Although I’ve written previously about God’s essential role in changing us from the inside out, I want to share five practical strategies that have helped me the most in fighting lust:

• Foresight: Make choices in moments of strength to prepare for moments of weakness. For example, if you are tempted to look at porn at a certain time of day on your iPhone, consider giving it to a trusted friend to hold ahead of time. That way, you won’t have access to it when you’re tempted. If certain cable channels are an issue, try to get a package that doesn’t include them. The idea here is to creatively and proactively prepare at times when you aren’t tempted for times when you will or may be.
• Replacement and distraction: Sexual temptation doesn’t decrease by focusing on the struggle. Instead, it decreases in intensity by finding another hobby or passion to give yourself too. This strategy is similar to the question “how do you not think about the color green?” The answer? By thinking about red or another color instead. Ephesians 4:28 hints at this strategy in its’ promotion of work and sharing as an antidote to stealing: “Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.” (NIV)
• Confession to safe people: Catholics stress the importance of regular confession of sin to human beings (in their case, a priest), not just God. Protestants love to quote 1 Timothy 2:5 to say that we don’t need to confess our sins to a priest because we can go to directly to God. They are often content to ignore, however, James 5:16, which says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” Catholics, even if one doesn’t agree with their confessional system, at least provide a safe place for the confession of sin to other caring human beings. In contrast, my experience at the church of my childhood taught me to hide my faults, act as spiritual as possible, and judge others with problems. There was no safe place or encouragement to be real with people. I now prioritize honest, safe one-on-one relationships, and in small groups (more on these in the next chapter). Yes, thank God, we can go directly to the Father through Jesus,^[1] but we still need to be real about our faults and struggles with appropriate, safe brothers or sisters—faithful friends—who serve us in a priestly role. This is especially important with sexual addictions, as their strength is in secrecy. 
• The H.A.L.T. acronym from Alcoholic Anonymous (AA): I learned this powerful strategy from a former morphine addict who, when I first met him, had been clean seven years thanks to AA. The strategy here is to identify your trigger; that is, one of the four main times you are more likely to cave to a given temptation: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, and Tired. You then use this learning and awareness to “halt” and be more vigilant in standing strong in times you are most vulnerable.^[2]
• Regular church attendance and the Lord’s Supper: Although I flex with the custom of a particular church, I prefer weekly communion as it’s one of the easiest ways to make a service more Christ-centered. Further, it promotes regular examination and repentance. On the practical need for regular church attendance and related disciplines, I’ve also benefited from this great quote by the late Bishop J.C. Ryle:

Sanctification, again, is a thing which depends greatly on a diligent use of Scriptural means.  When I speak of ‘means,’ I have in view Bible-reading, private prayer, regular attendance on public worship, regular hearing of God’s Word, and regular reception of the Lord’s Supper.  I lay it down as a simple matter of fact that no one who is careless about such things must ever expect to make much progress in sanctification.  I can find no record of an eminent saint who ever neglected them.  They are appointed channels through which the Holy Spirit conveys fresh supplies of grace to the soul, and strengthens the work which He has begun in the inward man.  Let some call this… [legalistic] if they please, but I will never shrink from saying there are no ‘spiritual gains without pains.’ I should as soon expect a farmer to prosper in business who contented himself with sowing his fields and never looking at them till harvest, as expect a believer to attain much holiness who was not diligent about his Bible-reading, his prayers, and the use of his Sundays.  Our God is a God who works by means, and He will never bless the soul of that man who pretends to be so high and spiritual that he can get on without them.

J. C. Ryle, Holiness (Cambridge & London: James Clarke & Co., Reprinted 1956), 20-21.

^[1] Again, 1 Timothy 2:5; see also Hebrews 4:16.

^[2] 1 Peter 5:7.