“Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”  1 Corinthians 7:5

Recently we acquired a new puppy. She is cute as a button and full of energy. Puppies are fun, but come untrained, so these past few months we have been training her. She has her own dog crate, where she goes for the night and whenever we are gone or she needs to stay out of trouble.

The problem has been getting her into the cage. When she knows it is time she is hard to catch. Sometimes I wish I had an old-fashioned dog catchers net. But then we figured a better way by putting a treat in the crate so she would go in. We could then shut the door behind her. Now she knows a treat will be there and even when she is far away and we say “kennel up” she will run to it.

Satan is much like that. He baits the trap with goodies for us to follow and sooner or later the door shuts behind us. He uses all types of things…. People, money, power, etc. It is like baiting the mousetrap with cheese.

At some point, we have all fallen into the snares of evil. Oh, the bait looks so good. Surely the world won’t label the traps from Satan, but the Bible will. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6:9,

“But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.”

Satan’s three greatest temptations are flesh, tempting God and discontentment. Jesus said, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

Discontentment is a clear pathway for Satan to capture and place you under his command. We live in a world where billions are spent on advertising each year and the main goal is to make you unsatisfied with what you have. Easy credit, keeping up with your next door neighbor and the like are all used by the devil to lead you into destruction and once you get there, he slams the door behind you.

If you are not content, you want to own the whole world, all what is in the world, you are on your way to falling into Satan worship. Whenever you are tempted by good things or bad, ask what Jesus would do.

Temptation is mentioned thirty four times in the Bible and similar words many more. Whenever you are tempted, turn first to the Bible for guidance. It will save you many a heartache.

By John Grant
Used by Permission

John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

RELATED READING

• Is There Temptation In Your Life?
• God’s Help during Temptation
• Overcoming Temptation
• Temptation

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The post The Trap appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12, NLT)

Read James 1:12-18.

It does not matter if you are a new believer or a long time believer in Jesus, we all face temptations every day. Temptations lead us to the same dark path of sin. Our flesh and our mind will lie to us and tell us a little indulgence of a temptation here and there is ok. In fact, we usually convince ourselves it is for the better of our overall health. Other times we find ourselves facing large temptations, and we ask, “Why is God tempting me? Why would He allow me to be tempted?”

James points out a very important piece of wisdom here that temptations come from our own desires. It is through God that we are able to identify these temptations. It is by us leaning on our everlasting Lord, that we can identify these lies and deceits of our sinful selves and find the strength we seek in Him.

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13, ESV)

We find in our temptations, either the path of darkness (a slow fade or fall) or we find our anchor amongst the waves and winds of the world. Our anchor is Jesus Christ. Find Him, seek Him, when you feel the temptation coming on, do not rely on your strength or your will power. It is in Him we find our peace and rest from the snares of this world. It is in Him we find strength and confidence like we never had before.

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4, ESV)

Our lives are busy and full of to many things to do, with never enough time. Take a moment in your life, make a moment in your life, to allow His word to strengthen you and encourage you. Seek His word, seek to store it deep in your heart and soul. Seek His word for the endurance and encouragement you need, it is your anchor, it is your life line.

Lord let us say the prayer today as you taught us in your Word (Matthew 6:9-13, ESV): “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’ Amen

Question: What do you do when you face temptation?

By Rev. Daniel Forster
used by permission

FURTHER READING

• Dealing Wisely with Temptation – by Charles Stanley
• Overcoming Temptation – by Sherry Yarger
• All That Glisters Is Not Gold – by Rod Marshall
• he Lord’s Prayer (traditional) – Matthew 6:9-13

The post Is There Temptation In Your Life? appeared first on Thoughts About God.

Proverbs 3:5:-Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. (ESV)

There was a time, before I trusted in Jesus knowing better than myself, when everything worldly seemed up for grabs. It was a time of exploring our coming-of-age freedoms.  For me this included a girlfriend.  Latterly I realized this relationship was not for me.  I struggled to let go, but did so because I knew God was calling.  God led me into something totally different, ending up in my going to Bible College in 1983!

Since then I have learnt that: just because you can – does not mean that you should.  All the self-centred pride, success, heartache, guilt, embarrassment and shame that I accrued during this time souled-out to the world, left me with baggage to carry.  Not that I was aware of it then, because of the times we lived in.

I had a telephone call recently, from an old friend.  We have not spoken for years, as our correspondence had been reduced to the annual letter enclosed with a Christmas card.  However, because of our past closeness our chat was like it was only last week we had been out on the town, so profound was the connection, which took me off guard.

This dialogue allowed the memories to come flooding in, bypassing my caution.  It was, in effect, a free pass to my soul, despite our subsequent differing paths we had taken.  In our comradery I found myself curiously asking about my ex-girlfriend which was an error of judgement!

After the call, I realized I had lost my inner peace and felt sad and wistful for times past.  I lacked the deep down conviction to put the genie back into the bottle because I was enthralled.  Then I cried out to God to help me to let go of my curiosity, and move on, not to get sucked into reliving the memories of the past again, or worse be tempted to go digging!

When I reached a place of submission, God’s peace came flooding back.  With the Peace came a picture of a lake in a barren wood. In front of the still, dark water was a warning sign that read: NO FISHING!

With the picture subsequently came the word: repentance. Repentance, is an oft overused word in Christian circles, means to turn around away from sin, an action.  Here it was a statement about a completed action.  Having set my back against the lake of past memories I was warned not to return or even wonder, but to look upwards, moving forwards out of danger with Jesus!

I share His solution for all who are caught out looking back wistfully: NO FISHING.

Psalm 32:1-2:- Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity… (ESV)

GLORIOUS!

PRAYER: LORD how sweet is the sound of Jesus’ love and forgiveness to a sinner’s ears, amen.

by Roderick Marshall
used by permission

FURTHER READING

Dealing Wisely with Temptation – by Charles Stanley

God’s Help during Temptation – by Joshua Lim

The post All That Glisters Is Not Gold appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” 1 Peter 5:8-9

Thoughts on today’s verse

Satan is real. He and his power are intended to harm. But rather than spending our time worrying about him, let’s resist him when we are tempted and focus on Jesus. He’s the one who won the big showdown at Calvary, triumphing over Satan. He took Satan’s greatest tool and disarmed it. Now we can resist and Satan will flee.

Prayer:

Thank you, Almighty God, for sending Jesus to break Satan’s stranglehold over us. Through the Savior’s death you have assured me that mine won’t be the end of our relationship, but the beginning of life with you. Today, however, I ask that you help me especially resist Satan’s power over my life in the following ways… Through Jesus I pray. Amen.

by Phil Ware
used by permission
from https://www.heartlight.org

You can also follow Phil’s daily devotionals on https://www.verseoftheday.com

Further Reading

•   How to Spend a Day With the Lord

•  Hearing God’s Voice – a Study by Charles Stanley

•  Salvation Explained

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The post Resist the Enemy appeared first on Thoughts About God.