#ThinkingTuesday – Change your thinking; Change your life.
This week, #ThinkingTuesday is taking a look at some very insightful quotes and bible verses on temptation. Enjoy!
1.
All men are tempted. There is no man that lives that can’t be broken down, provided it is the right temptation, put in the right spot.
Author: Henry Ward Beecher
Temptations which accompany the working day will be conquered on the basis of the morning breakthrough to God. Decisions, demanded by work, become easier and simpler where they are made not in the fear of men, but only in the sight of God. He wants to give us today the power which we need for our work.
Author: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Everybody, faces temptation. Yes, everyone. Nobody is immune. If Jesus was tempted, then so can you. But, God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to resist. 1 Corinthians 10:13, NKJV. “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.”
Jesus wants to give us strength for the temptations in our working day! We must commune with Him daily because He knows what we are going through, He walked on this same earth too! Jesus is our Number one “I Can Relate!” friend. His grace is available not just for what we consider big issues, but the daily temptations of life as well. He wants to give us the power we need for our work, and we should come boldly to receive this power. Hebrews 4:15-16, NKJV. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, ye twithout sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
2.
To realize God’s presence is the one sovereign remedy against temptation.
Author: Francois Fenelon
Unwillingness to accept God’s “way of escape” from temptation frightens me what a rebel yet resides within.
Author: Jim Elliot
These two parallel each other. The safest and best way out of any temptation is God’s way but man’s stubbornness and rebellion often causes us to reject God’s solution, sometimes we don’t even seek it at all. We try to handle it all on our own and get burned. We must learn to realize that God is present in our temptations and ready to guide us through them, this is the first step to overcoming any temptation. We must realise that we cannot fight the battle of temptation with physical weapons, the battle begins in our minds! If we don’t acknowledge God’s presence, we will go off to war using the wrong weapons! 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, NKJV. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”
3.
Temptation does not come from God, but comes from our own sinful desires.
James 1:13-15, NKJV. “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 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.
You cannot have both God and your sinful desire.
Matthew 6:24, NKJV. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
When you are faced with temptation, run in the other direction!
2 Timothy 2:22, NKJV. “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. James 4:7, NKJV. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
4.
God chooses that men should be tried, but let a man beware of tempting his neighbor. God knows how and how much, and where and when. Man is his brother’s keeper, and must keep him according to his knowledge.
Author: George Macdonald
Scripture says: “Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way”. Romans 14:13 (NKJV). It is not up to you to tempt another. Since we know that temptation does not come from God, who are we to cause our brother to stumble? We must make sure we do not become an instrument of unrighteousness for the devil to use in tempting others.
5.
Knowledge of God’s Word is a bulwark against deception, temptation, accusation, even persecution.
Author: Edwin Louis Cole
We must meet temptation with God’s Word. Matthew 4:1, 3, 4, (NIV) “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. . . . The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” ’ “
It is a common temptation of Satan to make us give up the reading of the Word and prayer when our enjoyment is gone; as if it were of no use to read the Scriptures when we do not enjoy them, and as if it were no use to pray when we have no spirit of prayer.
Author: George Muller
Prayer strengthens us against temptation, not wanting to pray or feeling there is no need to pray or read our bible is a temptation in itself. Mark 14:38, NKJV. “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
6.
We gain the strength of the temptation we resist.
Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson
Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.
Author: William Butler Yeats
We must not be discouraged when we are faced with temptations, because God is doing His work in us. James 1:2-3, NKJV. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.“ When we conquer temptation, we enter into a new level of faith, temptations are there to give us strength, not make us weaker. God is working to turn our temptations for good, He causes all things to work out for our good if we overcome. We gain a lot from resisting temptation, those who do not yield to temptation will be rewarded. James 1:12, NKJV. Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
7.
Temptation usually comes in through a door that has deliberately been left open.
Author: Arnold Glasow
Temptation is the devil looking through the keyhole. Yielding is opening the door and inviting him in.
Author: Billy Sunday
No temptation actually starts out as temptation. When we fail to let go of certain things, we unknowingly open a door to temptation. If God asks you to cut something off completely, it is often so that it doesn’t come back later to bite us in the form of temptation. The devil is a master at using people, events and past experiences to tempt us into sin. That addiction we never fully let go of, that former friend we had or that ex-boy/girlfriend we still keep in touch with. All these are doors that were deliberately left open, doors that temptation can easily slip through to grab us by the neck.
8.
Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
Author: Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ephesians 4:31 (NKJV) Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. Bitterness rots a person’s heart from the inside out. If you a bitter you cannot forgive, if you cannot forgive, God cannot forgive you, and then your prayers don’t get answered and so on, the consequences are endless. So simply stay away from bitterness or anything/one that can cause you to be bitter.
Think Positive thoughts! Philippians 4:8, NKJV. “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”
9.
In Christ we see a maturity of love that flowers in self-sacrifice and forgiveness; a maturity of power that never swerves from the ideal of service; a maturity of goodness that overcomes every temptation, and, of course, we see the ultimate victory of life over death itself.
Author: Vincent Nichols
Victorious living does not mean freedom from temptation, nor does it mean freedom from mistakes.
Author: Stanley Jones
One thing we often miss as christians is that righteous living doesn’t exclude us from temptation, rather it encourages temptation. The devil is always after the righteous. All the people who faced great temptation in scripture were people of victorious living. The were mature in goodness, forgiveness, self-sacrifice and service unto the Lord. From Job, to David, to Jesus to Peter. They all faced temptation and they were all righteous servants of God. Peter even succumbed to temptation and denied the Lord, but the rose from it.
Like Judas, some of us think once we’ve fallen into temptation, we can’t come out of it, that God won’t forgive us or Jesus doesn’t love us anymore and we let the guilt consume us. NO! On the contrary, We can and we must. Peter rose out of the ashes, and we can do it too. Victorious living does not mean freedom from mistakes or temptation, it means that every time we fall, we are able to get back up again, dust ourselves off and go back to doing what the Lord has called us to do with more strength and vigour. Victorious living also means that each time we fall, we tighten our defences. We keep our eyes focused; watching and praying more and more so we don’t stumble into the same temptation again.
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