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Victorious Christian living
Overcoming Temptations… Part 1
1. There is no temptation if there is no tempter.
The devil doesn’t know everything that is in our minds, but he does know if we have accepted a thought that he suggested… Satan doesn’t know all things so he presents different situations to us to get us to fall. There are times that he fails, because what he thinks might be a temptation to us may not be a temptation at all. But when he finds something that he can hook a person with he’ll use that one thing as best as he can until he destroys the individual with that thing (and for many it’s multiple things that he uses). If stealing isn’t a strong temptation to you, when the devil realizes it he’ll try to tempt you with something else. He’s trying to hook our heart to something that is against the will of God to pull us out of righteousness back into sin. The hook can develop in us if we entertain the temptation long enough. The hook can already be implanted in our soul, or he can even use the hook he has in our sin natured body if we haven’t denied or spiritually crucified our selves- Rom 7:22-25, Gal 2:20, Luke 9:23. The hook the devil will try and use to pull us can even be in the form of a demon/principality brooding/hovering over the atmosphere we are walking into or through on the streets or in a building/house, but this is where we need to know the scriptures that counteract the nature of whichever temptation the devil is using. This is why St. Paul tells us to be filled with the spirit- Eph 5:18-21, so that when the devil comes he has no place to put his hook, because your mind is preoccupied with the things of God. So now the power radiating in your atmosphere caused by the word and worship or prayer disrupts, disturbs and repels the sinful atmosphere trying to influence you to sin. Or there is a detailed word in our spirit that strengthens us not to give in to the devil.
2. Eve wasn’t tempted to eat the forbidden fruit in Genesis Chap 3 until the devil opened his dirty mouth and said something to her… but at the same time she entertained the devil long enough to hear and believe his lies. So if you are tempted to do evil it’s also a sign that you’re in a better condition than what you’re tempted to do, otherwise the devil wouldn’t bother.
3. If the devil has a hook in you the first step to deliverance is to confess it. If you don’t confess it you will always fall for it because you are in denial of truth. It’s the truth that makes us free St. John 8:32 even if it’s a confession of being hooked, so we have to be honest with ourselves… This is where you allow God to take over and become your strength in dealing with the powers of that or those temptations, it is then that you will have inner victory. Let go of your own strength now, and depend on God. This is how the believer lives, not by his own strength and abilities but by FAITH in Gods’ abilities… 2Cor 5:7, Zech 4:6 Rev 12:11
Temptations will always come because the devil will always try, but some days will be much easier than others because the devil and his demons can’t be everywhere at one time and he’ll even go away for seasons as he did to Jesus - Luke 4:13. but remember that temptations aren’t designed to frustrate you but to build your faith and patience in God- James 1:2-4…

very good thoughts.

Hooah! Thanks for sharing.

Praise God Rocklobster, Thanks K.Ayato and all glory to God

Overcoming Temptations- Part 2
Why is it that we’ve wanted things that we know that we can’t have? It’s because there is a mind behind that desire (and it’s not your mind). – Quote from Bishop Linval Hendricks
Gen 3: 1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
The woman Eve did not desire what she couldn’t have before the serpent persuaded her to. Sometimes we may find ourselves desiring what we know we shouldn’t have, lusting for what belongs to someone else, wanting what would naturally be destructive to ourselves and the thing or person we desire. It’s not your thought! It’s not your desire even if you feel it in your body. Remember the devil can impose emotional energies through the atmosphere on our soul so that we can feel depressed even though we really aren’t -Eph 2:2. So it is, we can feel desire for what we really don’t want if the devil gets his hook in our soul (not to mention this sin-natured body we also have to deny every day). By this he takes our natural desires and twists it by accusing us of wanting something we really don’t want. And it’s so easy to believe him if we’re not grounded in the Word of God…
St. John 13:2 : “And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;â€

Victorious Christian living
Overcoming Temptations -Part 3
Bring it on!
Isaiah 50:8 He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.
Or in slang terms, ‘Bring it on’… Check out verses 6-9 to have a better feel of verse 8
Why is Isaiah able to tell his enemies to come close to him? It’s because he knows that God is with him and will justify him. This is the word and promise Isaiah has that gives him the strength to say ‘bring it on’… this is similar to Elijah who challenged the enemies of God because he knew the Lord was the only true and living God- 1Kings 18:21-39.
When we take this attitude with our enemy (the devil) it shows that we’re not afraid of his tricks, and if we know the word and promises of God for our life we won’t be afraid of temptation. No, most of us don’t want to be tempted but with Isaiah’s mind-set we’ll be prepared for them when they come. It’s because mentally we were expecting them. It’s as if you’ve said, [color=Purple]“Hmm, what’s the devil going to try today?â€

Victorious Christian living
Overcoming Temptations -Part 4
Bring it on!
An unclothed person is not a lust temptation if there is no sin or devil to tempt us to lust… Without sin we would be as pure as mans’ first state before he fell, Gen 2:25 [color=Blue]“And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.â€

Victorious Christian living
Overcoming Temptations -Part 5
Understanding
There is a distinction between the three parts of you though they are closely nit, spirit, soul and body. Our spirit doesn’t always agree with our soul, and if you’re conscious enough to realize it, your soul doesn’t always agree with your body’s reaction to things either. This is why most of us talk to ourselves even if it’s in our mind (and no, we’re not crazy… we’re just reasoning within ourselves –Mark 2:6,8).
If we didn’t have testosterone or estrogen in our body we would hardly react to any temptations to sexual sin… the devil would probably give up on tempting people with sexual sins and move on to what he thinks is the next worst thing. But remember that God gave us our hormones, not the devil, it’s just that we have to have KNOWLEDGE and UNDERSTANDING to manage them… 1Thes 4:4- [color=Blue]“That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor;â€

Victorious Christian living
Overcoming Temptations -Part 6
Humility is always a key in overcoming temptation

We’re asking God to make us fall when we judge other people wrongfully and feel we could do better than them in their circumstance. But when we realize that we are all capable of doing the same evil it gives us a heart of compassion when people mess up. When we hammer people over the head and make them feel as though there is no hope for them we are setting our own selves up for failure many times in the same area as those we hammer mercilessly… Galatians 6:1 [color=blue]“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, LEST THOU ALSO BE TEMPTED.â€

Victorious Christian living
Overcoming Temptations -Part 7

While I was working at Mickey Ds’ (Mc Donald’s) one morning before work I heard a voice loud and clear say to me, “You are going to be tempted today…â€

Victorious Christian living
Overcoming Temptations -Part 8
Other ways the devil gets his hook in us…

If you are failing in an area of your life spiritually it is a possible opening for the devil to cause you to fail in another area of your life. Examples: You may have strength when it comes to the temptations of stealing, but if you’ve been disobedient to God then stealing can look more appealing than before. You may have great control over your tongue when it comes to cursing, but if you’ve been disloyal to God when it comes to taking care of your spouse then cursing may seem more appealing in a frustrating situation. You may seemingly have no problems when it comes to the temptations of being jealous, but if you’ve been unfaithful to the call of God on your life it may be easier to become jealous of others, or maybe the devil will choose to hit you hard with the lusts of pornography or fornication. Either way, one area of disobedience to God can very well weaken your hedge of protection and strength in another area of your spirituality…
If you’ve been unfaithful in tithes paying don’t be surprised if you just can’t seem to hold any of the money you make. Though there are many other reasons to losing money, don’t let unfaithfulness to God be one of them…
Another hook can be a past abusive experience. During a tempting situation the devil will use the memories of past abuse as a REFERENCE to encourage us to fall for the temptation. For some of us we just need a Word of deliverance from the painful flashbacks of the past, and others we just need to learn how use it as a boost in excelling in God in the areas of worship and prayer**. The hook of past abuse doesn’t have to be the devils hook if you know how to turn it around, and Jesus’ word will show you how.


**Now that you know how painful abuse is you can use the passions of your pain to fervently pray people out of the same pain you’ve experienced. Because you know through experience that these people need more than natural things but they need another experience. They need an experience and encounter with God. The passions you birthed through the painful abuse you experienced with draw out these God encounters of healing and miracles that others need to experience… use that painful passion in prayer, God will always respond – Psalms 51:17…