Temptation

Satan is a pro's pro when it comes to temptation. Look at the strategy against Jesus.

Remember, Jesus hadn't eaten for 40 days. So Satan attacked what he assumed would be Jesus vulnerable area. He tempted Jesus to turn rocks into bread to feed himself.

The question I would ask you as I ask myself is:- How might Satan tempt you?

What is your most vulnerable area? Are you susceptible to saving and hanging on tightly to your 'hard earned'?  Maybe you are a sitting duck for destructive angry impulses. Are you susceptible to sexual temptation, perhaps at work or on-line porn. Do you struggle with the urge to lie so that you can look good?

As a wise warrior for Jesus we have to get to know our vulnerable areas and take the necessary steps to shore up our defences.

On saying that, If we don't stand for something, we'll fall for anything. That goes for all of us. No matter how 'seasoned' or 'street-wise' we may think we are!

No one is ever immune to temptation - Satan loves to hood-wink us into thinking that all is well with our spiritual lives, then when we are really settled, out of the blue comes along our 'old favourite' - that good old temptation that we thought was dead and buried - and yet there it is staring us in the face once more and sadly often we fall for it over and over again.

Once we stop making decisions based on reason and God-given wisdom, we become susceptible to just about anything the evil one can throw at us - we become putty in his hands.

Sexual temptations can scramble our brain waves; greed can drive us into all sorts of amazing and sordid ways to make and keep our dollars and 'things'; unforgiveness can harden our hearts to the point where we are carrying around in our bodies a lump of rock so hard that Superman would find it hard to break; anger can alienate the strongest human ties - families and marriages.

Apart from our Lord and Saviour, he who died for us and gave us the pure gift of the Holy Spirit, I believe all of us could benefit greatly with a rock-solid Christian advisor in our lives.

I feel our Spirituality would continue to grow if we find someone we can share everything with and depend on to give us Godly advice, without us having to 'take over the show'. Let this person, whoever he or she may be, serve as an extra guard against allowing us to be manipulated by Satan and in turn fall again for the 'temptation carrot'.

Most personal consequences of our temptations that lead to sin, come to us when we are alone and our 'falling' is easy to deal with - no one knows and we can live our lives as if nothing has happened - we continue to step out in life putting up with our inner torments of guilt but keeping our pride and reputations in tact.

Sooner or later, though, most sin makes it way out into public - then  all manner of consequences 'hit the fan'. For some it may mean being caught in an affair. For someone else the tax department may come knocking, and we know what happens to tax cheats!. For others it may mean someone discovering their stash of computer pornography.

Way back in Ezekiel 39, God used public revelation as part of his plan in dealing with the sin of the Israelites. Who are we to to imagine that God wouldn't use the same method in dealing with us?

Maybe we should keep this in mind next time we are tempted and encouraged by Satan to sin and disobey. Those times when Satan whispers in our ears "Go on, do it, no-one can see and no-one ever will - you are safe".

Let's guard ourselves from shame and run  from temptation! If we don't we can find ourselves in BIG trouble if we let temptation/sin get a foothold in our lives. No matter how strong and or self-controlled we think we are, we need to do what King David did after his affair with Bathsheba and subsequent murder of her husband. We need to call on God for help!

God won't magically remove temptation from our lives. That's not how he operates at all. But he will give us the resources we need to fight it.

Those resources may include anything from friends who hold us accountable to a change of location  to help us escape some long-standing temptations.

God is absolutely committed to the ultimate destruction of anything and everything hostile to his eternal plan (which includes plans for your life - see my last blog).  This is exactly what the Bible teaches us and promises!

God will one day crush Satan, our great enemy. By calling on God's promises today, especially the moral power to say NO to temptation, you hasten the demise of Satan from your life.

When we resist the devil, he has no choice but to retreat (James 4:7)

God bless you this week as you fight, with God's mighty hand there with you, the urge to sin and may you be victorious in this battle in which we are all so susceptible.