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Someone wrote, “If only I could see my temptation as I see other people’s temptations. They wouldn’t be at all hard to fight.” Temptations always look so obvious with other people. When you see them giving into temptation, you think it would be so easy to realize what is happening, and change the situation.
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The truth is that temptation starts with a thought, and snowballs into many other thoughts. Your mind takes over without you even knowing sometimes, and you end up doing something that you will soon regret. One of the best ways to see temptation in its true colors is to bring them into the clear understanding of God’s light. Take charge of your thoughts. Be quick enough to be able to catch your thoughts and change them before you start yielding to the temptation. If you continue to yield to the temptation, then you start creating thoughts about how well the temptation feels to you, or you start visualizing what it would be like beyond your original thought. The better option is to catch yourself in the middle of the temptation, realize that the thought is just a thought, and can be replaced and discarded from your mind. When you discard the thought, and begin thinking of something else to take place of that thought, you’ll find that the temptation starts to leave you. I have found that it works best if you can replace the thought with something similar. For example if you’re married, and you see a beautiful women pass by, you all of a sudden become tempted with the idea of visualizing yourself with that woman. In a Christian marriage, the right thing to do would be to catch yourself, and immediately replace that thought with another one. Think of the day when you vowed before God and all your friends to love your wife, to honor her and cherish her till death do you part. Think about your wife as she would look with a slimmer body, a sexier hairdo, or in a beautiful evening gown. You will find that the excitement of your temptation has now been steered to the right channel (your wife). Who knows, maybe it will even trigger other thoughts about your wife and your Christian marriage that have been dormant. In Mathew 4, the first temptation Satan presented to Christ seemed harmless. He tempted Jesus to satisfy His hunger. Then he posed another concerning God’s protection. In the third, he openly requested Christ to worship him. But the savior saw Satan’s true intent-to divert Him from going to Calvary and thus prevent Him from paying sin’s penalty. Christ was able to divert his thoughts to thoughts of righteousness instead of thoughts of temptation. He met every appeal by quoting the scriptures. Jesus was saying to Satan, “I am living under the authority of My Father and His Word.” If we know God’s Word, which is the sword of the spirit, and understand how to wield it, we too can be victorious over Satan. We will have the courage to stand before any and all temptations, knowing that we are armored with the righteousness of God. The fruits of the Spirit that yield to us the feelings of joy, love, peace, gentleness, kindness, but most of all self control. To resist temptation, we must be strong in the Lord, filled with His Spirit, and quick to recognize and change our thoughts of temptation and sin. God bless you all. |
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