We know from reading the Word that when the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, we need to pray, pray, pray that we enter not into and succumb to temptation.

Why? Because it is through prayer that we can glorify God in our bodies; it is through prayer that we can tap into the power of God's might in order to resist the temptation that is around us on a daily basis.

But our enemy, Satan, is a lying fox. And he will continually try to get you off God's path in a number of different ways.

He will use whatever means possible. He will also use our weaknesses against us. I've taught in the past that the source of our greatest weakness while on this earth—is our flesh.

First, Satan will try to attack you through your body—through the lusts of your flesh, which constantly wages war against your spirit. Second, he tries to get you off track through your thoughts. Third, he tries through "the lust of the eyes"—by what you see.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and THE LUST OF THE EYES, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
(1 John 2:16)

Let's look at a passage in Genesis chapter 3 that illustrates what made Eve get off God's path and into sin.

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And THE SERPENT said unto the woman, YE SHALL NOT SURELY DIE. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
(Gen. 3:1-5)

You see, Eve knew the Word, what God had said, just as we do. She knew she was to glorify God in her body, but what happened? First, Satan put a thought in her head: "You won't die, Eve. It won't hurt you; in fact, it will help you. Nobody will ever know."

Let's keep reading in that passage.

And when the woman SAW that the tree was good for food, and that it was PLEASANT TO THE EYES, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
(Gen. 3:6-7)

So, first, Eve took Satan's thought: You will not surely die. Then, second, she saw that the tree was pleasant to look at.

I want you to notice something. That tree had been there the entire time. She lived in that garden; she knew about the tree. I'm sure Adam had told her, in effect, "Do you see that tree? Don't eat from it." So she had seen the tree before.

The Eyes Will Always Want What They Can See
But Satan puts a thought in Eve's mind, and she takes another look. Only this time, she's not seeing just to see. Now she has the lust of the eyes, and she's thinking, Oh, it does look good. She is meditating on that thought, taking it deeper and deeper.

Satan got to her through her eyes, and he will try to do the same with us today.

You can find a similar illustration in Joshua chapter 7, in which a man named Achan caused trouble for the whole nation of Israel because he took something out of a certain camp that he wasn't supposed to take.

When they chased Achan down, the first thing he said was, "Well, I saw it, and it looked good" (v. 21).

So you have to be careful what you allow yourself to see. You can't just watch any kind of movie you want to watch and still glorify God in your body. You can't watch pornography. There's a certain bad spirit in that which you don't want in your life.

If you want to talk about lasciviousness—pornography will push you way out into unrestraint!

Gentleman, when a woman walks by, you don't have to "check her out." You need to guard what you allow yourself to see. Now it's fine to see a flower and say, "That's pretty." The problem comes in when you want to sniff the flower, handle the flower, and pick the flower!

Do you get my point? If every time a woman walks by, you're checking out her dimensions, it's going to eventually cause you to sin.

That's why you have to watch your mind and your eyes. You could keep looking at something and meditating on it (the two work together), and the more you think about it, the better the chance is that you're going to do something about it. Can you see the progression?

Glorifying God Should Become A Way of Life
As I said, it's easier to throw out a seed than it is to throw out a tree. We need to stop wrong thoughts at the very beginning. As you practice doing that through prayer and the Word, then casting thoughts down and looking away will become automatic.

You literally have train yourself to initiate that sort of response, but it can be done.

It will be your first response when temptation confronts you. Did you know that you can glorify God in your body by habit? That way, when Satan tries to get to you, there's no door for him to get through.

Source: God's Plan For The Single Saint by Keith Butler II
Excerpt permission granted by Word of Faith Publishers