I’ve fallen into temptation….again!

Are there areas in your life that you struggle with? Are there particular sins, that you find yourself almost sure to commit?

Do you find that no matter how hard you have tried in the past, you are prone to keep falling into the same temptation, again, and again and again and ….

That’s what I want to talk about in this blog….how to not keep falling into temptation over and over…

I don’t know what you are tempted by, but I do know this, most, if not all, of us, are tempted…….whether into sexual sin, or other, we are all vulnerable to something……

Why, because we are all sinners! As the word says:

Romans 3:23 “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”

Have you ever noticed, that you are never tempted to do that which is of God? Personally, I have never been tempted to pray, to fast, to love like God loves…..but I am always tempted to indulge my flesh…….The word of God says……..

James 1:14 “But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust; and enticed”

Put differently, the lust in my life is what entices me, and thus I am tempted…….It’s interesting though, that each of us struggle with various lusts…..for some it is fornication, adultery, alcoholism, etc……

Personally, there are some things that I am not tempted to do……for instance, I am not tempted to go and drink myself silly…….or to smoke, or to steal……but there are other things that in the past have had a choke hold on me, and have threatened to destroy me…….

But there are things that I am tempted by….I’ll get to that…...

Firstly, what we need to remember is that God doesn’t tempt us……..

James 1:13 “Let not any man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth any man”

1 John 2:15-17 “Love not the world; neither the things that are in the world; if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” v. 15

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” v. 16

“And the word passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” v. 17

Then if God isn’t tempting us, that temptation is coming from the enemy, in which case, we shouldn’t take any part in it………Why? Look at what happens when the enemy keeps using our lusts against us:

James 1:15 “Then when that lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death”

I thank God that He helped me to begin to isolate that which the enemy had been using in my life to bring me down……..For me, my lust is in wrapped around my sexuality. I think the first thing that we need to do is to identify that which the enemy is using against us, and, together with the Holy Spirit, start working on it.

I share this with you, not because I am proud of it, but so that you can realize that no one is perfect, but the word of God perfects us! I thank God for the mighty work of restoration and healing that has come in my life when I recanted the sin in my life…because my lusts had conceived into sin and were about to lead me to death……This leads us to the second most important thing when dealing with our lusts, confessing them before God.

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”

But why did I want the Lord to forgive me for my sin? This had to do with the fact that I loved God enough to desire to walk aright with Him.

1 Thessalonians 4:7 “For God hath not called us unto uncleanliness, but unto holiness”

2 Corinthians 7:1 “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God”

1 Thessalonians 1:12 “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory”

Seeing that the Lord has called me to walk in holiness with him, that sin had no place in my life, and neither could I tolerate the lust. I couldn’t afford to let sin continue to monopolize my thought life and my actions, but that I needed to surrender my body unto righteousness

Romans 6:12-13 “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” v. 12

“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dean, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” v. 13

1 Thessalonians 1:12 “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory”

Collosians 3:5 “Mortify your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanliness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry”

1 Thessalonians 4:3 “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication”

Romans 8:1 “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service”

Besides desiring walking righteously before God, I also wanted to inherit the Kingdom of God, and realized that my sin could keep me from that…….Moreover, I didn’t want to appear before Christ have the lust in my life be counted against me!

1 Corinthians 6:9 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulteresses, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind”

1 Corinthians 6:10 “Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God”

2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether be good or bad”

1 Corinthians 3:13 “Every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is”

There’s also another very serious consequence of not dealing with the lust and sin in our lives. …..besides the lust conceiving sin and the sin conceiving death, I didn’t want the Lord to hand me over to my wicked desires….

Romans 1:25 “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves”

Romans 1:26 “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the creator, who is blessed forever”

The third thing that we need to understand is that we cannot overcome our temptations in the flesh!

Romans 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not”

Romans 7:19 “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do”

The fourth thing is that in order to attack my flesh, you need to renew your mind ….We need to start thinking and responding differently when lust rears its ugly head……….

Romans 8:2 “And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the entire renewing of your mind, that you might prove what is the good, and acceptable and perfect will of God”

By renewing my mind, I was letting go of my carnal thoughts, and trading them with the mind of Christ …..

Romans 6:6 “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace”

I had to understand that Christ died to break sin’s hold over my life and restore every part of me, even my flesh that was pre-disposed to sin

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we may become the righteousness of God in him”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new”

And because I was in Christ, I realized that He had freed me from the old way of reacting to stuff….when I am tempted, I can react in just like Christ would.

Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”

Trying to fight my lust in my flesh had been my problem all along…..What I needed to do is to fight my lust in the spirit

Galatians 5:16 “Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh”

2 Corinthians 10:4 “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds”

2 Corinthians 10:5 “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”

The fifth thing that you need to do is to draw near to God, seek Him and His word. As God draws near to you, you will be able to get all that you need to fight off the enemy and rid yourself of lust.

James 4:8 “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you”

2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction for instruction in righteousness”

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”

Six, you need to be sensitive when the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin……For me, I thank God that I hardened not my heart, but responded to the realization of sin in my life with repentance!

2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death”

Seven, you need to trust that God will protect you from evil, succour you from temptation and that you have in you the Holy Spirit who will empower you!

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and sound mind”

2 Thessalonians 3:3 “But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you and keep you from evil”

Hebrews 2:18 “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted”

Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” v. 15

“Let us therefore come boldly to unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in times of need” v. 16

2 Peter 2:9 “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgement to be punished”

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”

James 1:5 “If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men, liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him”

Seven, we need to submit ourselves unto God, and live consecrated lives….this might mean different things for each of us…..either shunning profane babblings, or not having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness…….We will also need to keep resisting the devil every time he shows up.

Christ shows us exactly how to handle the devil when we are tempted…..Notice how because Christ was so submitted to God, He was able to thwart the devil by quoting scripture…….And notice inspite of every attempt that the enemy brought, the Lord resisted the devil……not particularly because turning stones to bread was wrong, but the devil needs to be resisted…..He is the bringer of death, destruction and all sorts of wickedness, and we need not entertain him in our lives…….And notice that as Christ resisted the devil, he fled from Him……

James 4:7 “Submit yourselves to God” “Resist the devil and he will flee from you”

Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage”

We also need to always remember, even as we submit ourselves to God, is that we are risen with Christ into newness of life, and as a result, we need to seek those things that are above, where Christ is……We need to seek after that which is important to Christ, because the devil can’t tempt us there…We need to think on those things that are beneficial so that we aren’t enticed, and we need to sow good seed into our lives, so that we don’t sow corruption into our lives…

Collosians 3:1 “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God”

Collosians 3:2 “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth”

The truth of the matter is that the enemy will always tempt us with the things that are below, but if we focus on the things above, the enemy cannot get at us.....We also need

Phillipians 4:8 “Whatever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things

Galatians 6:8 “For he that soweth unto his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting”

Perhaps finally, we need to “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all its righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” Luke 12.31. Again I say, the enemy cannot tempt us on Godly things and if we seek after those things, we won’t fall easy prey to temptations!

Hope this helps you greatly and challenges you to live rightly before Him. I won't lie, this has greatly strengthened me!