text: You're right, Janet, sexual thoughts don't have to be acted on. But you're not looking at this quite as a guy would. Men are naturally much more concerned about sex. I have read that males have on average sexual thoughts twice as often as women (study in Psychology Today). I imagine that it's about the same for gay and straight men. I would certainly agree with you that discernment and training must deal with sexuality. 
  
  I didn't become a Christian until I was 30. Therefore when I read the following, I wondered how I would be able to deal with this command;
  
  "But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
  
  Ultimately, I discovered that simply attempting to suppress and/or avoid the lustful  intents in my thought life was impossible for me. But in my insufficiency, I found that if I totally leant back upon the Lord, He was able to achieve in me what I was unable to do in my own power.