Category: temptation

Temptation: A Cause or Occasion for Enticement

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape, 
that you may be able to bear it. 
(1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV)

To entice someone is to “attract artfully or adroitly by arousing hope or desire.” (www.m-w.com)

Why should I ask God, the Father, to not lead me into temptation? Especially when I know God does not tempt anyone.  (James 1:13-15) A more accurate translation might be “Do not let us enter into temptation.” In essence we are praying, “Prevent me from sinning or show me the way out before I even get tangled in it.”

We are enticed by our selfish desires to give in to the temptations of this world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, which beckon us daily. (1 John 2:15-16)

Each of the requests in this prayer have a daily necessity to them. Not only must I ask for daily sustenance, I need forgiveness and protection day by day. 

One of my temptations is to let down my guard by slowly neglecting these requests, until in desperation, I cry out the last petition of the prayer: “Lord, deliver me from evil!”

It is interesting that in some translations the phrase is stated: “Deliver us from the evil one.”  
We know the tempter, the devil, does tempt us. He entices us to false hope (believing someone or something else can comfort us outside of God’s divine love) or to despair (distrusting the goodness of God), both which arouse in us a selfish desire to numb ourselves to the pain and disappointments of life. 

As much as I need daily bread, I need daily deliverance. Deliverance from myself and from the temptation to believe lies from the enemy of my soul. And so, I must pray daily: “Lord Jesus, deliver me from evil. Fill me with your hope and truth. Amen.”


How has God delivered you recently?

Posted on by kelrohlf 2

At Rest: Free from Anxieties

 
 
The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.
(Mark 1:12-13 ESV)
 
 
As I enter the fifth week of Lent, I wonder how Jesus felt as He endured the last weeks of His stay in the desert. Those forty days, where the Spirit carried Him out to a desolate place, the place where He was tempted by the devil. Did Jesus know it was going to be a forty day experience? He had to be hungry, tired and anxious for the time to be over. Was He tempted to walk out of the desert? What kept Him there? What keeps me stayed on this Lenten journey?
 
I find the duration of Lent less engaging than Advent. Advent lends itself to much anticipation. Lent lingers and opens up my soul to lament. Even though I have been focusing more on a “honeymoon” attitude this year, basking in His love, the reality of Jesus’ suffering on the way to the cross haunts me, places me in a somber mood.
 
Although we are no longer under the actual shadow of the cross, we feel its burden. And yet we can rejoice, because we are living in the light of His resurrection.This dichotomy of His death and resurrection, simultaneously causes me grief and joy.
 
Bear with me in this angst of soul, I want to come with tidings of great joy. Yet the message of the gospel embodies both death and life, in that Jesus died and Jesus lives, so I must grapple with both. And I am most thankful that He asks me to remember both, not just one or the other.
 
I confess that I am tempted to gloss over the rough days ahead as we anticipate the week of  Jesus’ passion, (passion comes from the Latin word for suffering) and I desire to go directly to the glories of the resurrection. But there is wisdom in mourning, as it leads to comfort.
 
So I will rest with my Beloved, and recall His grief, as well as His triumph over death.
 
 
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
(Matthew 11:28 NIV)
 
Posted on by kelrohlf 2