There are many great bible verses for lust that are helpful tools to help you take on lust. Memorize these, and when you feel tempted, recount them and push the enemy back. Get them into your heart (Psalm 119:11) so that you don’t have to look them up in a time of need, and you can use them as weapons quickly and effectively. When Jesus was tempted, and He combated the enemy with scripture, He didn’t have time to look up the verses; He already had them in His heart. (Matthew 4:1-11) We should do the same.

Here are key verses that teach you how to stop lusting, according to the Bible. These are great tools to use to allow God to prepare you for battle against lust. It is a battle, and you are going to war. Don’t go into battle without your weapons, or the enemy will take you out (1 Peter 5:8).

1 Corinthians 10:13 – There is a Way Out of Temptation Always

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

– 1 Corinthians 10:13

I like to reword this slightly to change the pronoun to “me” instead of “you”. This more personal approach helps me to better fight off temptation. I try to recount this whenever I start to feel tempted. Here is my rephrasing.

No temptation has overtaken me that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let me be tempted beyond my ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that I may be able to endure it.

– 1 Corinthians 10:13 (My Paraphrase)

Next time you feel tempted, say this out loud—yell it if you have to—and take action. God is promising there is always a way to endure temptation, but you have to have the eyes to see it and the heart to take it. After I pray this verse, I often will pray something like, “God, help me to see the way of escape. I know you are providing one, but I can’t see it right now. Open my eyes and help me to take the way to endure.” I encourage you to do the same.

Related Article: How to Do Effective Christian Accountability

1 Samuel 16:17 – God Doesn’t Look at Outward Appearance

Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

– 1 Samuel 16:17

This is when the prophet Samuel is anointing the next king to be after King Saul. King Saul was very tall and handsome (1 Samuel 9:2). Samuel was looking for another Saul, but God was looking for a man after God’s own heart, which was David. God decided this by looking at the heart, not the outward appearance.

Do you deem others’ value on their outward appearance? Then God would call you to more. Each person’s value is based on being a son or daughter of the king, not on how pretty they are or are not physically.

Realizing this can help you fight lust by seeing women or men with infinite value as a brother and sister in Christ. Also, seeing others as a sibling in Christ helps gross you out, hopefully, which should also help you not lust over them.

Psalm 119:37 – Ask God to Turn Your Eyes

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.

– Psalm 119:37

Speaking of value, a human being has infinite value, but as John Piper states, “Depersonalized female skin is a worthless thing”. The same goes for male skin if you are a female struggling with lust. The writer of this Psalm is pleading with God to “turn my eyes from looking at worthless things”. This would include sinful or lustful things. You can ask God to help you, not see things that may cause you to lust. This could be an inappropriate billboard, advertisement, or any number of things.

The result of this is “life in [God’s] ways”. We should earnestly hope and pray for this new life. Piper makes this point clear and provides many other helpful tips in his article, How Do I Battle Subtle Temptations to Lust? It definitely is worth a read.

Related Article: What Acts 19:14-20 Teaches Us on Accountability & God’s Will

Ephesians 3:20 – God Can Do More Than You Think

God can do far more abundantly, than all that I can ever ask or think, according to the holy spirit power within me.

– Ephesians 3:20

God’s power is bigger than you can “ask or think”. You may be so deep in sin that you can’t imagine a way out. It is not up to you to think up the game plan it is just up to you to submit to the “Holy Spirit power within you” and allow God to guide you step by step.

As He leads you, you will find freedom, and it will be better than you can “ask or think”. If you are struggling with faith, don’t forget you can ask for faith, and God will give it (Luke 17:5-7).

Proverbs 6:25 – Don’t Let Eyelashes Take You Out

Do not desire her beauty in her heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes…Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on the hot coals and his feet not be scorched?…He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.

– Proverbs 6:25, 26-28, 32

Proverbs is full of great verses to help you take on lust. Proverbs 7 is a great one as well. Here I find these verses from Proverbs 6 very convicting and guiding.

“Do not let her capture you with her eyelashes.” We all likely have something about the opposite sex that can cause us to stumble. In Solomon’s case, he is telling his son not to stumble on “eyelashes,” which may be hair color, a type of clothing, or other factors. All of these are external things that don’t matter, as we discussed earlier. Another way to say this is don’t let a type take you out.

Proverbs 6:25-28 – Fire of Lust Will Burn

“Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on the hot coals and his feet not be scorched?” Don’t play around with lust. If you play around with lust, you will get burned. It may be a smaller burn at first, but before you know it, your whole life will be on fire. You may think you can handle it, but that is the enemy speaking. Run away from lust and sin in general; it will destroy your life.

Proverbs 6:32 – Lust Will Destroy

“He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.” Remember, Christ says anyone who lusts in their heart has committed adultery in their heart (Matthew 5:28), so the Bible is very clear here. If you are lusting, you lack sense, and you destroy yourself.

Not only does lust destroy oneself, but it also destroys many other parties. The devil will tell you it only affects you to keep you in it. By realizing you are hurting not just yourself, but your future spouse, the person you are lusting after, your ministry, your family, how you see the opposite sex, and much more, you will have more motivation to pursue righteousness.

Psalms 51:10 – Clean Heart, Right Spirit, and Steadfast Spirit

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right (and steadfast) spirit within me.

– Psalms 51:10

This verse is where David is part of Psalms 51, which is David’s heart of repentance after having an affair with Bathsheba. You can see how David wants to be cleansed and renewed. He is basically praying for 3 things: a clean heart, a right spirit, and a steadfast spirit. We should pray for the same.

This gets to the root of the problem. We need all 3 things to be cleaned and to choose the right things steadfastly. I go much more in depth on this verse and Psalms 51 in my article on: How to Overcome Lust with Psalms 51. I encourage you to check out that article to learn more about this verse.

Matthew 18:9 – Do Radical Things to See Change

And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

– Matthew 18:9

We all have things that often lead us into sin. We usually get rid of the easy and medium things right off the bat, but what about the things we really like? Are we willing to “tear it out”?

This might be social media, going to a certain place, doing work where it is comfortable, or many other things. If something causes us to sin, we need to do radical things and tear it out of our lives, even if it hurts, because that momentary affliction (2 Corinthians 4:17-18) will lead to life and not death.

You can also think about these as a trigger; a trigger can lead you towards a positive direction or a negative direction. By identifying negative triggers that lead you towards a lustful action, it can help you avoid the ones you can avoid and be on guard when they aren’t avoidable. To help us all understand common triggers, I created a short anonymous poll below if you’d like to participate. Once you submit, you will see the results.

Books in the Bible About Lust

While the key Bible verses above are great, there are so many stories and teachings in the Bible that help us to fight lust. The word is truly living (Hebrews 4:12) and has guidance for every circumstance. Reading through the Bible daily is key to spiritual growth, no matter what you are facing. Below, I will share some longer sections of scripture I have found helpful in my fight against lust, but if you aren’t currently in the Word consistently, I encourage you to build this habit no matter what you are reading. I hope these give you a good starting place.

1 & 2 Corinthians – Tempted by the World

The church in Corinth struggled with not being swayed by the immoral Roman culture, and there were many sins that were prevalent in the church, including sexual immorality. Paul calls them to lay aside the ways of the world and helps them understand the importance of it and how to do it.

Acts 19:14-20 – Seek Radical Accountability

This is a beautiful story of people openly seeking accountability. I wrote a full article on this story here, so I will just summarize it briefly here. This group of people was regularly practicing witchcraft, and when they came to follow Jesus publicly burned all of their witchcraft materials and books, which would have been worth around 6 million dollars today. This did two things: one showed they were willing to give up sinful actions no matter the cost, and two, they wanted people to hold them accountable since they did it publicly. What is holding you back that you don’t want to give up, and what are you too afraid to share with fellow believers?

Psalms 51 – Seek Repentance & Purification

In Psalms 51, we see David’s response after Nathan the prophet calls him out for having an affair with Bathsheba and having her husband killed in 2 Samuel 12. His heart of repentance in Psalms 51 teaches us how to allow God to do a deeper work in us to see Him renew our spirit. This story has been immensely impactful for me, and I have a full article on Psalms 51 here.

Matthew 5-7 – Sermon on the Mount

This is the greatest sermon ever preached of all time, so it is worth heavy study. Jesus’s sermon covers a variety of topics and makes His stance very clear. There are a few segments about lust, including Matthew 5:27-30, which help us to see how seriously Jesus takes lust and charges us to do the same.

Judges 13-16 – Story of Samson

God gave Samson everything a man could want, but he still struggled with the big 3 sins for men: Lust, Anger, and Pride. He unfortunately doesn’t really overcome those sins, but God still uses him and, in the end, redeems his story. I find this story helpful to see how we can get so controlled by lust that we get so tunnel visioned on not seeing who we are hurting and God’s mission we are missing. While it is easy to think Samson is just dumb and we would never do that, we also should have the humility to see that we have done many of the same things, and unfortunately, we have a lot to learn from this story.

Proverbs – Seek God’s Wisdom

The whole book of Proverbs is full of Godly wisdom, and you can never read it too many times. It covers many topics, but one of the main themes is how sexual immorality hurts us and gives us guidance on how to overcome it. Two key chapters on the topic of lust are Proverbs 7 and Proverbs 31. Proverbs 7 paints a picture of the result of choosing the way of lust, and Proverbs 31 shows us what it is like to choose righteousness by showing us two different types of women. Helping us see—especially as men—which way is best. While women should be pure in dress and behavior, men share most of the blame, as we often show we want a Proverbs 7 woman, and women may, over time, conform to those desires. This encourages all of us to be pure in mind and action and desire the same from others.

Overall, Proverbs helps see what to aim for and how to get there. Letting God’s wisdom soak into you is crucial.

Next Steps for Overcoming Lust with The Bible

These verses can’t impact your life if you don’t get them into your memory and heart. So save this article or copy the verses to a note on your phone, and come back to them often. Start to memorize them one by one. Put them as your lock screen, on your mirror while you brush your teeth, or whatever works for you. Maybe have an accountability partner hold you accountable to memorize them.

There are countless other verses to use, so as you find them while reading scripture, start adding to this list. I’d love to hear what other verses you have to help you in the fight to overcome lust in the comments below. Outside of the Bible, there are many great books on the topic of overcoming lust. Here are my top recommended books to overcome lust as a Christian.

As you fight lust, don’t do it on your own. Learn about effective Christian accountability here.

In your fight against lust, having the right tools along with the bible is very important. You can start with the free tools on your phone and computer already, but getting a tool like Covenant Eyes is a great way to help you fight back against lust. This tool helps not only block lustful content like porn, but also reports it to your accountability partner. Helping you to get free. Use the code MATTENSER for a 30-day free Covenant Eyes trial.