Your school is likely swarming with girls wearing spaghetti-strap tops, low-cut dresses, and underwear as outerwear. You’ve got access to X-rated sites on the Internet that weren’t there when you were in junior high. When your friends head to the beach or water park, every girl you know sports a bikini.
When you face these different obstacles, it’s important to bounce your eyes away, which may sound simple to do, but it isn’t. Satan fights you with lies while your body fights you with desires and strength of deeply entrenched bad habits.
—adapted from Every Young Man’s Battle
Do not lust after her beauty in your heart,
Nor let her allure you with her eyelids.
For by means of a harlot
A man is reduced to a crust of bread;
And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.
PROVERBS 6:25–26, NKJV
Be alert and on your guard; stand firm in your faith (your conviction respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, keeping the trust and holy fervor born of faith and a part of it). Act like men and be courageous; grow in strength!
1 CORINTHIANS 16:13, AMP
Let not your heart incline toward her ways, do not stray into her paths.
PROVERBS 7:25, AMP
A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.
PROVERBS 27:12, NLT
We understand that you are not married yet, so technically speaking, you cannot commit adultery. But the principles in the following verses apply whenever someone engages in sex outside of marriage:
Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding;
He who does so destroys his own soul.
Wounds and dishonor he will get,
And his reproach will not be wiped away.
For jealousy is a husband’s fury;
Therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
He will accept no recompense,
Nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts.
PROVERBS 6:32–35, NKJV
Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the adulterous woman. She has abandoned her husband and ignores the covenant she made before God. Entering her house leads to death; it is the road to hell. The man who visits her is doomed. He will never reach the paths of life.
PROVERBS 2:16–19, NLT
For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey,
And her mouth is smoother than oil.
PROVERBS 5:3, NKJV
For these commands are a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and the corrections of discipline
are the way to life,
keeping you from the immoral woman,
from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.
Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes,
for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread,
and the adulteress preys upon your very life.
Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?
Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?
So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.
PROVERBS 6:23–29, NIV
For at the window of my house
I have looked out through my lattice,
and I have seen among the simple,
I have perceived among the youths,
a young man without sense,
passing along the street near her corner,
taking the road to her house
in the twilight, in the evening,
at the time of night and darkness.
And lo, a woman meets him,
dressed as a harlot, wily of heart.
She is loud and wayward,
her feet do not stay at home;
now in the street, now in the market,
and at every corner she lies in wait.
She seizes him and kisses him,
and with impudent face she says to him:
“I had to offer sacrifices,
and today I have paid my vows;
so now I have come out to meet you,
to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
“I have decked my couch with coverings,
colored spreads of Egyptian linen;
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon.
“Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
let us delight ourselves with love.
For my husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey;
he took a bag of money with him;
at full moon he will come home.”
With much seductive speech she persuades him;
with her smooth talk she compels him.
All at once he follows her,
as an ox goes to the slaughter,
or as a stag is caught fast
till an arrow pierces its entrails;
as a bird rushes into a snare;
he does not know that it will cost him his life.
And now, O sons, listen to me,
and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
Let not your heart turn aside to her ways,
do not stray into her paths;
for many a victim has she laid low;
yea, all her slain are a mighty host.
Her house is the way to Sheol,
going down to the chambers of death.
PROVERBS 7:6–27, RSV
The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit;
He who is abhorred by the LORD will fall there.
PROVERBS 22:14, NKJV
Give me your heart, my son,
And let your eyes delight in my ways.
For a harlot is a deep pit
And an adulterous woman is a narrow well.
Surely she lurks as a robber,
And increases the faithless among men.
PROVERBS 23:26–28, NASB
Why be captivated, my son, with an immoral woman, or embrace the breasts of an adulterous woman? For the LORD sees clearly what a man does.
PROVERBS 5:20,21, NLT
And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.
ECCLESIASTES 7:26, NASB
A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father,
but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.
PROVERBS 29:3, NIV
It is better to spend your time at funerals than at festivals. For you are going to die, and you should think about it while there is still time.
ECCLESIASTES 7:2, NLT
Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. Take a firm stand against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.
In his kindness God called you to his eternal glory by means of Jesus Christ. After you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. All power is his forever and ever. Amen.
1 PETER 5:8–11, NLT
For man does not know his time. Like fish which are taken in an evil net, and like birds which are caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.
ECCLESIASTES 9:12, RSV
Man cannot abide in his pomp,
he is like the beasts that perish.
PSALM 49:12, RSV
Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be honored.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done here on earth,
just as it is in heaven.
Give us our food for today,
and forgive us our sins,
just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
MATTHEW 6:9–13, NLT
They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
MARK 14:32–38, NIV
Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan River, being urged by the Spirit out into the barren wastelands of Judea, where Satan tempted him for forty days. He ate nothing all that time, and was very hungry.
Satan said, “If you are God’s Son, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
But Jesus replied, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘Other things in life are much more important than bread!’ ”
Then Satan took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time; and the devil told him, “I will give you all these splendid kingdoms and their glory—for they are mine to give to anyone I wish—if you will only get down on your knees and worship me.”
Jesus replied, “We must worship God, and him alone. So it is written in the Scriptures.”
Then Satan took him to Jerusalem to a high roof of the Temple and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say that God will send his angels to guard you and to keep you from crashing to the pavement below!”
Jesus replied, “The Scriptures also say, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to a foolish test.’ ”
When the devil had ended all the temptations, he left Jesus for a while and went away.
Then Jesus returned to Galilee, full of the Holy Spirit’s power.
LUKE 4:1–14, TLB
This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin.
HEBREWS 4:15, NLT
Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
HEBREWS 2:14–18, NASB