Enduring Within Temptation

There are so many things that could be my inspiration to write an article or a short devotional. This evening my post was inspired by one of my friend who asked me to pray his problem.  He has a problem with temptation.  But perhaps for some reason he did not tells the details of what kind of temptation that he faced. Now I would like to write a bit of my thought about this matter.

 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are temptedhe will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

As a human we are born with a sinful nature from the fall of Adam. In our daily lives we will be faced with any temptation which could bring us into the sin. One important thing that we have to realize is temptation not come from God.  It comes from Satan! Satan brought it into our life. As we know Satan always works hard, continuing to try with many ways to make our fait fall. Moreover, temptation came from the flesh (Old sinful nature) and from the world who would like nothing more than to see a Christian be disobedient.

God really know that we will be tempted. For example, in the garden of Gethsemane shortly before Jesus was arrested, we are witnessing picture of how human are so susceptible controlled by fleshly. Many times Jesus found His disciples so hard to still be awake even for only one hour. Then Jesus said:  “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”(Matthew 26:41) But, what a blessing! Not only know, but God also provides us a means of escape. He will not allow the devil to put any more temptation on us than we can handle. The spirit within us can help us from falling into sin. We need to use caution in what we allow in our lives that could be a source of temptation. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. (Galatians 5:16-17)

It is important for us to be on guard in our lives for our own protection. Sin is disobedience and God hates sin. We have to choice of whether to take the means of escape or to allow the sin to enter into our life. When we find that we are tempted by something immediately consider our means to run away from the temptation. For simple examples, if it is something we are watching on television, we can turn of the television off or we can change to the other channel which couldn’t bring us to be tempted.  If we have problem with gambling, don’t go to places that provides a means of gambling. For those that are tempted by alcohol, please do not spend time in a club or bar.  I said to my friend the point is not only how many friends who praying for him but the truly point is we should take measures to protect us and keep our distance from everything that could bring temptation. This is about how we endure to face any kind of temptation. We need to remain accountable to God for our actions.

My dear lovely readers, I am totally realized that it is not as easy as turning the palm of our hand. But God gave us the advice to be able to overcome our flesh: “But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life” (Jude 1:20-21) Establish ourselves with a solid foundation, on the basis of faith, praying in the Holy Spirit and continue to diligently maintain ourselves. God knows our primarily problem. Even though our spirits are born again, but our fleshly desires is also not less powerful and trained to always tend to return us to the passions and desires which would dropped us back into sin. We are awarded a Counselor; the Holy Spirit can guide our spirits to be in power within us than our flesh.

Let the spirit ruling in our lives. Pray in the Spirit. It was a powerful weapon to overcome the desires of the flesh. Pray in the Spirit will always be able to strengthen our spirits, continue to establish ourselves until we are able to overcome our weaknesses and conquer all flesh. Even the prayer in the Spirit also able to convey so many things that an unspoken.  In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. (Romans 8:26)

Is there a sin that seems to have a strong hold in our life? Think about the ways in which we could make changes to reduce the possibility of being tempted by that sin. Go to God in prayer today asking forgiveness for any sin we have committed while asking him to help us to keep from all temptation. Also ask to God to us to build a firm foundation. Spend time with Him and with His word. A good Spiritual foundation can give us the tools to keep us from temptation and sin. Amen.

 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)

Karina

Photo credit: Mount of Temptation at Jericho.palestinephilgrimage.org.uk

Many thanks to sister in Christ Shelly  http://sssorem.wordpress.com for your lovely sugestion on my post.