Most of my blog readers may find the next few posts rudimentary. (That is with the exception of the purse meme, which I will do when I get to my purse, which I believe in on the bottom of the closet. Thanks Jungle Mom, I need to clean it out anyway -both my purse and my closet. I'll post before I do that!) Anyway, the Lord has been speaking to me about the subject of temptation. The vast majority of this comes from some lessons on fighting temptation at my home church, and it has been a blessing to me.
The biggest battle we face, whether pastor's kid, student, teacher, choir member, or missionary, is the battle to walk with God faithfully. Right now my life is full to overflowing with things like diapers, laundry, sharp little toys under my bare feet, the alphabet, and potty training. But if I sweep through, succeeding to my own satisfaction in all of these areas, and do not walk with God, I have missed what I was made for. God may take what I did and do something with it, but He will not flow through it and work out His plan for my life.
Here are some things I have learned about temptation, and I'll make another post about the Biblical way to fight it.
Do fight temptation. Do not ignore it or let it run it’s course in your life. James 1:14-15 “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” Sin will destroy you, and the Bible says that if we resist the devil he will flee. It also commands us to stand. (Eph. 6)
Do not try to fight in the flesh. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;)” Do not try to go to battle with the force of your will as your ally. You will fail. You will fail. You will fail! Satan has been tempting humans for thousands of years. Do not think he has never seen your kind before. He knew man well in the garden of Eden. He knew man well in Job’s time. Since that time he has escorted millions of souls into hell and destroyed millions of lives God wanted to use. You will not outsmart him, he will outsmart you. You will think you resisted his frontal attack and your heart will slowly fill with contentment and pride. Have I emphasized enough? Do not fight Satan with your hands! You are a lump, he will wipe you out! You need a weapon and God’s power, and it’s waiting for you to use it.
The main thing, and as I said before, the main thing in all of the Christian life is this; Gal 5:16 "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." This is essential. If you do not walk in the Spirit, doing any number of biblical things to avoid temptation will only make you uncomfortable. It will not give you more power. That is because you are in obedience to the flesh, and the flesh WANTS to sin. Let's grow in this grace also!
3 comments:
Ah the battle we all face, two natures diametrically opposed. It is a very good deduction and some very sound advice. To sum up the erudite and beneficial blog,
It is either:
“My way, my way, I’ll walk with him my way” to quote a spiritual giant I know or
“Alway, alway, I’ll walk with him alway”.
Good job!
HTOITA
Excellent post!! This is really good. We also cannot forsake our worship of the Savior either. We had revival services this week and one of the messages that the evangelist preached was on worship. He said it is the most crucial part of our Christian life. I had forgotten that. May we all realize the importance of our worship of the Savior and not get to busy that we forget to make that a priority in our life.
The main thing for me is to never think I have arrived or am OK. I have to fight the battle daily, a moments weakness can end all the hard won victories.
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