The Spirit of Temptation, By Trish M.

The Spirit of Temptation

By Trish M. 

Greetings my sisters in Christ,
Easter’s coming up so it’s quite an emotional time and a celebration time - and believe it or not, Easter has absolutely nothing to do with chocolate and or some giant bunny.
Anyways, today I want to “talk” to you guys about temptation. Look ladies, temptation isn’t a sin, it’s whether or not you fall to temptation.
  Okay, so, when you gave your life to Christ, the devil wasn’t pleased at all and he will do anything to get your relationship with God to fail. In other words, the devil’s going to tempt you with (I will admit) tempting things like money, but we as Christians must seek God so that He can help us through the obstacles that comes with temptation.
But those who crave to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish (useless, godless) and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction and miserable perishing. 1 Timothy 6: 9
Temptation can be in any form really. You can tempted to scream at your brother but it’s whether you do it or not that counts; you can be tempted to steal, and hopefully we can rise above that temptation considering that stealing is against one of the 10 rules God said we must not commit. And you can be tempted to "just miss one" Sunday service.
These are all temptations.
Temptation is such a serious subject that when Jesus gave us the prayer to pray to God, yes the Our Father, he added a line directed to temptation.  He said “lead us not into temptation” because even Jesus was tempted. When Jesus was fasting and praying for 40 days and 40 nights, Lucifer appeared to Him and told Him he would give Him anything He wanted if only He will worship him and of course Jesus said No! He rose above temptation, and since we try to be like Jesus as much as possible, we should also rise above and resist temptation.
The Bible has a lot to say about Temptation like in James 1 v 12 , the Bible says "Happy is the man who doesn't give in and do wrong when he is tempted, for afterwards he will get as his reward the crown of life that God has promised those who love him."
So since the Bible is God’s word this means that God Himself is telling us that if we have the willpower to resist the devil’s temptation then we will be rewarded with the crown of life.  I don’t know about you, but I think I want the crown of life. Sounds like a Biblical accessory.
And remember, when someone wants to do wrong it is never God who is tempting him, for God never wants to do wrong and never tempts anyone else to do it. Temptation is the pull of man's own evil thoughts and wishes." JAMES 1 VERSES 13 & 14
So you can’t blame this all on the devil. You can also tempt yourself. Your mind and flesh is not the same as your spirit and soul. When we attempt to please our mind and flesh by "rising" to temptation we often end up bruising our soul and spirit
All of you must keep awake (give strict attention, be cautious and active) and watch and pray, that you may not come into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26: 41
So what’s the best way to avoid temptation?  I have a few ideas as to how we as Christian girls of today and future Women of God can avoid/ resist temptation.
1.      Resist temptation using the Word of God - This means that every time you feel tempted to do something you know is wrong then just read your Bible or recite a memory verse!.
2.      Distract yourself with praise - We are never tempted when we are in the house of God or we are praising Him so if we continuously praise and worship Him, there is literally no room for the devil to squeeze in and tempt us.
3.      Talk to God - This is the best thing you can do. Just pray to God and ask Him to help you overcome temptation for through Jesus you are an overcomer
The Word of God in the Book of 1 Corinthians 10:13. Says, "But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.
God is on your side ladies - and so am I of course!