Victory Over Temptation

Verse of the day: 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has taken you but what is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but with the temptation also will make a way to escape, so that you may be able to bear it.

My brothers and sisters, even though we may all be tempted in differing areas of our lives, none of us have been tempted by something that is unique to us alone. This is what God tells us. When we are tempted, we have not sinned. Sin occurs only when we give in to the temptation; for if temptation were sin, then our Savior would not be perfect, as He was led into the wilderness, by the Holy Spirit, to be tempted by Satan (Matt 4:1). It was because of this event in our Savior's life here on earth that He can relate to our being tempted (Heb 4:15-16), and why we can come boldly before His Throne of grace in our time of need. The bottom line is that with each temptation, God provides us a way of escape. However, we must also understand why we are tempted. Yes, the devils do put thoughts in our minds, but we do not have to entertain every thought. Instead, we should cast down those thoughts and bring them to the Lord (2 Cor 10:4-5). These verses in 2 Cor 10 are powerful verses to learn, recite in times of tempting thoughts, and putting them into practice. The truth is that we are drawn into temptation by our own desires, and we fall to sin because of our own lusts, and because we give into our wicked desires (James 1:13-15). Nonetheless, this verse of Scripture tells us that God provides a way of escape with each temptation, and 2 Pt 2:9 tells us that He delivers the godly out of temptation. Is temptation a struggle for each believer? Yes, it is. Do we have to give in? No, we do not. Will we stumble? Yes, we will. How do we deal with it? We take responsibility for our choices (note that I did not say "our mistakes", I said "our choices" because the majority of the time when we sin, we are making a choice). We must repent, confess, and get right with God (1 Jn 1:8-2:2). If we are honest, and make a true assessment of what happens right before we sin, we would have to admit that we were thinking about something that we should not have been thinking about, or hanging out in a place we should not have been at to begin with or been with someone (or a group) we should not have been with. We must not put ourselves in a place where we can be tempted. This is why it is important that we constantly stay in God's Word, thinking pure thoughts (Phil 4:8), thank Him continually (Eph 5:20), and remain obedient in His will (in accordance to His Word), so that when temptations come (and they will), we will be able to resist by drawing near to God (Jm 4:7-8). Like Jesus, when He was being tempted by Satan (Matt 4), our best weapon is Scripture; this is why we must hide it in our hearts (Psalm 119:11). Let us not forget that we are in a battle, but praise be to God that in Jesus we have victory! For if God be for us, who can be against us (Rm 8:31)?