Topic: Handling Temptations
Daily Personal Confession
I confess to my God, pride will never have a place in my life or destiny. The word of God is settled in my life and my being. My life is moving in the direction of greatness, grace has enveloped me to live above disgrace. I will never walk in the path of evil or the place of evil. I am blessed, favoured and graced. I am moving high from glory to glory, from success to success, from grace to grace because Jesus is with me always. Hallelujah!
Memorize: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. – James 1:12
Read: James 1:12-15 (KJV)
12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
MESSAGE:
In Yorubaland where I am from, there is a saying that goes thus: “That which you would not eat, you should not sniff.”
The way to resist temptations is to run from anything that appears to negate the commandments of God. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 puts it thus:
“Abstain from all appearance of evil.”
If only David had taken his eyes off Bathsheba, he would not have fallen into the sin of adultery and subsequently murder.
If only Judas Iscariot had handed over the treasury of Jesus’ ministry to someone else or at least found someone to be accountable to, he would probably have been amongst the Apostle until he died.
Temptation is not a sin; it is merely the arousal to sin. To resist temptation is to resist the arousal.
When the devil wants to conquer a person. He simply puts things in place that will arouse the fellow to sin, and so the Bible says in James 1:14:
“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”
One of my sons once told me that he was always excited to resume work on Monday mornings because he would see his secretary again. He had started lusting after her.
My advice to him was that he should sack her. The godly counsel to escape sexual sins is to flee! (1 Corinthians 6:18).
You don’t resist temptations by hanging around it or letting it hang around you; you escape by running (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Joseph did not wait to explain to Mrs. Potiphar why he could not sleep with her; he ran (Genesis 39:12). Waiting to explain can be dangerous; run and explain later.
Nothing is more important than your ticket to Heaven. Jesus Christ said if your hand would lead you to sin, cut if off (Mark 9:43).
If you have to resign from that job to ensure that you don’t sin and miss Heaven, resign. If you have to move out of your neighborhood, do so.
If you have to unfriend someone, unfriend the fellow. Whatever it is that you have to do, just flee any appearance of evil.
Key Point:
Don’t sit around and wait for temptation to destroy you. Flee!
Prayer Points
Thank You, Father, for the powerful weapon of prayer; thank You for the grace to live beyond temptations and trials.
Father, please, empower me, to flee from every appearance of evil, in Jesus name.
Father, give me the grace, to remove and destroy, where possible, anything in my immediate environment, that could arouse in me, the temptation to sin, in Jesus name.
Bible in One Year: Ezekiel 16-17