It's TRUE!

Give all your worries to Him, because He cares about you. Control yourselves and be careful! The devil, your enemy, goes around like a roaring lion look on someone to feast. Refuse to give in to him, by being strong in your faith. Remember, you are not along in your struggles. 

1 Peter 5:7-9

I remember going to the zoo on a class trip in 5th grade.  We saw the bears, who had learned to wave at us when we waved.  We saw the monkeys, who would extremely loud. We stared at the snakes, lizards and various other slithery scaly critters.  We saw the seals, fish, otters and lots of other water dwellers as well.

But I was fascinated by the lions!  They look fluffy and easy to get along with (to my 9 year old mind).  For centuries, lions had be a symbol of ferocious bravery.  They we used in the Roman Coliseum as part of "The Games."  And I thought they were amazing!  Until our guide, who was from India, told us that lions were truly fierce, extremely dangerous.  The lion roars to scare and startle their prey into making a mistake!  Think about that!  When we are tempted...it's usually a split second decision we make that becomes our misstep into sin.  The devil roars, or whispers, or nudges, and we knee-jerk into the slide.

Years later, I heard a speaker at our college Chapel Service say: "We are tempted, but we are NOT compelled!"  He then went on to share James 4:7 - "So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."  

• We give into temptation when we think we are the ONLY ones enduring hardship and lash out at God.  
• We give into temptation when we have the means to help someone and we choose to be selfish.  
• We give into temptation when we become proud and arrogant thinking we are somehow better than others.  
• We give into temptation when we refuse to forgive (or ask forgiveness). 

We are tempted.......but we are NOT compelled!  Our enemy can NOT force us to sin against God! He can tempt us, but he can NOT force us.

Read this last passage and ponder it, I beg of you:

"The temptations in your life are no different form what others experience. And God is faithful. He will NOT allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure." - 1 Corinthians 10:13

 

Lions!!

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8 

 

Every day for a week the villagers came to the Chief complaining about their missing goats.  The Chief was perplexed so he decided to go talk with the Wise Woman.  The Wise Woman listened, thought for a moment, and said, "The Lion knows where your goats are tied."  

 

Guess what?  Our enemy knows where every single one of our weaknesses (call them goats) and will use them to try to devour us when we give in to them.  Are you tempted toward anger? Our enemy will put you in situations where you will get angry.  Are you tempted toward bitterness?  Our enemy will gear situations where you will feel bitter toward others.  Like the lion, our enemy knows where our "goats" are tied.  He's been a lion a long, LONG time and is extremely good at his lioning.

 

Jesus said, "Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!" (Matthew 26:41).  When we pray, we ask God to protect us from our enemy. We can not focus on our conversation with God if our minds are elsewhere tip toeing into temptation.  Peter is correct, when you sense a temptation....GET AWAY FROM IT!!!  Whether we are willing to admit it or not, we know where we are weak and easily tempted, and the best course of action is to run fast and hard to God! 

Protected

Today's verse is one that I cling to because of the promise of God's protection.  I, honestly, need God's protection because I am prone to temptation, God is not. Therefore, I can trust Him!

"What Would You Do If...?"

Jesus said to the devil, “Go away from me, Satan! It is written in the Scriptures, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”

Matthew 4:10 

 

Remember Jesus?  After He was baptized, He went into the desert where the devil came to try to tempt Jesus.  Think about how the devil tempts us.  Does he tempt us with brussel sprouts or chocolate?  Does he tempt us with someone who looks better or with the person who is right for you?  Does he tempt with things we can afford or those things we would like but really can't afford?

 

The devil tempted Jesus with things which would appeal to most people...Wealth and power! Imagine having no limits to your prestige or your bank account.  Imagine having the power to do whatever you wanted.  When I was in kindergarten, we would play a game of "What Would You Do If..."  One person would ask the question and insert their own ending, for example, "What would you do if you found a bag with lots of money?"  And each person would answer the question.  This little game tells a LOT about a person?

 

Ask yourself this question and see how easily you can be tempted.  When we face temptation, we need to act IMMEDIATELY and ask God for strength and a way out! Follow the example of Christ...He resisted the devil and the devil fled from Him. And James 4:7, reminds us that we need to do that as well. 

I Just Couldn't Help Myself

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. 
And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT

 

How many times have we said, "I just couldn't help myself"?  I know I'm don't need to snack, but the pie was RIGHT THERE and (say it with me) "I just couldn't help myself."  Let's face it, if we didn't like sin then temptation would not be a problem.  However, sin feels good temporarily and it's fun temporarily, therefore we give in again and again.

 

Think about it this way, if every time you gave into temptation broke your pinky toe...it wouldn't take long to learn not to give in to temptation. But we are a stubborn species, are we not?  We are willing to endure consequence after consequence in order to have a few fleeting moments of pleasure.  Let me be blunt, how many marriages have failed because one spouse gave into temptation and for a few brief moments of pleasure destroyed the bonds of marriage?

 

But look at today's passage, there is NO temptation that is brand new!  There is NO temptation that has never been experienced before!  As the writer of Ecclesiastes points out, "there is nothing new under the sun."  AND God always has an exit strategy available to us!  So we lost any excuse we could offer! Sometimes that exit strategy is as simple as following the example of Joseph in Genesis 39 when he literally ran away from the temptation.

 

God helps us by taking away our excuses because He provides a way for us to resist.  Therefore, focus on Him and let the temptations of this world fade away!

BE Part of the Resistance!

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

1 Corinthians 10:13 

 

"I just can't help myself!"

"This is too hard!"

"Just this once won't matter."

"You just don't understand what I'm feeling."

 "You just don't get it!"

 

Excuses! We throw them around like confetti at a parade and wonder why we aren't suddenly and magically not any better off than the day before.  In fact, we discover that the only thing we've gotten better at doing is....making excuses.

 

We may believe that we are the only ones who are enduring our particular temptations.  While that may seem partly true, we seem to have forgotten that Jesus was God in human form.  Jesus lived among us, as one of us, and was tempted in every single way that we are, yet He did not sin. Not only that, but God does not allow ANY temptation to be more than we can stand with His help AND He always provides a way to endure the temptation.

 

Now I applaud those of you who have resisted the temptation to knock some sense into my head or smack some smart aleck up side the noggin'.  You have the patience of a saint.

 

Thank you to those who are patient with others in spite of our oddities and snarkiness.

Being Tempted?

But people are tempted when their own evil desire leads them away and traps them. This desire leads to sin, and then the sin grows and brings death.

James 1:14-15 

 

I love the pastors of the church my Bride and I attend.  Our Senior Pastor told a story the Sunday:  A Protestant man, we'll call him 'John', moved into a predominantly Catholic community.  They all got along quite well until Lent Season.  Every Friday, John would be found on his back porch grilling steaks, much to the chagrin of his Catholic neighbors.  They got together and decided something had to be done because the smell of those steaks was too great of a temptation!

 

So the neighbors met and decided to convince John to become a Catholic.  They invited him to their men's events and got him involved in their various church activities. Finally, they asked John if he would like to become a Catholic.  John agreed and the priest poured the water over John's head saying, "You were born a Protestant.  You were raised a Protestant. Now you are baptized a Catholic."

 

Everyone celebrated and was hopeful the next Lent Season would be much better not that John was part of the Catholic faith.  However, the next Lent Season, the smell of steaks were back on Friday.  So the men of the church came to see why John was not honoring his faith during Lent.  When they arrived at his back deck, they saw John pouring water on the delicious looking steaks and saying: "You were born a cow. You were raised a cow. I baptize you a fish."

 

The funny thing about temptation is that we are tempted with things we actually want!  Think about it.  Try to tempt me with broccoli, or asparagus, or bungee jumping, and I will have no problem resisting that temptation.  However, if you tempt me with warm peanut butter cookies, Zorba's calabash extra crispy chicken bites, and I will break out in a sweat.

 

Our enemy knows what to use as bait, so we must be learn to be strong enough and well versed in Scripture enough to counter the bait. 

I Have A Choice?

The only temptation that has come to you is that which everyone has. But you can trust God, who will not permit you to be tempted more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, he will also give you a way to escape so that you will be able to stand it.

1 Corinthians 10:13 

 

Have you ever said or done something and told yourself "I just couldn't help myself"?  I have and found out that excuse is nothing short of a lie!  Every decision we make will have consequences; some will be good and some will be regrettable, but EVERY SINGLE decision we make will have consequences.

 

Yeah, yeah, I know "Padre's getting all preachy again."  Well, yes and no.  Stop and think about it for a minute, the temptation you are facing is not something new.  Let's say you are having an honest discussion with your spouse, something is said that could be taken wrong (because we're too busy thinking about how we can shut this discussion down so we aren't LISTENING) and an argument ensues.  Then comes the name calling, the questioning of parentage, things getting slammed, doors banging...all because we CHOSE not to listen.

 

Even the things we don't think "no one will be hurt" has far reaching consequences.  For example, you are perusing the internet and a risque photo appears.  Do you keep scrolling past it or do you look at it and even click on it. You CHOOSE to click on it...and then your kids or grandkids or spouse walks in....  No one will be hurt?

 

Temptation starts slowly.  It begins with a thought (because all actions are preceded by thought).  And, let's face it, if sin weren't enjoyable, we'd all be perfect! (and asparagas is EVIL by the way!).  But every temptation has a way out.  Sometimes it takes literally walking away to get away from it.  Because once temptation gets its claws in you, it can become an addiction which is very difficult to shake.

 

Jesus was tempted directly by Satan, more than once, and Jesus' way out...was to reply with Scripture.  Like my Grampa used to tell me: "What's in your well will come up in your bucket."

 

What's in your well? 

When You Walk Through A Cattle Pasture...

So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. 

James 4:7 

The question was asked of me, "If I have forgiven someone who has hurt me, but when I come in contact with them, I get angry and upset all over again, does that mean I haven't truly forgiven them?"  Forgiveness is not forgiveness unless it costs you!  End of story!  Forgiveness will cost you the "right" of revenge.  Forgiveness will cost you the "right" to slap on a happy mask and pretend everything is okay.  You see, forgiving someone does not mean the scars are gone.  And if someone has hurt you, then forgiveness might even cost you a relationship with that person.

One thing to consider, Forgiveness does not remove the temptation to let our humanity show.  Take for example if I get a bottle of water, and that water is scalding hot, the wise thing for me to do is not touch that bottle until I can handle the heat.  The same applies when others hurt us.  We can forgive them, but the wise thing to do is to not be in proximity of the person who hurt us until we are completely able to handle their company without being fake.  Why? Because once you have forgiven someone who has hurt you, you don't want to be tempted to be hurt by them again or to become angry with them again.  You should distance yourself from them until that hurt within you has healed completely.

If you are familiar with cows, they are quite prolific in the manufacture of manure and aren't too particular where they leave this gift.  I don't know about you, but I've never seen anyone who works with cows walking through a pasture without shoes, boots, waders, or some covering.  Why? Because once you've stepped in it, you learn it's not something you want to step into again.

Think of it this way, if you know that where the traps are, wouldn't it be wiser to walk around them rather than step into them.  We are told to resist temptation.  When Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, His approach was to remind us that the temptation to do wrong begins in the heart.

Therefore, if you want to avoid the temptation, sometimes you have to separate yourself from the place where your temptation lurks.  The enemy knows where you struggle and sets traps for you, avoid them!

Fool Me Once!

But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.

2 Corinthians 11:14-15

"Fool me one, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."  We've all heard this saying before, yet we fall for it time and time again, don't we?  And when we fall for it the third, fourth, fifteenth time, we STILL don't take responsibility for not learning.  We are enticed by our own desires because what we desire "feels so right."  

Just because something "feels so right" does not make it right.  The Ancient Chinese General Sun Tzu is quoted as saying: "Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him."   

We are enticed by what? The opportunity to earn some extra money?  To get that bigger house?  To fudge on the rules because, after all, "everyone does it"?

Think about how we are enticed by advertisers with phrases like "But for only a few dollars more, you could have....." or "Why would you settle for the silver package when for just a little bit more (usually a couple of pints of blood or a limb) you can upgrade to the GOLD package."  Or you are looking at a home to purchase and get caught up in all the "high end" upgrades, when what you truly need (since you're working so much to make the money to pay for all these upgrades) is simply a place to put your clothes.

We are constantly being enticed, and with things that are appealing to us.  Let's face it, if sin wasn't fun...we would have no trouble resisting.  This is why I am not enticed by the offerings of broccoli, or onions, or big bags of stable muck. These things are not attractive to me and I have no trouble saying "No thanks, I'm good without them."

I'm also not advocating a life of living in a cave, eating crawly critters, and having disregarding personal hygiene.  We must learn that not everything the glitters is gold and we must learn to be strong enough to resist the temptation by thinking things through.