1 Corinthians 10:13(NLT)
“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”
When my grandmother scolded me for poor behavior in school, she would say, “I know you didn’t sass the teacher and act like you weren’t raised right!!!” When it came to Godliness, manners, and decency, she didn’t play. Sadly, those things meant a whole lot more in her day than it does in ours. She set a standard for our behavior at home, and we needed to hold to it even more so when we were away from her presence. Our behavior and respect for others had to be exemplary and represent the morality and good manners she had taught us. When we didn’t fall in line, we most certainly wished that we had. My grandmother was both wise and kind, and she wanted the best for us. She understood that if we didn’t live by a standard for our behavior and attitudes, we would not achieve the life she wanted us to have. We must be clear that when it comes to the standards that our Heavenly Father has set forth in His Word, we have an even greater responsibility. We were called by Him to live by those standards, so we can please Him and have the blessed existence He has made available through Jesus Christ.
God tells us through the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:1(NLT), “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.” Our Heavenly Father has given every born-again believer a call, and that call is His commission to live in Christ and follow the example that Christ left for us. We should be the ones lovingly begging God, but here in Ephesians 4:1, He’s lovingly begging us to live holy, to order our steps according to our call. Why does God want us to do this? God wants us to live equal to the call He’s given us in Christ so that we both glorify Him and live abundantly through Christ.
When we live according to God’s Word, He envelops our lives in His provision, protection, and love. There’s no greater blessing than to live in and for God, but we have a spiritual enemy that does not want this to happen. 1Peter 5:8(NLT) warns, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” One of the ways that the enemy traps us is through the desires of our flesh. The Bible refers to our flesh as our sinful nature. It’s the cravings that our body or flesh has to sin and satisfy its desires. God commands us in Romans 13:14(NLT), “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Our Heavenly Father isn’t telling us to deny the cravings of the flesh just because, He is telling us to deny the cravings of the flesh in order to keep us out of the danger zone. He doesn’t want us to be trapped if we yield to the devil’s temptation.
We don’t get to do whatever we want to do if pleasing God is our goal. As His children, we must walk in His precious Holy Spirit, and the Spirit will give us the strength we need to stand strong and flee from the temptations of the devil. Jesus Christ teaches us in John 10:10 that the devil is in the earth to kill, steal, and destroy. Much of the devastation, destruction, confusion, and chaos the enemy causes in our lives is because we have given him an opening through our poor behavior, bad attitudes, and wrong choices. If we walk in the Spirit in the way that God commands, we will be wise to the devil’s tricks, plots, and setups, and we’ll avoid them.
The Apostle Paul said in Romans 12:3(NLT), “Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” It’s a mistake to think that we can live a successful Christian life with the guidance and leadership of God’s precious and powerful Holy Spirit. We’d like to think we can resist temptations or that we can escape them, but the enemy has been studying us and knows our weak spots. Don’t allow the devil to steal your blessings. Don’t fall for his tricks. Galatians 5:16(NLT) says, “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” We must yield to the Spirit and not temptation. Through him we can be strong. We can flee all temptation, as we increase in the spirit and draw closer to God. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
“Flee from All Temptation”, written by KLizzie, edited by Reverend Fran Mack, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.