Temptation gone good

Wake the Faith up Slayer… This is Garth Heckman with the David Alliance and you can reach me at

TDAgiantslayer@gmail.com 

 

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F.B. Meyer once said that when you see someone in sin there are two things we do not know. First, we do not know how hard he or she tried not to sin and the second thing is we do not know the power of the forces that assailed him or her…. And while that is true, we also do not know wether or not they just simply chose to sin without even fighting… actually there are a lot of things we don’t know… but what we do know is most important. 

 

 

A recent survey among all ages of men and woman they ranked their greatest spiritual challenges, struggles… or you might say temptations. Here they are

Materialism

Sex/Lust

Pride

Self centeredness

Laziness

anger/bitterness

Envy

Gluttony

Lying… of course lying is at the bottom probably because people lied about it… ok, bad joke. 

 

"reality" TV show to hit the air

  in the Netherlands is "Big Diet". Six overweight men and a half-dozen

  overweight women will be locked away in a castle in Houtem for 13 weeks

  surrounded by 37 cameras. Each week, the person who lost the least

  weight will be thrown off the show, and the winner will get the amount

  of weight lost in gold. Meanwhile, their days will be filled with low-

  cal diet food, workouts and temptation -- a fridge packed with their

  favorite snack foods. (Reuters) ...Finally, a "reality" show that has a

  bit of reality in it.

 

But have you ever wondered why sometimes it’s hard to not give in to temptation and why sometimes it’s easy? Here are what people said when asked why they think they sometimes give in easier than other at other times. 

If they have neglected their time with God

When they are physically tired

When they are emotional 

thats about it….

How did the same group say they could overcome sinning? Prayer, avoiding compromising situations, bible study and accountability.

 

Now this is all good to know, but have you ever wondered why we are tempted to sin… no no not because we are mad or burned out… but I mean simply what is the purpose behind being tempted? Can any good come from it? 

 

Lets look at scripture

James 1;13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.

 

Now hold that thought….

If we go back up a few verses it says this

James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything

 

The word Trials in verse 2 is the same word as /Temptation in verse 13- same word

 

So why are we tempted… well we are fleshly human creatures… that is why. But what good comes from it? Well that is so we can become mature believers in Christ. 

 

Mature - developed in every area… EVERY AREA!!!

Complete = finished the process of being Christ like

 

So temptation is a good thing if handled correctly because it makes us more like Jesus in every way.

So you wanna be more like Jesus? No… you don’t have to pray for more temptation… that will take care of itself. But you can pray for more of Gods power and his word in your heart and mind so that you can overcome it and be more like him.

See if you change your perspective it makes temptation a whole lot easier to handle and more rewarding and gratifying  to succeed in!