The Scriptures liken Satan to a closely crouching snake or lion who is provoking passions within us that war against our souls. What follows are four ways to fight when temptation strikes.
In Pure in Heart , pastor J. Garrett Kell shares his own struggles with sexual sin and invites readers to join him in making a lifelong commitment to pursue sexual purity through the power of the gospel. If Jesus told his disciples to pray before temptation comes, how much more do we need to pray once it arrives?
When temptation calls, you must pray. You need divine intervention to deliver you from the venom of the tempter. You do not need elaborate prayers, just desperate prayers delivered in faith. The Scriptures provide an abundance of examples:. Through it we confess our desire to sin and plead for help to resist it. We ask God to give us strength to choke out the temptation so that sin cannot strike us.
When you are tempted, pray to God. He is the one who helps us and will keep us from falling. As lust burned in her heart, she offered him an opportunity for a secret affair. But Joseph resisted. Joseph ran because he had no other option. So he choked the temptation—not by staying and fighting, but by fleeing. We must do the same. Sin wants to convince you that one more click in the search engine or one more minute on the couch or one more round of inappropriate conversation is manageable.
But entertained temptation is like kryptonite to our sinful flesh. The longer we let it linger, the weaker our resolve becomes. Do whatever is necessary to get away from what is tempting you. Close the computer. Delete the app. Turn off the phone. Run outside. Get in the car and drive. Do whatever you need to do to flee the voice of temptation. We love Him back and desperately want to show it in our actions. If Jesus was not exempt from temptation in Matthew 4 then neither are we.
I do want to make it clear, however, that temptation to sin is not the same as sin. Sin is when we give into temptation. Thankfully, God has graciously given us everything we need to overcome.
God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. So how can we practically fight against the temptation to sin? Here are 10 ways:. Our thoughts are very powerful and temptation has a way of making us feel completely helpless.
But feelings are not the same as the truth. When you find yourself thinking about sinning or thinking about failing to not sin, speak truth out loud. Speaking truth can help our hearts fall in line with truth and keep us from falling into temptation. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. When tempted, we immediately think of what we need to do better and forget that God is right here ready to help us.
Praying when we are tempted helps to keep our mind on our greater God. Before Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He fasted. When we fast, we sacrifice in the physical to give more attention to the spiritual. Why is this important when we are facing temptation?
Because this is a spiritual battle. He desires that we endure when we are tempted and promises that there is a way out. When we are sorely tempted, it may not seem that there is a way out, but the God who made us knows what we can endure and bear, and it is He who provides a way of escape. 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.
His desire is that we don't fall into temptation, but that we proceed through it and master it, rather than it mastering us. God wants us to overcome! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Yes, I want to follow Jesus. I am a follower of Jesus. I still have questions. Fighting Temptation Fighting Temptation - Defining Temptation Fighting temptation describes a battle that is as much spiritual as it is emotional or physical.
What do you think? God , the Father, sent His only Son to satisfy that judgment for those who believe in Him. Jesus , the creator and eternal Son of God, who lived a sinless life, loves us so much that He died for our sins, taking the punishment that we deserve, was buried , and rose from the dead according to the Bible. If you truly believe and trust this in your heart, receiving Jesus alone as your Savior, declaring, " Jesus is Lord ," you will be saved from judgment and spend eternity with God in heaven.
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