Day 27 – Defeating Temptation

Defeating Temptation

We might feel sometimes that temptation is too overwhelming for us to bear, but we need to keep in mind that it’s a lie from the devil, because God always filters whatever that comes our way and will not allow more than we can bear.

To do our part in defeating temptation:

we need to refocus our attention on other things and by doing this resists the devil. This is because if we were to resist the thought this strengthens the thought, as the more we fight the thought, the more we give thought to it; and since temptation begins with a thought what better way to fight it than to place our mind and channel on other things, since the battle of sin is won and lost in our mind – James 4 vs. 7 - Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you; Job 31 vs. 1 - I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl; Psalm 119 vs. 37 - Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.

we need to focus our attention on God, as ignoring the temptation is far more effective than fighting it. We need to implore affirmative measures, to literally take ourselves out of tempting situations [a one time it is ok to run], such as walking away from a group that is gossiping, as spiritually, our mind is our most vulnerable organ and need to be occupied with the word of God – Rom. 12 vs. 2a - Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind; Heb. 3 vs. 1 - Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess; 2 Timothy 2 vs. 8 - Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David

we need to be selective of what we put in our mind – 2 Corinth. 10 vs. 5 – We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ - which will require a life time of practice. To reveal our struggle to a godly friend or support group, not to broadcast it to the whole world, but to at least one person. To request the help of others if struck in a repeating cycle of good intention, failure or guilt, as we wont get better on our own. This is because some temptation can be overcome with the help of a prayer partner who encourages us – Ecc. 4 vs. 9 – 10 - Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up; James 5 vs. 16 - Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective; not to repress the temptations that trouble us but to confess it, not to conceal it, but revealing it.

we need to expose our problems instead of allowing them to grow in the dark, because in darkness that’s where they become bigger – 1 Corinth. 10 vs. 13 - No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. 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 stand up under it; to remember that we all have fallen [Rom. 3 vs. 23], and if we chose to hide our faults its due to our pride, and it signifies its spiralled out of control. To bear in mind that whatever the problem is if we could handle it on our own we would have been out of it. Reminding us the need of others that can love us unconditionally and hold us accountable of our actions.

Lessons learnt on Day 27

We need to ask ourselves questions concerning what we’ve been pretending isn’t a problem in our lives, or afraid to talk about, since we are not be able to solve them on our own. It is hard to admit our problems to others, and we are told that it is lack of humility that keeps us from getting better – James. 4 vs. 6-7 - But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you; but in order to be held accountable of our actions and to pray with us concerning our problems we need others, godly friendly trustworthy others. Therefore in resisting the devil, after we humble ourselves and have submitted ourselves to God we can defy the devil – Eph. 6 vs. 17 - Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. In order to do this we need to accept God’s salvation for our life, to accept Jesus, as without Christ we are defenceless against the devil. Only then can the devil not be able to get to us to do anything he suggests. And finally, to use God’s word as a weapon against the devil. Not to try arguing with him, but to know and memorise the word of God to be used as bullets against the enemy. To know we are vulnerable, not to be over confident or to think we are beyond temptation is also a godly way of defeating temptation – Jer. 17 vs. 9 - The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?; not to think we are beyond temptation; Prov. 14 vs. 16 - A wise man fears the LORD and shuns evil, but a fool is hotheaded and reckless; 1 Corinth. 10 vs. 12 - So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!