Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
-1 Corinthians 10:12
Remember when you were a kid and would wrestle with your brother or sister? And once you got them down on the ground, you’d hold them there until they cried “uncle”? You wanted them to stop resisting and give up.
Well, temptation is tenacious like that, but far more vicious and unrelenting. If you or I even entertain the idea of sin, we can soon find ourselves in its grip struggling to escape.
You see, Satan can manipulate our minds and seduce us so that we’ll disobey God. He’ll take a natural, God-given, wholesome desire and twist it so that we will desire to use it in God-forbidden ways. He tempts us with the promise of some reward for our disobedience…. it might be pleasure, power, or profit.
And Satan will stop at nothing to make you give in to him. I know people who never dreamed they could be unfaithful to their partner, but then Satan brought the temptation.
Now you might think, “I would never let that happen!” But listen. It’s a huge mistake to think you’re not vulnerable to temptation. You must realize your own weakness and prepare yourself. This is why Jesus taught us to pray, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil….”
Be proactive in your prayer life. Prize obedience to God more than temptation’s rewards.
IT’S A HUGE MISTAKE TO THINK YOU’RE NOT VULNERABLE TO TEMPTATION.
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.”
Luke 24:28–29
The Communist government of Romania hated Richard Wurmbrand because he would not stop preaching and telling others about Jesus. He was repeatedly arrested, beaten, tortured, and imprisoned because of his faithfulness. After his release, Wurmbrand wrote a number of books, including one called With God in Solitary Confinement which contains some of the more than three hundred sermons he prepared while he was isolated in a prison cell and cut off from all human contact.
The truth is that as children of God we are never truly alone. Even if those who should be closest to us turn against us, God never will. As David, who was forsaken by many who he had trusted, wrote, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.” The question is not whether God is there, but whether we are living with a serious, focused realization that He is there. That is the great lack that robs Christians of their joy and peace, for those are found when we know that He is with us.
The two disciples Jesus spoke with on the day of His resurrection did not recognize Him as the Saviour, but they knew they wanted Him to stay with them. It should be the great desire of our hearts to be in such close fellowship with Jesus that we are constantly aware that He is present. Paul wrote, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10). The Christian life must be lived in close fellowship and communion with Jesus, for He is the source of our strength, our hope, and our victory.
Today’s Growth Principle:
Live with a real awareness of God’s presence and closeness to you today.
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