Resisting Temptation

I would like to talk about temptation. I am writing this to young people and adults because we all need to hear these things. None of us are beyond temptation.

Question: What does the word tempt mean?
The Webster Dictionary V.T: tries; try to persuade, esp. to evil.

Question: Do you think that everyone is tempted? The answer is yes even Jesus was tempted but He never yielded to the temptation.Temptation comes from different sources.

Question: Do you think Jesus could have sinned?
Yes, Jesus could have chosen to sin just like satan chose to and also Eve and then Adam. None of them had a sin nature but they all had a free will. The difference was that Jesus never even gave a thought to sin.

Question: Does God ever tempt anyone?
The answer is no
James 1: verse 13 says, "Let no one say when He is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does He Himself tempt anyone."

Question: How are we tempted?
We all know about how the Devil tempts us to sin, for his purpose is to kill, steal and destroy. Now what about our participation. Check out James 1: 14-15. Now turn to James 4: verse 7 – 10.

Question: How do we resist the Devil?
Turn to Matthew 4 and read verses 1—11 and see how Jesus did it.

Question: How many of you have gone without a meal or how many have not
eaten for a whole day? How did you feel? Now think about not eating for forty days and nights how do you think you would feel then?

Think about the time when your day seemed unbearable nothing you did seemed to go right. Think about times when you worked hard and long hours and you were dog tired just exhausted. Young people think about the times when you struggled to pass a test and failed and in doing so the stress overwhelmed you. There are many scenarios that I could use but you got the picture. Sometimes we bring circumstances on ourselves.

Remember this when we experience hard times, whether we bring it on ourselves or it comes to us by outside sources, the devil loves to use these times to bombard us with temptations. We need to be careful with the stress and trials that come from living life, and there will be many, that we don’t yield to satan’s temptations.

In case you don’t know how the devil came about let me give you some background on the devil. At one time he was a beautiful angel whose name was Lucifer and he stood in the very presence of God. What a position to be in but this beautiful angel threw it all away. Because of his choice to sin he was thrown out of Heaven along with a third of the angels. He not only sinned but he also influenced all those angels. If angels can be deceived and chose to sin being perfect be alert it can happen to you. Now you know how he became satan or the devil.

Question: What was his sin?
Something that God hates---pride
This is something that all of us have in our lives.

Just as Lucifer and all the angels choose to forfeit their position with God the same thing can happen with us. Sin separates us from God. We should be so thankful for his promise in 1 John 1:9 that says, "if we confess our sins he is faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness."
So as believers if we are truly sorry and we are willing to humble ourselves before God we can always find forgiveness when we confess our sin to the Lord. Praise God!

The Bible says that, "God draws to the humble but he resists the proud." So humble yourselves under the mighty Hand of God and He will lift you up."
The Bible also says that, "Pride goeth before a fall and a haughty Spirit before
destruction."

Satan was trying to get Jesus to sin in the same way that he did~through pride. Jesus could have said to Satan, "Who do you think you are, have you forgotten who I am I could do all these things and many more things, after all I Am God’s Son."

But Jesus didn’t come to earth to brag about Himself but to do the will of God, His Father, and to be a servant. So instead of bragging He came back with scripture and in doing so He resisted the devil and the devil had to flee from him.
Why is it so important to memorize scripture, and not just memorize it but to understand what it means? So when we are tempted we can use it just like Jesus did. Praise God!

Question: What are some of the things you are tempted with?
Stealing ~ cheating on tests ~ lying ~ swearing ~ telling dirty jokes ~ maybe bullying other kids ~ gossiping ~ smoking ~ taking drugs ~ watching bad things on TV or on the computer ~ looking at magazines you should not be looking at ~ maybe you’re tempted to go places your Mom and Dad don’t want you to go ~ maybe it’s music ~ maybe skipping school ~ maybe just being the class clown or disobeying your parents or giving your teachers a hard time ~ maybe listening to dirty jokes.

And there are many more ways we can be tempted.

The good news is that the Bible says in 1 Corin. 10 verse 13 that, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you will be able to bear it." The big problem here is many times when we are tempted we don’t look for the way out, at least this has been true in my life at times but maybe you are more spiritual than I am, think about it.

1st Peter 5: 8 says "be self controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."
It also says, "If we resist the devil he well flee from us."

Praise God--so let’s use Jesus’ example and memorize scripture. And use it when we are tempted to sin. Don’t forget the word says. "Greater is He who is in you than he that is in the world." It also says when the Enemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of God will raise a standard against him. If these things are true, and they are, then we have the power to resist sin Praise God!