Breakfast With Christ - Overcoming Temptations (Part 1)
BREAKFAST WITH CHRIST
TOPIC: OVERCOMING TEMPTATIONS (part 1)
SCRIPTURE : 1 CORINTHIANS 10:13
"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind..."
Every human being faces temptations. For a Christian, temptations are daily occurrences. So what is a temptation? Temptation is the desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise. Temptation is also the desire to engage in short term pleasure at the expense of long term goals. For us, a temptation is the desire to sin against God.
Does God tempt us? NO!(James 1:13). Temptations are borne out of our carnal desires fueled by Satan. Satan tempts us but he can't succeed without our participation. Temptation by itself is not a sin, falling for the temptation is the sin.
HOW DOES SATAN TEMPT US?
To answer this question, let's look at the first temptation of man recorded in the book of Genesis 3:1-5. Satan's first act of temptation was to question the authority of God:"Has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden"?. At this stage, Eve should never have continued this conversation because Satan's question not only questioned the authority of God, it was also tricky and misleading. God didn't tell them not to eat of 'every tree'. Eve, just like most of us fall for Satan's temptations because we give him our attention.
After questioning God's authority, he proceeded by deceiving Eve: "You shall surely not die". Unfortunately, Eve fell for this deception just like most of us usually do. After She and Adam disobeyed, they indeed died, both spiritually and physically. Satan is the father of all lies, he never speaks the truth. We need to be conscious of his lies and overcome them.
In our world today, Satan is getting so many of us to disobey God through deception. When he realized young unmarried people have become scared of STI's, he gave us condoms so that we can continue to disobey God through fornication.
Satan will always question God's authority and deceive us into sinning. We need to watch out and stay focused on Jesus. Stay blessed!
Prayer line:
Lord, please give me the strength to overcome temptations.Amen
Further Scripture Reading
Genesis 3:1-5
James 1:13