No Pillz with Gordon McGhee

The Battle for Your Mind: Overcoming Impure Thoughts | No Pills Podcast Ep 56

• Gordon McGhee • Season 2 • Episode 56

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🧠 Are you struggling with impure thoughts and distractions? 🧠
In this thought-provoking episode of the No Pills Podcast, host Gordon McGee explores the intense spiritual and mental battle for control of our thoughts. Drawing from scripture, real-life examples, and practical strategies, this episode provides the tools you need to guard your mind, stay focused in prayer, and live a victorious Christian life.

💡 What You’ll Learn:

How to combat distractions and sinful thoughts during prayer.
Practical steps to take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5).
How scripture, prayer, and community can help win the battle for your mind.
Why guarding your heart and mind is critical for spiritual and relational growth.
✨ Key Scriptures:

James 1:14-15
Philippians 4:8
2 Corinthians 10:5
Psalms 119:11

💬 Join the conversation: How do you stay focused and guard your mind? Share your strategies in the comments below!

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00:00 Introduction to No Pills Podcast
01:21 The Battle for the Mind
02:44 Practical Steps to Combat Impure Thoughts
04:25 The Importance of Scripture and Prayer
08:29 Guarding Your Mind and Heart
17:27 Seeking Accountability and Support
18:24 Recap and Final Thoughts
20:22 Conclusion

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Today on the no pills podcast, but each person is tempted when they are dragged away or drawn away of their own evil desires and enticed friends. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin and sin. When it is full grown, gives birth to death. Let's get into it. You're now listening to the no pills podcast, your best resource for cultivating, meaningful. Healthy, long lasting, romantic relationships that bloom into strong marriages. Welcome to No Pills. Welcome to No Pills. That's with a Z if you couldn't tell. Ha ha! Love. Fully scripted. We back, beloved. Your man, G Man, God's man, Brother Gordon. Let's get some. No red pills, no blue pills. Welcome to the land of truth. Your love life. Yes, it is a vehicle. That vehicle comes with an owner's manual. That owner's manual has a manufacturer. That manual is the Bible. The manufacturer is God. Can't say it enough, friends. I'm glad you made it back. We get into a heavy one today. A real one. A practical one. You know, uh, the battle is for the mind. Everything starts in the mind. In the thoughts, okay? That's where it all abides. That's where all the action is taking place. In this mind of yours. Is where it all is going down. Let me ask you a question, man. Be honest with me. Have you ever gotten down to pray on your knees? And then all types of evil thoughts enter your mind. It can range from a half naked person, male or female, that you saw online, that came across your screen uninvited. I'm not talking about you inviting it. Popping in your head when it's time to pray. Thoughts like, God's not real. I'm too great a sinner. Your to-do list, your, your laundry list. You're running through your list. You're supposed to be praying and you're running through your list. Like, oh, I gotta do this today. I gotta do that today. Worried about what you're going to eat later. Worried about what's going on at your job. Um, you cur listen. Curse words sometimes can even enter your mind as you pray. You, you may have not cursed in years, and you go, you get down to praying. Boom. There's a curse word coming across your mind, just even plain evil thoughts of all sorts and all types of nature that you would probably be ashamed to even share with anybody else. Just entering your mind. I want you to know you have to stand your ground. Okay. You cannot give up on prayer. Now this is where you have to batten down the hatches. You have to stand 10 toes down and respond quickly and effectively. First thing I want to tell you as, as just a, as a, as a, Extra added note, you cannot prevent birds from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from making nests in your hair. Okay, so point number one, you have to go and ask God for the victory immediately and believe that he is going to give it to you and has given it to you to. You want to sing a song, perhaps. Okay. A little song that I like to sing, uh, goes whisper of prayer. Whisper. Whisper. To keep your heart in tune. Give me some milk! Pardon me, I can't sing. But there's two other stanzas. They go through the same morning, afternoon, evening, right? God answers prayer in the morning, evening, night, and evening. God may come in the morning, evening. Keep your heart in tune. This sometimes can reset, recalibrate the mind with a devotional song, devotional thought. You may even want to start with some devotional songs in the morning or thoughts before you even pray. Okay? Other thing. But if you're in the hot throes of the battle of prayer, you can also do this. Okay? Third thing. You can read the Bible. Uh, prayer from your Bible, Daniel chapter nine is a good place to start with prayer. Also Psalms is prayers all over the place. So maybe reading someone else's prayer in the Bible can therefore influence your mind and saturate your mind with the word of God first sometimes, then that can realign, recalibrate your mind for prayer. Friends, it's important to not give up. So every time you come to prayer, this is happening to you. Do not give up. Run away from prayer. That is what Satan wants you to do. He wants you not to pray. He wants you not to bring every thought into the subjection of Christ, and therefore he is now intimidating you. He is now scaring you away, keeping you away from communicating with your Father in heaven. God knows every thought you're thinking anyway, friends, and he's came to give us deliverance of the mind. Freedom from sin in the mind and in the thoughts. Do not give up, but fight. Fight through more prayer, asking God, you hear my thoughts, you know my thoughts, free me from evil thoughts. Sing the, sing a devotional song, a song that will lead you into a mind and state of prayer and read some, read some words, some prayers from the Bible. Read the word. Those are my first three just immediate. When you're writing the throes of the battle, what to do, do not run from prayer. Okay. Now let's go deeper. Okay. Next. I want to say to you, the Bible teaches that sinful actions often stem from thoughts and desires. Okay. So in other words, I don't want you to downplay how important it is to To get your thoughts under control because they can be controlled by the indolence of the Holy Spirit in James chapter one, verses 14 to 15. But each person is tempted when they are dragged away or drawn away of their own evil desires and enticed friends. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown gives birth to death. It starts in the mind, in the thoughts. Don't forget that. Okay, so in other words, this is, you want to go hard here. You want to make sure that you're saying, no, no, no, I am, I am fighting for control of my thoughts because this leads to my actions. Come on. Are you with me? All right. And then we want to take every thought captive. That's our next step. Aggressively. When you take someone, someone is taken captive, right? Normally, it's against their will. Amen? When someone is taken captive, it is against their will. Hands are put behind their back. They're tied up, roped off, and they're taken captive. Ah, this is what must happen to the thoughts. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 5. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive. Every thought to make it obedient to Christ. This is aggressive warfare, friends. This is aggressive warfare. This is not just casual sitting back victory through osmosis. No, this is aggressive warfare. Reading the Bible. Praying, scripture, remembering, thinking on the cross of Christ, thinking about what was given for your freedom mentally. And then that simple question, what would Jesus do? What would Jesus be thinking? How did he have the victory? Amen. God's biddings are enablings. If the Christian is called to control the thoughts and align them with God's truth, you better believe that the Holy Ghost is going to show up. And show out. Amen. And give you the victory. Focus on pure and godly things, friends. Mhm. Your time in and around prayer, in your life, you want to be focused on pure, godly things. Philippians 4 verse 8, Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. We must make a habit of redirecting the mind to focus on what is pure, true, holy, honorable to replace the impure thoughts. I know a lot of us. We want the fairy dust. We want to pray one prayer. We want God to sprinkle some potion, some dust, some miracle powder over us one time, and then we don't have to fight or struggle anymore with that thought. Sorry, this is, that's not reality, friends. This is real. You're gonna have to bring every thought to the subjection of Christ and you want to keep impure things out. So the movies you may or may not be watching that are all evil and wicked, you're watching murder, you're watching adultery, you're watching fornication, that's not helping you. There are two dogs in the fight. There's a spiritual dog and there's a physical dog. The dog that's going to win the fight is the dog that you feed. You feed the physical dog, the lower to base passion dog, that's the dog that's going to win. You feed the spiritual dog, that's the dog that will end, that will win. You must guard your five senses, friends. You want to keep all impurity out in Psalms 101 verse 3. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of those who turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. The battle is for the mind. We must focus, we must be intentional, intentional about focusing on the pure godly things that God has set before us and to avoid and to turn our ears, shut our eyes, close our ears to the evil, wicked things that will then rush into our minds as we go to go pray. Guard the heart and the mind, friends. Protecting what you allow into your mind through media, conversations, and influences is crucial. Co workers. Do you have some of those? Sometimes your co workers can talk about and speak about the most debased things on planet Earth. All the evil practices they're involved in, you're trying to be a good coworker, you want to witness it in, but man, their conversation, the cursing just is not good to be around their thoughts, the gossiping they want to do. You feed into the gossiping. Come on friends. This, this is all going to impact relationships. Welcome to the no pill, no pills podcast, love fully scripted. You have to have victory in your mind. Control over your thoughts if you're gonna be anyone's spouse, if you're gonna be anyone's husband or wife. If you don't see the connection, let me make it for you, let me make sure it's nice and clear so you can't miss it. You need to have the mind in a place where the Spirit of God is reigning and is enthroned upon it so that you can be a good husband, a good wife, a good father, a good mother, a good parent. Proverbs 4 verse 23. Above all the, above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. Watch those conversations. You know, I've noticed in life that a lot of times, sin will use different Trojan horses to get evil into your mind, like comedy, for example. Nothing like a good laugh. Does good is health to the bones. Laughter, joy makes you healthy. Laughing as, as years to your life, right? As time to your life, it gives you health. But man, sometimes the most wicked things about life can be hidden in a joke. The battle is for the mind, friends. Now this next, now this next, ooh, this next tip, ooh, this next point is good. Super important. Listen to what I'm saying to you. This is super important. Do not rely on your strength, but you must rely on God's strength for the victory. Okay? Overcoming impure thoughts is not done in human strength. I cannot overemphasize that. It is humanity being united with divinity through the power of the Holy Ghost, friends. Through the power of the Holy Ghost. Galatians 5 verse 16. So I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Hmm. Yes. What dog are you feeding? What are you leaning into? The, the cardinal man, the physical man, the earthly man, or the spiritual woman? Spiritual man, the spiritual man, the spiritual woman. Who are you leaning into? Who are you feeding? Are you walking in your flesh or are you walking in the spirit? Simple question. You and I need the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Let me show you what that looks like. When you, when you pray, right? And you ask, Father God, my thoughts are running all over the place. I need, I need, I need rebirth. Forget help. I need rebirth. And Lord, I'm asking for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. And then you claim the promise, you know, Luke 11, verse 13. If you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more so shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? And you claim that prayer, you claim that promise from the Word of God. And you hand it to Jesus. You go, God, this is what you have said. You promised that if I ask for the Holy Ghost, you are more willing to give him to me than if a child would ask a worldly evil parent for a good gift. So, I don't feel it. I don't feel this supernatural emotion coursing through my veins, but no, I claim it by faith, saying I've asked for the Holy Ghost, I believe you have given it to me, and now I know that my thoughts will be brought into the subjection of Christ, and then I act upon that. I sing my song, I read my scriptures, I read my prayers, and I get back to praying, believing that my mind has been regenerated and has been changed because I asked in faith in the merits and righteousness of Jesus. That's how it works, friends. Not by feeling, but by faith. Because this is the same type of activity, the same type of approach you're going to need to be successful in your earthly relationships with human beings. You're going to need your humanity united with divinity. Mm. Mm hmm. He's staggering out at the promises of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. We must confess and seek forgiveness. We're struggling with impure thoughts. We need to confess them to God, ask Him for His cleansing power that only can bring freedom. Okay? You're saying, Brother, what do you mean? 1 John 1, 9? 1, 9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, is what I'm saying, friends. Memorize scripture. Meditate on scripture. Right? There's memorization and there's meditation. Okay? So you memorize the word, okay? Then you want to meditate on the word. In other words, turn that word over, upside down. What does it mean? Pray to God. God, show me. Is there a deeper meaning here in this passage of scripture? Okay. Hiding God's word in our heart helps us combat temptation, friends, come on, and refocuses the mind on his truth. Psalms 119 verse 11, I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Was that Psalms 119? Was it 18? Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. You must hide the word in the heart, friends, you're in a relationship and you're impatient. You want to impatient. You want to hide God's word about patience in your heart. You're not loving the way you should be. You want to hide God's word in your heart about love, about marriage, about listen, You're struggling with infidelity. Okay, you got a problem with infidelity. You're a mess. You want to hide in your heart the words that guard against infidelity. Oh, Proverbs 1, 1 through 7, like the first seven chapters. You want to get to it, friends. You want to be proactive and aggressive about winning the battle for the mind. Memorize, meditate. Now, don't be afraid. Don't be too prideful to seek accountability and support. If this thing is getting out of control, if you're losing the battle on all fronts, maybe you're out there and it's like, man, You've got a, you, you've got a lust problem, you've got a porn problem, you, you've, you've got a gossip problem. You may need to get some accountability, okay? Sharing your struggles with a trusted Christian mentor or friend of the same sex. I would, I would encourage you. Of the same sex can provide encouragement and prayer, a brother or sister in Christ. Because what does Ecclesiastes 4 verses 9 and 10 say? Two are better than one. Because they have a good reward for their labor. If they fall, the one will help help his fellow, but woe unto him that is alone when he falleth, for ye have not another to help him up when he falls. You can't go wrong with two, friends. Two heads are better than one. Get some accountability and support if needed. Let's do a little, little recap here. Okay, practically speaking, you want to pray immediately. Okay, ask God for help. Ask God for new thoughts, to replace the impure thoughts. As they arise, be aggressive, stand ten toes down, don't run. Gotta get to, gotta get to singing the song. If you're gonna open your Bible and read that, do what you got to do. You got to replace the negative inputs, okay? Avoid media. Environment, situations, triggers for impure thoughts. I mean, if you're watching pornography, this is a problem. If you're watching naked people online, this is a problem. If you're listening to gossip, watching soap operas and all these other types of things, uh, wicked reality TV shows that just drama. All of that is going to do a few things. One, deadening your senses to what is wrong, right, to sin, is going to just bathe your mind and contaminate it with impure thoughts. And then you're saying to yourself, But Brother Gordon, why am I struggling with my prayers? So if you're doing any of that, stop it. Avoid it immediately. If you're not, just continue to fight the way we're saying, the way I'm telling you to fight. All right? You want to practice gratitude as well, friends. Okay, you want to be focusing on God's blessings this shifts your mind from temptation to thankfulness another good approach Focus on gratitude with God start a gratitude journal. Okay, read the blessing blessings of God Have a prayer journal go back and recall how God has answered your prayers And then praying for others. A lot of times the focus needs to be taken off of us so we can gain the victory. No, it sounds strange, right? Focus being taken off us so that we can gain the victory and actually start to pray for other people. This focus on others shifts the mind from temptation as well and places it in the place of intercession. So we go from temptation to intercession. Friends, I want you to know that the Owner's Manual addresses the struggle with impure thoughts and provides guidance on how to battle temptation. Every thought every temptation friends it emphasizes the importance of guarding the mind Focusing on God and relying on his strength to overcome temptation by staying close to God and actively Engaging in these practices friends I promise you you and I as believers can grow in purity and overcome the struggles with impure thoughts For have no temptation taking ye Except that which is common to man, but God is faithful that he will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able. But will with the temptation also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. I am Gordon McGee. This is the No Pills podcast. Love fully scripted. I'm signing off and I will catch you next weak.