishment. Is this true? Answer: If you ignore any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19079,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-god-gave-us-free-will-why-is-it-satan-can-still-tempt-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":13470,"position":5},"title":"If God gave us free will, why is it Satan can still tempt us?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Okay, I don't really know how to put this so here goes: If God gave us free will, why is it Satan can still tempt us? Answer: A good question. Free will means that God allows you to make choices in your life. God decided before making the world\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}