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The spiritual man, as he controls his tongue, he also controls his thought. He does not let his mind stray in any thought, and does not accept any sinful thought that comes to him. He quickly casts it away and he never becomes lenient with it...
He also does not accept thoughts that seem simple at first then gradually lead to what is unacceptable... He is firm with these thoughts that come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves... And he says to himself about the devil, like what the Apostle said: “We are not ignorant of his devices” ( 2 Cor 2:11).
And if he was deceived by a sinful thought then he discovered it, he immediately stops it.
Because to go along with the sinful thought is betrayal to the Lord and it allows this thought to get firmly fixed, as we have discussed this issue before here on st-takla.org in other sections. It will then grow and develop till it affects the heart and turns into a lust. It is better to get rid of it from the beginning.
The spiritual man does not content himself with controlling the thought and stopping it from sin. But he occupies his mind more with pure, spiritual thoughts. So if the devil came to fight him with a bad thought, he would find his mind occupied with spiritual contemplation... The spiritual atmosphere in his mind is capable of stopping any sinful thought from coming near him... like a strong fortress...
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