I usually only post every other day, but I can not wait to share last night's revival message. There are too many of my friends that may need this message.Too many may be facing temptation of one sort or another. There may be some that temptation has almost worn them down,soI will post today and not wait.
So Tempting
We all face temptations in life, sometimes daily and sometimes it arrives unexpectedly, but they do come. It can be described as enticements, troubles, or trials. That was what Brother Mills talked about at last evening’s revival service. Satan doesn’t walk up to you, throw you over his shoulder, and carry you to the sin, he entices, woos you, a little at a time. Just like the fisherman with a lure. It isn’t the real thing, but a copy of something tasty, something good, something pleasant, but hidden there is the hook: the thing that is the trap, the thing that bites, the thing that has consequences.
Temptation is the thing that is often a testing to see if we will keep our integrity. “Who will it hurt? Who will see?” Satan asks as he whispers in our ears. “No one is looking.” It could be the lust of the flesh, greed for something that isn’t ours, or to try the taste of drugs or alcohol. Sometimes it causes us to move one step closer to sin’s trap.
Temptation is sometimes constant. It becomes an always present trial, hovering like a lion, waiting for an opening, waiting for the smallest weakening in our resolve. It can become persistent, seemingly growing stronger the more we resist it. Sin’s allure often seems pleasant with nothing to fear, but Satan doesn’t play fair. He plays for keeps.
But we have a companion that is faithfully at our side. We will never have to fight the battle on our own. God will give us everything that we need. He will enable us to have the victory. 1 Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
God gives us an example of how to handle temptation when Potiphar’s wife attempted Joseph to sin. First he refused. She still persisted. Joseph recalled all that he had been taught about a holy, righteous God and ran from the temptation. He was falsely jailed for his resisting sin, but God restored Joseph and rewarded him by raising him up to a higher position.