As believer in Christ we can never underestimate the potential danger of temptation, even though it’s not actually a sin by itself. Nevertheless, it’s the greatest challenges that we have to deal with on a regular basis all throughout our walk with our Lord because it literally begins the process of sin.
The bottom line is that nobody is out of reach of temptation because it’s just out there for everyone. Temptation is a very powerful tool that Satan has been using from the beginning in order to derail mankind from God’s will and purpose for their lives.
The thing is that Satan isn’t going to manifest himself openly and force somebody to do something evil in the sight of God, but he will always use subtlety and deceit in order to lure such person into sin. While we’re not to be afraid of him, however we have to be on high alert regarding his schemes by learning how he operates.
Temptation flourishes on deceptions and lies. The core foundation of it is rested wholly on the devil influencing us to embrace or to consider engaging into activities that are sinful to God as something that’s appropriate for us to do.
Why How we View Temptation is Extremely Important.
The prime goal of the devil during temptation is to turn the focus completely away from God and His Word toward ourselves in the sense of what can be fulfilled by acting accordingly. From that point, it really becomes all about us and what we want, instead of all about God and what He wants us to do.
The next thing that normally happens is that our focus is then shifted away from how temptation should be viewed according to a purely biblical perspective into a humanistic perspective. What does that really mean by stating that? If we can see temptation just as God truly wants us to see it, which is from His own divine viewpoint, we’ll realize right away that there’s absolutely no way we can even consider giving in into this thing because that’s so far off from who are in Christ
On the contrary, if the entire focus is turned on us by looking at temptation just from a humanistic perspective, we’ll be swept away by the lies of the enemy. The thing you need to grab a hold of is that the human tendency is to survive, particularly desperate situation. So when being pressed by temptation, that’s the kind of tendency that will surface. The enemy will exploit our own desperation in order to influence us.
One of the most effective ways to deal with temptation is to see it in the light of Satan himself influencing you to indulge into sin, instead of seeing it in the light of you trying to satisfy a momentary urge you’re wrestling with. Satan is tempting you, but he just doesn’t want you to realize that.
The Enemy Knows Our Weaknesses.
Satan knows a great deal about us. He’s well aware of our human weaknesses, that’s the reason why we don’t get tempted by him into an area we’re not temptable. Evidently, there are many things that we have absolutely no desire for.
Interestingly, we don’t really experience temptation toward these things. However, once he knows our weaknesses’ areas, that’s pretty much where he’ll keep on striking us repeatedly. The problem is that many times we’re so trapped into a particular temptation instead of calling and relying upon God, we buy into that lie that giving in is the only solution as a result of the massive pressure applied to our flesh. Even worse, we happen to forfeit our identity in Christ.
We behave in a way just as if we’re being controlled by the devil. We get so excited and curious about rushing into sin, we don’t even have time to think that much about the consequences. Usually, it’s way after we fall in, we come to our senses and realize how despicable what we’ve committed is to God along with how disruptive that is to our relationship with Him due to the intense amount of guilt and remorse that we experience thereafter.
The ideal way of confronting temptation is by dealing with it immediately. Don’t allow it to cross boundaries which must not be crossed. After all, Jesus has shown us a clear strategy that we can use in order to tackle that issue head on.
We Should Apply The Approach That Christ Used When He Was Tempted Repeatedly By Satan.
Let’s take a thorough look at this following scripture:
The tempter came to Him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:3-4).
We’re walking in Christ’s footsteps. That means we have to be willing to learn in a profound way about how He was able to successfully deal with certain things that are relevant to us today. He’s known as the Captain of our salvation. He has defeated both death and Satan that are the two greatest enemies of ours. It’s very important that we pay close attention to the event that transpired between both Christ and Satan and learn as much critical instructions as we can from Him concerning how we can duplicate what He had done
Based on the gospel’s accounts, Jesus was tempted in the wilderness three times by the devil. The things that Satan was trying to ask Him to do as well as the things that he tried to offer Jesus were so far detached from who Christ is and His God-given purpose, He didn’t even allow Himself to even think about them by His immediate responses. The Word of God was the weapon that He used in order to confront each temptation. The way that He responded to Satan, it’s as if He was highly offended by how disrespectful Satan was while trying to lower Him in such a low level that doesn’t fit who He really is as the Son of God. I guess Christ exclaimed “What!” when Satan offered Him everything in the world if He was willing to bow down and worship him.
Christ came down on this earth with an extremely important mission, and one that revolves around doing the will of God for the purpose of saving humankind (John 6:38). Besides, His mindset was set only upon both pleasing and bringing glory to the Father (John 8:50). It was all about God the Father not Him. That was His foremost priority all throughout His earthly ministries. He also knew that His God-given responsibility is incomparably more important than the offer the enemy had made Him.
Let’s Break Down Christ’s Reactions.
If we take some time to ponder on Christ’s reactions in response to Satan’s temptations, there is a lot we can learn from Him as His representatives on this earth. In the first temptation which is found in (Matthew 4:2-4) we see that Christ emphasizes why we should rely on the Word of God. In the second one which is found in (Matthew 4:5-7), we see that Christ affirms His identity. Lastly, in the third one which is also found in (Matthew 4:7-10), Christ asserts His responsibility to God the Father. The same can be applied to us equally. We have to lay a hold of the Word of God, then we have to affirm our identity in Christ, then we have to understand that our responsibility to God is only what matter when facing the lies and deceptions being thrown at us by the enemy.
In short, the Holy Spirit is sent to empower us, to lead us, and to mold us to become more and more like Christ by taking on His character. We can’t deal with temptation within our own human ability and power. However, if we’re willing to create the proper environment into our lives by obeying the Word through which the Spirit of God operates, this will allow Him to successfully carry out His God-given mission through us, in us, and with us. Assuredly, we will be empowered to overcome temptation.