Fighting Temptation

Fighting Temptation

Pastor Stan

November 3, 2015

Tonight Pastor Stan delivers a powerful word from the Lord called, “Fighting Temptation.” Temptation is never a matter of if it is always a matter of when. Christ endured temptation from the devil and as the Son endured, so shall His children, also endure and go through temptation. Tonight we learned the properties of fighting and overcoming temptation by the Word of God. Because temptation is a battle for the unbeliever and the believer, and if you’re not willing to fight temptation, then you will cause harm to yourself.

We begin tonight’s discussion examining the definition Pastor Stan gives us:

Temptation is a fundamental desire to engage in short-term urges for enjoyment, that threatens God’s long-term goals for you. As a group we came up with a list of bullet points that we as JFC members thought also were definitions of temptations, or traits of it.

·      Battle of right vs. wrong

·      A desire goes against your better judgment

·      Something catch up with you

·      Fleshly desires

·      Temporary satisfaction

Satan is after your God given goals. He only tempts you when the glory of God can be exhibited in your life. The Enemy does not bother people who do not desire to do the Will of God, Satan tempts to steal the victory from your life, to kill your spirit, and destroy your future. The Enemy cannot make you sin. He tempts you to yield to temptation, surrendering to temptation pushes you away from God. Unfortunately, short-term satisfaction, yielding to temptation can have lasting consequences on your life. So, when the Enemy comes it is true he is stronger and smarter than us, but it God who we belong to is greater than him, and Jesus has overcome a defeated Satan. So the victory has already been given to us, we must learn to walk in it.

Problem of Yielding to Temptation

The problem of yielding to temptation it can alter your divine destiny resulting in an unfulfilled life with unnecessary negative consequences.

Throughout life you cannot avoid the trials and tribulations of your life, however we can avoid unnecessary troubles. God has already ordained for where He wants us to go and who we want us to be, it is wise we should avoid from making our own troubles. For the bigger picture is we are souls lost in an ancient war between God the Creator and Satan the creation. God has used mankind to destroy and conqueror Satan’s armies, this is why Satan does not want us fulfilling our divine destiny. The battle is always God versus Satan, we are the middle man, and temptations are a way to get back at God, and keep His plan from coming into fruition.

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) Jesus has given us life “more abundantly” life not just for us, but also for others. This life Satan tries to steal, he wants to take away our abundant life, our divine victory in Christ. The more we walk in this abundant life the less we become victims of temptation.

Blindsided

The central issue with unnecessary negative consequences is we do not realize the consequences of our sins or falling into temptation. Never when you’re going through temptation Satan never gives you a clear picture of what the consequences might be. You never want the consequences and you never know what they might be. Sin is a giant advertisement board displaying all of its glorious benefits and appealing to your fleshly desires, but never revealing the tiny cautionary, white warning prints at the bottom. Sometimes you never realize the death sin presents in your life until you yield to its evil. Hence prayer is an essential to avoiding and overcoming temptation.

Examining the model prayer Jesus told his disciples, we discuss why it is important for us to understand why Jesus pressed upon victory over into temptation. Jesus recognized even the twelve disciples He chosen was not enough to handle temptation alone, we need the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome them.

“And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:13)

§  How to Overcome Temptation

·      Identify your triggersà Don’t allow yourself to be fooled or act like you don’t have them. Be willing to face your triggers, understand what begins to distract or cause you to walk off the path. There are different triggers for different people, failure to identify your triggers leads to sin over and over again.

·      Set boundaries to control your triggersà Your triggers don’t come out by themselves. Your triggers are a result of your circumstances, and environment, think about how you can invent a preventive plan before the temptation surfaces. An example Pastor Stan gave was a young man he knew was addicted to crack, the young man knew his trigger was the group of friends he was hanging around. You must be willing to take the steps to control your trigger and put boundaries around it.

·      Believe you can be delivered and become an overcomer from your triggersà Overcomer is where the root of the temptation, the sin has been uprooted. The sin has finally been over came but deliverance is the beginning of overcoming, it is the taste and desire of it gone. God can deliver us from situations and circumstances, however we can still be grabbed by our temptations and succumb to our fleshly desires. An overcomer reflects upon that stuff and does not entertain it. You become an overcomer when you can look at your temptation and you no longer have a desire to surrender to it. The key is you have to believe, believing is seeing. You have to see it before you believe it. You can’t see yourself being an overcomer, experiencing the victory before it gets there. If you can’t see it, seeing requires more than eyes, it requires vision.

·      Rejoice as you are being delivered from your temptationà Deliverance is a process. We must rejoice in our deliverance from temptation, and we should have joy, we are making progress. We will slip up but it is not the end.

How to be successful in fighting your temptations and win

Fight the good fight of faithà Understand it is a fight. You must be willing to allow your faith to be exercised, learning you are going to be stronger in your faith. Sometimes we never experience the breakthrough we want because we allow evil or temptation to overrun us. We need to gird our loins, “fight the good fight of faith,” stop the lazy spiritual boxing.

 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:12)

Submit to resist the devilà Submission unto God is recognizing His power is greater. Satan will stop trying to tempt you once He sees consistency, and to see if you are for real. Submission to God

If to weak to fight (run)à If you’re too weak to fight run!! 1 Corinthians 10:13 is an insurance policy, God guarantees when you are willing to obey Him and not sin, and if you’re weak, He will provide a way out for you.

“Temptation only wins over you when you decide to yield to it.”

      Understand you’re the child of the King, God has equipped