-“Can” is not “May”

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” –Matthew. 4:1

A writer writes that before he was old enough to get a drivers license, he been haunted with fear of driving a car. He said whenever he thought about driving with an open stretch of road before him, he becomes afraid and overwhelmed with the obsession to go as fast as he could. He said he couldn’t imagine having a self-control to drive no faster than conditions and speed limits would allow. But he later realized that he could control the accelerator instead of being controlled by it.

I’ve heard people try to justify sin by claiming that a sudden, resistible temptation had confronted them. And sometimes we reason that a certain questionable action might actually be all right because the opportunity came along at just the right time and provided just what we thought we needed.

One of the lessons we learn from the temptation of Jesus is that God will always provide a way of escape from temptation of He will give us the strength to resist it. He expects us to be discerning and to be conscious of the meaning of temptation. Beyond that He wants us to know that we can rely on His Spirit and His Word, the way Jesus did, and to resist temptation rather than be ruined by it.

Every Temptation is an opportunity to get nearer to God.

-How to Resist Temptation

“Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”  –Mark 14:38

Someone wrote, “If only I could see my temptations as I see other people’s, they wouldn’t be a bit hard to fight…. There are two ways to see temptations in their true colours. One is to pray about them and thus bring them into the clear light of God’s presence. The other is to say, ‘How would this look if someone else yielded to it?’” To the one being tempted, enticement to sin may be appealing. But if we yield, we start down a path of self-destruction.

In Matthew 4, the first temptation Satan presented to Christ seemed harmless. He tempted Jesus to satisfy His hunger. Then he posed another concerning God’s protection. In the third, he openly requested Christ to worship him. But Jesus saw Satan’ true intent to divert him from going to Calvary and thus prevent him from paying sin’s penalty. Christ every appeal by quoting the scriptures. Jesus was saying to Satan, “I am living under the authority of My  Father and His Word.”

If we know God’s Word, which is the sword of the Spirit, and understand how to wield it, we too can be victorious over Satan. To resist temptation, we must be strong in the Lord, filled with His Spirit, and quick to recognize the ugliness of sin.

If you want to master temptation let Christ master you.

-The Stand by

“God is faithful, who… with temptation will also make a way of escape.” -1 Corinthians 10:13

During the hundred years’ war, between the English and the French, the English army of King Edward III met a French battalion at Crecy, France. The King’s son, Prince Edward, led one division of the British force while Edward the third stood nearby with a strong band of soldiers, ready to send relief when needed. Soon after the battle started, the prince sent for help. But the king didn’t come. Edward sent another message, pleading for immediate assistance. His father told the messenger (courier), “Go tell my son that I am not so inexperienced a commander as not to know when help is needed, nor so careless a father as not to sent it.”

This illustrates the heavenly Father’s relationship with all who believe in him, as we battle temptation and sin. Often we cry out for help, but it seems that God sends no relief. Yet at no time does He redraw His eye from our precious position.

In 1 Corinthians 10:13 the apostle Paul said, “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

No matter how hot the conflict, the Lord is ready to intervene at the right moment. He is always standing by to provide a way to escape.

When God sends us, He also goes with us.

-The Tempting thoughts

A young man, who was so concerned by his personal life, went to a man of God for help. The man of God after listening to this young man’s mild list of supposed sins felt that the young man has not been completely honest. So he asked “are you sure that’s all?” Yes the young man replied. Then the man of God asked again “are you positive you haven’t been entertaining any impure thoughts lately?” But the young man replied no “but they’ve sure been entertaining me.”

Temptation is not a sin. For it to become sin, we have to welcome it, dwell on it, and enjoy it. For example the temptation to get back at someone who has hurt us is wrong only when we begin to thing about ways to harm the person and take revenge. St. Paul said every thought must be brought “into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).

When we allow wrong thoughts into our minds, we must confess them as sin, ask God to help us, and fill our minds with pure thoughts. When we summit to God and resist the devil, we can say no to tempting thoughts.

Character is shaped by what the mind takes in.  

-Temptation and Trials

Though temptations and trials often occur at the same time, there is fine line between them. In the New Testament a single Greek word covers both situations. James 1:2 tells us to rejoice when we fall into various trials, but in Matthew 26:41 Jesus tell his disciples to pray that they enter not into temptation. The first is an occasion for good, the second a danger to avoid.

A Scottish Pastor distinguished between being tempted and being tested and tried. He observed, “Temptation says, ‘Do this pleasant thing; do not be hindered by the fact that it is wrong.’ Trial or proving says, ‘Do this right and noble thing; do not be hindered by the fact that it is painful.’ The one is sweet, beguiling melody, breathing soft indulgence and relaxation over the soul; the other is a pealing trumpet-call to higher achievements.”

Every hardship holds the potential to be temptation and a trial. By resisting all suggestions we know are wrong and accepting all circumstances as opportunities for growth, we operate with the Holy Spirit in His sanctifying work in us. We moved toward that desired goal of being “perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4).

Satan uses temptations to tear you down; God uses trials to build you up.