And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23

Jesus did not promise us a life free of trials. Just as all men are sinners, all men will encounter trials. It is a misconception that if you act “good” God will reward you in the form of blessings and abundance. God does bless us but He does not promise us a life free of trial. We know we live in a fallen world and that there is an enemy who stands against us. Satan uses temptation to cause us to stumble with the ultimate goal of leading us away from God and His plan for our lives.

Without God we will fall into temptation; with God temptation is a trial we can triumph over.

With this in mind, the first thing to realize is that not only are we fighting our own sin nature but satan is using it against us and he is bent on our destruction. We can be victims or victors. Christ tells us to “take up our cross…” and to expect persecution, tribulation, and suffering. Through this process we are refined and made stronger. The enemy will attack using our own weakness against us, tempting us when we are most vulnerable. Under these pressures we may be tempted to abandon God’s ways as they require strength and perseverance on our part: strength to do the thing that we feel too weak to do, and perseverance to endure the thing that is most difficult to endure. How can we stand strong?

There are many ways we can fall into sin. It may look like drinking too much when our bodies and minds are tempted to use it as an escape. This imagined relief is a lie. It may look like taking comfort in another’s attention when your spouse is treating you poorly or neglecting you. This imagined love is a lie. It may look like taking something that does not belong to you. This imagined prosperity is a lie. It may look like leading a group of people and being convicted everyone needs to know you are the reason it is successful. This imagined superiority is a lie. You can recognize temptation by the principal that satan seeks to give us a good thing in a bad way. The bottle of wine is a good thing, consuming more than we should is a bad thing. Love and intimacy is a good thing, seeking it outside of your marriage is not. Having needs is good, stealing to meet them is not. Being a leader and enjoying success is good, craving recognition and credit for the things you’ve done is not.

“…He (the Devil) has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies” John 8:44

A good liar makes the lie believable to the one hearing it. What may make sense to us when we are tired, hungry, angry, or lonely, is clouded by the condition we are in. We seek to meet our need in something other than God.   The truth we need to be constantly aware of is that ONLY GOD can truly meet our needs; all other attempts to do so will always and ultimately meet with devastating consequences and total disappointment. Like dominos lined up perfectly in a row, satan knows he only needs to knock the first one down to begin a chain of destruction.

The lie is the catalyst. Satan and our sin nature both whisper lies; “you should have what you want, you deserve better, why should you wait, other people do worse things…”, and on and on. This is the road to denial and temptation. The best way to fight off an attack is to first, know your enemy, and second, expect him to be true to his nature. Whether or not we want to do battle, we are in a battle so we either fight or surrender. Satan will try to get us to believe the lie, cover the lie, and then lose hope of ever leaving the lie. He wants us to believe we are the bad choices we have made. More lies.

“…I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me–and I in him–bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing” (John 15:1, 5) 

 The truth is we are who God says we are; God gave us  the truth  (His holy word- The Bible), Christ IS the way  the truth and the  light (John 14:6). God speaks life to  us: trust in me, you are  more than conquerors, I will  never leave you or forsake you, you  can overcome, I  will forgive you, redeem you, and deliver you  from evil.  The good in us is God. If you believe in Christ, you  have the Holy Spirit in you to guide you and give you  strength.  It cannot resist temptation for us. We must  make our own choices.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1  

Think of your sins as dominoes set to fall one by one, each piece numbered and marked; pride, envy, greed, gluttony, sloth, lust, wrath. Satan comes like a thief in the night but we need not fear. As the tenacious Sherlock Homes would say; “the game is afoot!”.   The devil has set the stage and put the pieces in place. We know what happens if the first domino falls, if we do not stop them, in the end there will only be destruction. Be prepared.

I give you the three “R’s to help you stay on the path of righteousness and defeat the devil; Resist the temptation, Remain in God’s word, Remember who you are. You are a child of the almighty God!

Help me God to see the sin in my life for what it is. Give me the strength to persevere when things seem too difficult to bear or push through. Let me be ever faithful and obedient to your word and call on your name alone when I am weak. Thank you Father that WHEN I am weak, YOU are strong. When I am tempted, Lord, deliver me from evil and remind me who I am. Show me the path you would have me walk, oh Lord, that I may set my feet upon it, in the name of Jesus I pray, amen.