Hello fellow brothers and sisters, I struggled with this for quite some time now but praise the Lord for victory and understanding what happens.
I kept hearing blasphemous thoughts and the more I did not want them the more I had them, in fact I still hear them occasionally out of my left ear and wonder what it could be, sometimes I think its the flesh and backsliding, I know that going on the computer seems to aggravate it.
There are a couple of ways to disarm bad thoughts, first by understanding what causes them, triggers and such and then cutting out triggers like ForthAngel said
I am now trying to avoid youtube and the likes because the comments are riddled with swear words and cuss words and things like that, and plus all the worldly input lately is going to come back against me in the future because (a man reaps what he sows, whether good or bad)
anyways, one thing that I tended do a lot and still struggle with stopping is worry, i worried i would sin i worried i would have bad thoughts and the more i worried the more i sinned and had bad thoughts.
although it seems like its right to worry, it really is not right at all, worry causes us to fret and when we mess up, panic, and the panic causes stress and it fuels the bad thoughts because we continually worry about what we do not want to do. If for example you want to not think about something, think about something else, the more you focus on trying NOT to think about something, you are actually giving it power/fuelling the thoughts because thats partly how our brain works, our brain registers words and associations with those words, so if I say something like do not think about turtles, your brain inputs the information one word at at time so by the time you read turtles, the image of a turtle might have popped into your head, so certain words trigger certain thoughts of course.
But the thing that makes it the worst is worry, for example just a couple seconds ago i worried i was going to say bad words (sorry if you got triggered, but notice that its the worry that you will mess up and sin that causes you to go into places you do not want to go to)
a reason for this is the fear of the Lord, or rather fear of being punished, I do not want to mess up because I do not want to be punished and lose my relationship with the Lord and etc.. or burn in hell etc..
This is where God's promises come in.
Recall 2 Corinthians 1:20 "For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory."
This itself is very important, because every single promise we find in the bible is made into a yes because we believe in Christ, so no matter how you may feel, all the promises of God are yes and true
Now the next part is accepting the promises and believing in them, its not enough to read it and have the knowledge that all your sins are forgiven and that you can be forgiven, but now believing that these promises are true (knowing and believing are not the same, first we know, then we believe), this changes how we act or react towards the word of God and in general; instead of just skimming okay got it, its I BELIEVE, because that's our faith in God and His word.
This changes everything, because the more faith you have or the more you believe, the more you are shielded from the enemy, THIS BIBLE VERSE IS SO CRUCIAL i hope to bring it to remembrance for you.
2 Corinthians 12:9 "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."
RECALL that we are saved by grace not by works, we are saved by faith and grace (ephesians 2:8) NOT BY PERFORMANCE, we must accept that we are imperfect, like Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:9-12
" For our knowledge is partial, and our prophecy partial; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, argued like a child; now that I have become a man, I have finished with childish ways. 12 For now we see obscurely in a mirror, but then it will be face to face. Now I know partly; then I will know fully, just as God has fully known me."
Note that he writes that our knowledge is partial and our prophecy is partial, suggesting imperfection, BUT WHEN THE PERFECT COMES (that is Christ) the partial will pass (we will put on the immortal and body of glory). So while we live, its like the Lord said in John 16:33
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
At this point it might be good to ask yourself, do I really believe that His grace is sufficient for me, do I really believe that I am saved purely by His love and mercy? Or am I basing some of my salvation on how I measure up to the Word of God? I recall what a dear sister said on this website, focus your eyes on Jesus. What happens is we sin we look at ourselves and if we start looking at ourselves more and more, we see just how depraved we are (this is good, but if someone were to get stuck there looking at themselves then problems arise), and how broken and fallen away we are from the glory of God. Now is when we focus our eyes on Christ and say THERE HE IS, MY RIGHTEOUSNESS, MY SALVATION, THE REASON I AM GOING TO HEAVEN IS BECAUSE I BELIEVE THAT HE LIVED PERFECTLY, BORE THE WRATH OF GOD FOR MY SINS AND PAID THE PENALTY AND WAS RESURRECTED DEMONSTRATING HE IS THE SON OF GOD. This may take effort, because usually whenever we get into a rut we get stuck there until we start putting in some effort to get out.
At this point I am unable to give more of the word, because its true that we are not saved by performance yet there should be something that compels us to work/labour diligently for the cause of Christ, and it seems more reasonable to think that it is understanding the love of God has for us in Christ, in other words, when we understand the love of God and His love to our maximum or more fully, it should change our walk with the Lord.
As of now I can only say that although we are not saved by performance, surely someone will say, that doesn't mean we shouldn't try right? as Paul writes Colossians 3:23 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters". But the problem is if we focus too much on ourselves, again we must focus on Christ, and realize that there is forgiveness, there is hope, and God is not there to criticize us and bully anyone but instead as our loving heavenly Father He is there saying I believe you can do it, I have faith in you (he abides faithful 2 Timothy 2:13, which means God believes we can do it, thats actually really encouraging when I think about it), avoid self criticisms/self insulting because although you may want to do better, this does not help you do better, but instead accept the love and encouragement of God, something I struggled with (refusing to be comforted and to accept encouragement, but really, ACCEPT IT, negativity and beating yourself up causes more negativity and it produces hatred and bitterness (experience).
So what can we conclude, first of all, worry is a killer, so AVOID IT as much as you can, it ends up fuelling the bad thoughts and it does not allow us to make rational choices or to deal with the bad thoughts rationally, we simply say no thank you, the Lord rebuke you Satan, and if it persists then there is always prayer, fasting and diving into the Word.
Next believe in the promises of the Lord, its not enough to read the bible and know it to be true, but to believe in it, this is usually where our faith or trust in the promises the Lord gets tested by circumstances or trials to see do I really believe what the bible says?
Hopefully this helped, take care
