Win the Battle in Your Mind

“We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NCV)

Here’s the secret to temptation: Don’t fight it. Refocus—because whatever I resist persists.

The Bible doesn’t tell me to resist temptation? It says to resist the devil, and that’s a whole different issue. But the key to overcoming temptation is not to push back. It’s to change my focus.

Whatever gets my attention gets me. The battle for sin always starts in the mind. That’s why the Bible says in Psalm 119:6, “Thinking about your commands will keep me from doing some foolish thing” (CEV). Why? Because if I'm thinking about God’s truth, I'm not thinking about other things—like temptations!

It’s true in every single area of life—good or bad. If I focus on godly things, my mind will begin to naturally gravitate towards them. If I focus on worldly or negative things, my mind will begin to naturally move in that direction. Whatever I focus on gets my attention. And whatever gets my attention, gets me.

The key is to change my mind.

Temptation always follows a predictable pattern: attention, activation, and action. My mind gets hooked, my mind kicks in and emotions come into play, and then I act on it.

So instead of trying to fight a temptation; turn my mind to something else. “We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NCV).

After Jesus was baptized and went into the wilderness for 40 days, Satan tried to tempt him by saying, “Tell these stones to become bread” Matthew 4:3 (NIV). Jesus didn’t say, “Oh, no I’m not hungry.” He was hungry! He’d been fasting for forty days. But he turned his mind to something else. He quoted the Bible. He said, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4 NLT).

The more I fight a particular temptation, the more it controls me. I can’t fight a feeling, but I can choose to focus on other things. When I do, the feeling loses its attraction because my attention is on something else. 

Capturing every thought and turning it to Christ takes lots of practice. I can’t always control my circumstances, and I definitely can’t always control the way U feel. But I can control what I think about. That’s always my choice.

And if I change the way I think, it changes the way I feel, and that will change the way I act.

In summary:

Tey to overcoming temptation is not by resisting it directly, but by refocusing the mind on God’s truth. Temptation begins in my thoughts, so what I choose to dwell on ultimately shapes my actions. The Bible encourages me to “capture every thought and make it obey Christ,” reminding me that I have the power to redirect my thinking. Trying to fight a feeling only gives it more power, but shifting my focus—especially to Scripture—weakens its hold. Just as Jesus responded to temptation with God’s Word, I too can overcome by changing my focus, which transforms my thoughts, feelings, and behavior.