Aug 29 - Winning the Temptation Battle

User Rating: / 0
PoorBest 

Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 2:34 PM
Subject: Blog #3 winning the battle on temptation

Hi Champions:

It is another day and we are glad to be alive and have another opportunity to keep our commitment to Christ and his Kingdom.

Today I wish to encourage each of us around the subject of Temptation: 

I am certain that this is perhaps the single most challenging element of being a young believer:  Dealing with temptation:  While this is so, it must be understood that God has given us all the resources to deal with life in its totality.  2 Peter 1 v 3:  Declares that “God has given us all things that are necessary for natural human living and spiritual living.  This is received through knowledge”.

 So let us begin with that premise in mind “We have received all things through knowledge” What is knowledge? Simply put, knowledge is what we know or have learnt over time…how do humans obtain knowledge or what we know? We obtain it through our senses by experiences.  In other words, what we see, hear, taste etc…The sum total of all those things is called knowledge. Now Solomon says that “Wisdom is the primary thing, but it is important to understand how to use that which you have learnt.” Hence we come back to our original argument of temptation.  

1^st principle is this, temptation occurs in 2 forms (1) Temptation from our human appetites: Example you see a things and you get this feeling that you want to have it and you know that it is not yours…..It does not mean that it is satan directly telling you to get it, but your natural sinful desire that kicks into gear based on your human appetite. Eg. David see’s Bathsheba  (2) Temptations from Satan  (Direct Temptation)  This is when satan recognizes that he can make you stumble and he influences you towards an action that he feels (if you take it) will cause you to disobey God. A classic example is what happened to Eve in the Garden.  Take a look at James 2 and how the Apostle speaks about how we are drawn away by our human appetite.

It is obvious that whichever is the source of the temptation, the end result is still the same; a direct disobedience to God’s will.  

So how do we overcome temptation? Firstly by learning how to identify temptation.  It may seem basic or even obvious, but the truth is most of the times youth do not recognize when they are being led into temptation, because in most cases (most of the times) things start out innocently.  The young believer must begin to learn how to see the thread of actions from a single decision and be able to recognize an outcome that is not favorable.  How do we do this? Well we start by training our minds to be deliberate in our thinking.  When you are about to do something, rather than just doing it allow your mind to see the chain reactions and the ripples of that action: ask yourself, what are some possible outcomes from this statement I am about to make or action I am about to take? You will find that the moment of thought will more than not curve or help in your decision making.

I will conclude here for today, but tomorrow I will continue with how prayer aides in dealing with temptations…

May God continue to bless you richly…

Pastor Green