How can one overcome lustful desires?

Eighty Three percent of college students and fifty five percent of pastors are said to be addicted to pornography. (link) Even the most Godly men, like David (OT) has been trapped by these desires. It seems that the more I try to fight these desires, the stronger that they become. It doesn't matter if I see a beautiful woman walking down the street or if I see an image on the internet, the passion inside of me begins to burn when I force myself to turn away. > **1 Corinthians 10:13** NIV > > No temptation has overtaken you except what > is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be > tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will > also provide a way out so that you can endure it. In my opinion it's very likely that masturbation is a sin that leads to death. In this next verse, I take it very literally, I see Jesus talking about our lusts and possibly even masturbation. > **Matthew 18:8** NIV > > If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw > it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to > have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. I do believe that if God says we are secure in our salvation, that nobody can change that. However I also believe that if God says we are no longer worthy of salvation because we have fallen away from the faith, then our security and salvation is lost. Just before this verse above, Jesus was talking about plucking out your eye if it causes you to sin. I believe that Jesus is literally telling us that if we continue to lust and to gratify ourselves that we need to purge that evil from amung us and literally cut off your hand. I don't see this as a metiphor at all. For those of you that will say you do not agree that cutting a part of your body off will solve this problem, keep in mind then that you call Jesus a liar. > **Hebrews 12:4** NIV > > In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point > of shedding your blood. **He's right, I have not resisted to this point yet. So I want to know from the community, how do you resist temptation? How do you literally detoxify yourself from this poison?**