Matthew 26:41
I Corinthians 10:13
James 1:12-16
Topic: Strength in times of temptations
We live in a world that is full of various and different types of temptations. Temptation is defined as an allurement, enticement, or an invitations to engage in a immoral act, in a sinful act, in an act that is against the will of God for your life. It does not matter who you are, how young or how old you are; it doesn’t matter if you are a male or female, nor does it matter where you live, all of us face some sort of temptations in our lives. It does not even matter if you have been saved for 1 year or 30 years, all of us face various and different types temptations in this world because the scriptures does says in James:1:14 that "every man is tried" And also it says in I Corinthians 10:13 that “There hath no temptation taken you but such is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will wit ht temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.“
There are so many different types of temptations that we face in this world We face temptations such as sex temptations, Drug/Alcohol temptations, Gambling/Money temptations, Lying and Cheating temptations, Divorce temptation; Murder and Stealing temptations, Overeating temptations, violent emotion outburst temptationsetc. Yes, all of us are faced with various types of temptations because of the one who is known as the “Tempter”, and the “Tempter” names is Satan, the devil. Just as he tempted Jesus Christ in the wilderness, Satan will certainly tempt you because Satan is known as the “Tempter”. But yet it must be understood that even though Satan is known as the “Tempter”, that does not mean he will make you do something wrong. You know, you have some people in that when they mess up and get in trouble, they want to say, “the devil made me do it.” No, the devil don’t make you do anything. You did wrong because you made the choice to do wrong. Yes, the devil may tempt you to do something, but he don’t make you do anything. Not only do you have some people blaming Satan for making them to do something bad, but yet you even have some people who claim that God made them sin. But the bible says, in James 1:13 “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted he any man. You see, God does not tempt us to do evil, but it is Satan that tempts us to do evil. But notice how he tempts us. He does not tempt us with ugly stuff. He doesn’t tempt us with stuff that is not attractive to us. But rather he tempts us with things and situations that looks good, feel good, sounds good, or even smell good. He will also tempt you into doing things that you think you wont get in trouble for. When Satan tempts us, usually he tempts us indirectly, in that, he will tempt us in disguise so you won’t be able recognize who he is. But one must understand whenever Satan tempts you with things and situations that looks good, feel good, sounds good, or smell good, the end results will be nothing but sorrow, pain, heart breaks, and death because everything that he tempts us with is against the will of God for our lives.
Now to be tempted is not a sin. It is when you yield to or give in to temptation that is a sin. James 1:14-15 says, “but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived…
Usually lust is concieved in you mind, that is, it is conceived when you start to give some thought to the temptation that is placed before you . And because lust starts in the mind, it is so very important that you learn to guard your thought life, by guarding what you see, and by guarding what you hear, because that is how lust is conceived; it is conceived by what you see and by what you hear. And what you see and what you hear will get into your mind. And that is why 2nd Corinthians 10:5 says, to Cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. That means, when you start having though lustful thoughts in your mind, you need to cut it off right then and there so you won’t act out on them. Somebody once told me that you cant keep birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest on top of your head. Likewise, you might experience different types of lustful thoughts that will come to your mind by the things that you see and hear, but you can keep those same lustful thoughts from becoming a stronghold in your mind by cutting off the thoughts in your mind right there and then on the spot.
Not only that, you also must be cautious of the places that you go because some of the places that you go can have some serious temptations effect on your life, for examples, the strip clubs, crack houses, bars, Proverbs 4:14-15 says, “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” And in I Thessalonians 5:22 says, “Abstain from all appearances of evil.”
And also you must be cautious of the type of people you hang out with ,and who you allow to influence you because you got some people in this life whose main goal in life is to destroy your reputations and your life. They may smile in your face, hug you, and kiss you, but they really don’t love you because all they are trying to do is stab you in the back, and bring you down. You have some people who know your weakness, and will use it against you. They know you are weak against drugs, so they will leave some weed in a bag in your kitchen. They know you are weak against pornography, so they leave the Playboy magazines around for you to look at. I Corinthians 15:33 says, “Bad company corrupt good morals.”
The scriptures says in James 1:14-15, that “every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust. Then when lust is conceived, it bringeth forth sin and sin, when it is finished( when you have fully yielded to the temptation by commiting the immoral act), it bringeth forth death.” You see, as long as you don’t yield to temptation, you have not sinned, but the moment you yield or give into the temptation, that is when you have messed up, and the sin brings death because the “wages of sin is death.”(Romans 6:23).And as we look in the Word of God, we will noticed that all of us have yielded or gave in to temptation one way or the other because the bible says in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
But yet the bible says in James 1:12, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation”, that is , blessed is the man who stands up against temptation; blessed is the man who do not yield to temptation; for when he is tried, he will receive a crown of life, which the lord hath promised to them that love him.”
Now there is a scripture that says in I Corinthians 10:13 that “There hath no temptation taken you but such is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.“
Now the question is how does a man endureth temptation, how does he stands up against temptation, how does a man keep himself from yielding to temptation? How does God help the man to bear the temptation? Well the bible says, in Matthew 26:41 to "Watch and pray that you enter into no into temptation, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. You see, you cannot fight the devil’s temptation with you own strength, but rather you need the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to endure the temptations of this world.
You see, when you watch and pray, God will give you the strength to endure the temptations that you face on a daily basis.
When you watch and pray, God will give you the strength to resist the devil, and he will flee from you(James 4:7)
When you watch and pray, God will give you the strength to walk in the Spirit so you wont fulfill the lust of the flesh(Galatians 5:16)
When you watch and pray, God will give you the strength to yield your bodies as instruments of righteousness, and not to sin(Romans 6:13)
When you watch and pray, God will give you the strength to put on the whole armor of God so that you will be able stand against the wiles of the devil(Ephesians 6:10-18)
When you watch and pray, God will give you the strength to avoid all appearance of evil(I Thessalonians 5:22)
When you watch and pray, God will give you the strength to flee from fornication, flee from lying, flee from stealing, flee from killing one another, or flee from any other sin that is against the will of God
When you watch and pray, God will give you the strength to overcome and be victorious over any temptations that you face.
You see, when you watch and pray, God will gives you of himself because God himself is our strength in times of temptation
Exodus 15:2 says, “The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”
2 Samual 22:33 says, “God is my strength and power and he maketh my way perfect.”
Psalm 27:1 says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid.”
Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Psalm 73:26 says, “My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 118:14 says, “The Lord is my strength and song and he is become my salvation.”
Isaiah 12:2 says, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation..
Yes, God will give you His strength to help you endure the temptations of the world if watch and pray and trust in the LORD. But when God gives you the strength to endure temptation, then you have to be willing to obey God and do what he says. You have to be willing to do just what his word says to overcome the world’s temptations. Psalms 119:11 says, Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee” That is how Jesus overcame the devil’s temptations in the wilderness. Each time the devil tempt Jesus Christ, the Lord responded each time by saying, “it is written., it is written , it is written.” It is written where? It is written in the Word of God. God’s word is like a sword that will cut through the devils temptations if you study it, obey it, and live it.
Yes, God will give us the strength to overcome the various temptations we that we face in this life. And if you don’t believe me, let’s look at some of the noted men in the bible who had to endure temptations and was victorious.
Let’s look at Joseph. In Genesis 39:1-23, Joseph was tempted by Potiphar’s wife to have a sexual relationship together. But Joseph said no. And it wasn’t because Potiphar’s wife was not attractive because she was attractive and beautiful. It wasn’t because he was afraid that he might get her pregnant, catch a disease, or get caught in the very act by Potiphar himself. . But it was because Joseph said it was a sin against God, and most of all he feared God. And when she caught him off guard, and tried to force him into her bedroom, Joseph got away from her and took off running. You see, when you fear God, there some things you just wont do, and you will run away from it quick.
Let’s look at Nehemiah. Nehemiah and the children of Israel was tempted and threatened to stop rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem by these three men whose name was Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem. But Nehemiah and children of Israel stayed focuses on rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem by ignoring the threats, and the taunts of these three men. And because of that, they were able to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days. There are going to be times you will be tempted to stop doing the will of God, but you have to remain focused and ignore any tuants, threats, or any temptations that try to put a stop to your progress to doing God’s will.
Let’s look at Job. Job was tempted by the devil stop worshipping God when God gave the devil permission to destroy all of his property that he had acquired, and to have all of his children killed in a freak storm that came upon them. Then when the devil inflicted body sores upon Job, his wife told him to curse God and die....but Job said, “though he may slay me, I will still trust God! Blessed be the name of the Lord. Through all the pain and suffering that Job went through, He still trusted God. No matter what you go through, we shoud continue to trust God.
Let’s look at three Hebrew Boys(Mechach, Shadrach and Adenego). They were tempted and told to bow down to an idol god or die. But they refused to bow down, and consequently, they were thrown into the fiery furnance. But look at God how he was able to keep them from burning up in the fiery furnamce.(Jude 24; I Peter 1:5; Psalm 34:19) Folk may try to force you to do the wrong thing, but God is able to deliver you from their hands.
Let’s look at Daniel. He was tempted and commanded not to pray, but He prayed any how. And consequently, he was thrown into the lions den, but yet God delivered and kept Daniel out of the mouth of the lions
Lastly, not least, Let’s look at Jesus Christ our Lord. When Jesus Christ was dying on the cross, his enemies were tempting him by saying, if you be the Christ, come down from the cross and save yourself. But I thank God that Jesus endureth that temptation because had he came down the cross, our salvation would have been lost. But the songwriter said He would not come down from the cross to save himself, but He decided to stay on the cross to die just to save us from our sins. But notice what Jesus had to do before he endure the pain on the cross……He had to pray. Before he was arrested by the Roman soldiers, before he went from judgement hal to judgement hall, before Jesus was spit upon, and whipped by the Roman soldiers, before he went to Calvary’s cross, before all of that; Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying. And while in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus ask His Father God three times if it is possible for him to avoid the pain and the agony of the cross. He asked his Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me…. But then Jesus said nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. You see it was the Father’s God will that Jesus suffer the pain, the shedding of blood, and the agony of the cross for the sins of the world. But yet while He was on that cross, his enemies were trying to tempt him to come off the cross, but thank God He stayed on the cross for this one purpose…..to save us from our sins. He died upon the cross, and was buried in the grave for three days, and but on the third day, early Sunday morning, Jesus Christ rose up out of the grave with all power in his hands.
And because of Jesus Christ, we can endure temptations because He is our strength over temptation. He will give us the Holy Spirit to stand against the temptations in this world.
Now you are probably saying to yourself, I have messed up so bad that there is no way I can have victory over my temptation. But yet you can still overcome it You see, you don’t have to let your weakness get the best of you because the scripture says, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation…..
You don’t have to let your shortcomings get the best of you Because the scripture say, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation….
You don’t have to let your faults, your bad habits, or your personal issues get the best of you because there is someone who can help your over come your weakness because the scripture says, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation……..
You don’t have to let anything get the best of you because there is someone who is able to help you to overcome your shortcomings. There is someone who can help you over come your faults, your bad habits, and your personal issues. And that someone is Jesus Christ, who is our strength to help us overcome our temptations, weakness, our shortcomings, our faults, bad habits, and our personal issues.
Psalm 37:23-24 says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.”
Every once in a while, a good man will get side-tracked and sin. Throughout the bible, we will there were many good men who got sidetracked and messed up.
For example, Noah was a good man, but he got drunk.
Moses was a good man, but he killed a man
King David was a good man, but he committed adultery.
Peter was a good man, but he cussed somebody out.
And guess what? You too have been side-tracked, and messed up by temptations.
But the good thing is that when you have messed up and sinned, God “will not utterly cast us down, for the Lord upholdeth us in his hand.” That is when you have messed up, God is not going to cast you away. If you ask God for forgiveness, He will forgive you and give you another chance. You see, your life is like a broken vase that was broken when it fell off the shelf. Instead of throwing the vase away, the owner of the vase goes and buy some super glue to put that vase back together again. Likewise, sometimes your life get shattered by sin, but God is able to put us back together again. Instead of using the super glue, God uses the blood of Jesus Christ to clean us up and He uses the power of the Holy Spirit to put us back together again. No matter how bad you may have messed up, Jesus Christ is able to straighten up your life.
