SO YOU WERE TEMPTED TODAY...

It is not unusual for anyone to be tempted... it happens on a daily basis... even Christ was tempted:

          "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
          And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now
          when the tempter came to Him, he said: "If You are the Son of God, command that
          these stones become bread." But He answered and said: "It is written man shall not
          live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." 
          Matt. 4: 1-4

Also read the rest of the account to verse 11.

Note that it is the devil that does the tempting - always. But God allows it - we read above that "Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil."  Read also Job 1:6-12

Note also that Satan will use our emotional needs, or our lack of finances, or hunger, or greed for power or possessions to tempt us. And he will wait until we are at our most vulnerable. Jesus was led up into the wilderness at the inception of his 40-day fast, but Satan did not tempt him before or during the fast; no, he waited until after the fast, when He had become hungry.

Note further that he will even quote Scripture at you in his attempts to seduce you.

What I learnt, by trial and error, is that we need be knowledgeable regarding the Scriptures too so that we may make use of the two-edged sword to ward him off!

And we had better very carefully consider the consequences of succumbing to temptation. In most cases failure to withstand a temptation will not only harm your own life, but will have far-reaching effects on your testimony, the greater work of God, and your family and/or friends and may cause irreversable harm to those nearest and dearest to you as. Imagine what would have happened to God's plan of salvation if Jesus failed to withstand the tempter.

And let us not imagine that Jesus was not tempted to give in to Satan. There was a second or a split second when the offer made by Satan seemed attractive even to Jesus!

          "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but
          He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." Heb. 4:15

So therefore, being tempted is not a sin. The above Scripture states specifically that Jesus was tempted but without sin!

We have an Afrikaans idiom, which translates thus: "You cannot prevent a bat from flying over your head, but you can prevent it from making a nest in your hair"! (Truth is, I now cannot remember whether it is a bat, or a bird... !)

Succumbing to the temptation: therein lies the error - the sin! Even though saying no may mean a very big sacrifice, or loss, or loneliness, or heartache...

We are taught to pray against temptation:

          "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Matt. 6:13

           "When He came to the place, He said to them: "Pray that you may not enter into
           temptation." Luke 22:4

           "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has
            overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who wll not
            allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will
            also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." 1 Cor. 10:13

Thank You, Lord, that we can make use of prayer and the Word as weapons to fight temptation. Thank You that we are assured that we will not be tempted beyond what we are able, and that You are faithful and will make a way for us to escape from each and every temptation, even while You will not take away our free will to choose in every circumstance.