For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. - The Bible
Are you one of those who live a defeated Christian life against the temptations of sins? The temptations come from many sources during our life. It's important to identify the source of the temptation and deal with them. Bible plays a key role in providing us with guiding principles to deal with temptations based on its source.
The major sources of temptation are the world, lust, and the devil.
The World:
The world gives an identity, position, power, and respect to those who need one. Those who need more of this are most welcome and the world is willing to give them more till they become addicted to it. It may come to a point where people can not live without it. They need their identity everywhere. When others forget who they are there is an identity crisis in their life.
Those who fall for the world are the ones who cling to its glory. Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money". One has to be served others have to be hated. If someone is serving the world they can not serve God. The pride offered by the world does not come from the Lord.
Though we are in the world to perform our job every day for survival we need to keep our eyes beyond the world. Our focus should be on heaven and our eyes should long for the things above and not below. We can not follow unprofessional ethics even if it costs our promotion and pays a hike. The pay hike is worth losing compared to losing the kingdom of heaven. The decision needs to be made on what to be loved and what not to be loved. If the world had to be loved then God cannot come into our life. If God had to be loved then the world can not take the first preference.
Dear friend, the world can be the biggest distraction on your journey to heaven. The greed for more money can lead someone to gamble and can turn gambling into an addiction. Jesus wants to touch your life today. Are you willing you allow Him into all corners of your life today?
Lust :
The second temptation that can attack us could be Lust.
Lust gets conceived in our minds. It's an unquenchable thirst to obtain something that does not belong to us. Our mind races to find ways to cross God's boundaries of protection and somehow grab things that are not from God. There were several instances where the great men of God chased the passion of their life kindled by lust and paid the heavy price for it.
The priceless instructions from the life of King Solomon on the topic of Lust were well written in the book of Proverbs. But the same lust got him and pinned him down. The wise man history had ever seen when he played with lust for the sake of the political alliance.
Solomon took his trust in God and put it on the political alliances by marrying more and more women from many countries. When he became old he did everything to satisfy the women he married. His glorious kingdom was split into two.
The story of Samson who gave the secret about his strength to women need not be repeated and the painful story of the fall of the great and powerful men for the sake of lust never needs to be retold.
The man who gave the solution to the problem of lust was a boy sold as a slave to Egypt at the age of 17. He made a diligent plan in his life to follow God. When the wife of Potiphar approached Joseph to have sex with him, he fled from that place. He did not look back. He did not walk away. But he ran away. Joseph said, "How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" He was very well prepared for this situation with the answer in his mind.
The Bible says, "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body." We can not run away from the world since we live in the world. But we need to run away from the sins of lust. No one can stand and fight. Anyone who tries to fight the sins of lust will fall.
My dear friend, are you fighting against lust in your life? You would have to flee from the circumstances. If the mobile phone is the one that is causing you to fall in lust, please throw it away. Buy a plan with very limited data in which you just can not watch the video.
Devil:
The devil can entice us. Devil can tell us lies and try to misguide us. The devil needs to be resisted. In order to resist the devil, the ideas of the devil need to be revealed to as spiritually.
Our Lord Jesus Christ resisted the devil using the scripture. When he was tested after his forty days in the desert his response to the devil always started with, "It is written". Jesus immersed himself in scripture. He could clearly identify and understand the anomalies in the offer given by Satan. How much time do we bury ourselves in the scripture? The scripture provides nourishment for a healthy Christian life. Nothing can substitute the strength offered by scripture.
We can not run away from the devil. He will chase us down. We can hate the devil but it does not bother him. All the people hate him. That's not his concern. The devil and his ideas need to be resisted. The Bible says, "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
Are you stuck in any of the above temptations? Do you want to live a victorious life? Jesus wants to help you today. He can change your life. He is calling you as you are. Jesus can change your life. Can you put your trust in him? Believe Him.
Let's go to the presence of Jesus and ask Jesus to come into your life. He wants to help you and give you spiritual strength the overcome all the temptations in your life. Pray the below prayer along with us from the bottom of your heart. Let's pray.
Dear Jesus, I come to you with a humble heart. You know my past and all the temptations I am going through. Please come into my life. Forgive all my past mistakes. Wash me with your precious blood. Please give me the spiritual strength to overcome my temptations. You know my weakness. Strengthen the areas where I am weak. Please help me to hold on to you. Holy Spirit, please help me. I want to follow you and lift your name on high. Bless me and make me a blessing for many. I pray in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Dear friend, we are praying for you. Jesus loves you. He will surely help you to overcome the temptation. May Jesus bless you and help you to live a victorious life.
