Have you ever felt that you had been ambushed by temptation? You were minding your own business and then out of nowhere there is a temptation staring you in the face – tugging at your heart – flooding your mind with a desire to yield to the temptation. But God has made a way for you.
In the first letter to the Corinthians the Apostle Paul wrote
“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 may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13
You are most likely familiar with the "full armor of God" in Ephesians 6. It’s the way that you are able to stand against the temptations that you’re your way that Paul wrote to the Corinthians about. So how do you do that? Gird your waist with Truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; take up the shield of faith helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; and pray always.
For those reborn by the Spirit, it is spiritual armor that we all need when facing what comes our way each and every day. I was thinking about fiery darts as I drove back to the house today. They are not only shot at us to tempt us to do and say but also to think. The fiery darts first manifest themselves in our minds ...
"adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries" - Galatians 5:19-21
We need to be careful that we don't minimize the importance and power of our thoughts - it is our thoughts that can give birth to sin.
"You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." - Matthew 5:27-28
That is just an example of the point. Any of those things listed in Galatians can become sin without us physically acting them out. God sees the heart. When thoughts come our way we must recognize them for what they are and deal with them with spiritual weapons to fend them off before they pierce our hearts and not fall victim because we depended on our human determination not to sin.
"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. But each one is tempted [a fiery dart comes your way] when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death." - James 1:13-15
The fiery darts are sources of temptation which lead to sin. Proverbs 7 tells a story about the pathway to sin. Sin begins with desire [the fiery dart], which leads to deception, which leads to disobedience, which leads to death.
Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.
By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone
No comments:
Post a Comment