Temptation And A Conclusion

Let us must today from James 1:15 and a proper Encounter With Temptation on the road to God’s Blessings. This is our last thought on temptation before we move on in James. Let us look today at Temptation’s Conclusion. The word ‘finished‘ in verse 15 means to cease from being pregnant. Remember from yesterday there was a conception between our lustful thought and the devil’s stimulation. We were told to call the baby’s name ’sin’. Now that we are finished with the pregnancy our baby whose name is sin is bringing forth death. There is only one thing that sin will produce. It may be a little sin, big sin, grey sin, or black sin but it can only bring forth death. The Bible says ‘For the wages of sin is death.’ I am so glad for the child of God that He has thrown my sin as far as the east is from the west. There are no poles for east and west to meet and neither will my sin meet with me again. He has suffered the condemnation of my sin when He died on the cross.

Temptation And A Conception

Let us muse today from James 1:15 and a proper Encounter With Temptation on the road to God’s Blessings. I want to look today at Temptation’s Conception. The word ‘conceived’ in verse 15 is the word for a baby being conceived prior to birth. We sin because of an unholy conception between opportunity and desire. Satan comes with an outward stimulation for what God has forbidden and we have the lustful thought in our mind that coincides. When the stimulating desire and the thought come together their will be a conception. What will we name the baby? James says, ‘call him sin’. Let us remember, God always offers a door of escape with each temptation. Lest we blame it on somebody or something, remember, we just ran by the door of saying no to sin.

Temptation And A Consideration

Let us muse today from James 1:14 an a proper encounter with temptation on the road to God’s blessings. I lay before us today “A Consideration Of Temptation”. Consider with me the phrase “drawn away of your own entice”. The phrase drawn away means to allure or catch in a trap. The word entice means an inward desire provoked by an outward stimulation. Our inward is controled by our mind. It is here the thought of lust is conceived, when provoked by outward stimulation. we must here stop the thought or sin will be brought forth. We cannot stop birds from flying over our head, but we can keep them from making a nest in our hair. Let us stop the thought before lust is conceived and brings forth sin.

Temptation And Its Demonstration

Let us muse today from James 1:14 and a Proper Encounter With Temptation on our road to God’s Blessings. You may ask, how does temptation operate in my life? How does it demonstrate itself in the life of the redeemed? I find in verse 14 there is a Condition For Its Demonstration. The text says, ‘it comes from our own lust’. The word ‘own’ speaks of ones personal DNA. There are areas in each individual life that are more susceptible to temptation then others. Satan is very familiar with these areas. The word ‘lust’ has to do with one’s thought process. It is a longing for what is forbidden. It has the idea of setting the heart upon what the providence of God has not given. It is an inward appetite for what God has not sanctioned. It means to satisfy a human appetite in an unholy way. Lust always begins with a thought before there is an outward demonstration of sin. Do  you know, are you familiar with, your own areas of lust and entice?

His Purpose Can Never Be Deflected

Let us muse again today from James 1:13 and a Proper Encounter With Temptation on the road to God’s Blessings. In being able to walk in victory over temptation we must realize that although God does not bring temptation He is still over it. In His capacity of being the sovereign over temptation His Purpose Can Never Be Deflected. Do remember that He was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil for 40 days and nights. In His model prayer He teaches us to pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil’. Peter said in his epistle that the Lord knows how to deliver the Godly out of temptation. It seems to me that His overall purpose in being the director over the sending of temptation is twofold. One, is for us to see that by the arm of the flesh we can never say, No, to sin. The second is to realize in the hour of temptation that it has been sent to drive us to the wounded side of our Saviour to hide under the wings of His presence.

His Power Can Never Be Diminished

Let us muse again today from James 1;13 and a Proper Encounter With Temptation on our road to God’s Blessings. If we are to properly handle temptation we must realize that God is over and in control of its sending.  I want us to remember, though He is over the sending of temptation, His Power Can Never Be Diminished. For us fleshly humans, my how temptation when yielded to, diminishes our power level to zero. It weakens us to the point that we have no ability to say No to sin. Jesus said, ‘All power dwelleth in me.’ This is all the power in Heaven, earth, and under the earth. His power reigns over the Heaven’s activities, the earth’s authorities, and Hell’s abominations. Now think of this. If He dwelleth in us then all that power resides in me. How can we not draw from this power in our hour of temptation?

His Perception Can Never Be Dulled

Let us muse again today from James 1:13 and a proper Encounter With Temptation on our road to God’s Blessings. We are looking for a few days at the fact that God doesn’t bring temptation but He is certainly over it and in control of it. Let us ponder this thought today about God and temptation. It is this, ‘His Perception Can Never Be Dulled‘. Oh, how temptation can dull our spiritual temptation. When we yield to temptation by running by the door of escape mentioned in I Corinthians 10:13 it clouds our perception of the daily walk. Psalm 147 says, ‘Great is our Lord and great is His power. His understanding is infinite.’ I cannot comprehend the fact that the all-knowing, never dulled perception of God has come to dwell in my heart. He offers to me His perception to see all things from an eternal vantage point.

Temptation And The Divine

Let us muse for several days from James 1:13 and our Encounter With Temptation on the road to God’s Blessings. We know that God is over all things. We are told in this verse that God does not bring temptation to man, but Satan does. The verse does not say that He does not send temptation or that He is not over temptation. When Christ was tempted 40 days and nights the Bible says that He was led of the Spirit into this temptation. There are several reasons why God may send it but never bring it. One, is that His person can never be defiled. Peter said that He is Holy. Habakkuk said that He was of too pure of eyes to look at sin. Paul said that He was both the just and the justifier of the sinner. He became sin for me, yet He remained Holy. He touched the leper yet He remained as pure and as white as snow. He is a God who can be over temptation, send temptation, yet never be affected by it and at the same time give us victory over it.

Temptation And Its Definition

Let us begin to muse today from James 1:14-15 and an Encounter with Temptation on the road to God’s Blueprint of Blessings. The words ‘trouble’ and ‘trials’ in the Bible are  used to describe the test of one’s faith. They are sent by God to make us stronger. Temptation is defined as a solicitation to do evil. It is brought by the Devil to make us weak and fall. In a time of temptation let us remember three things. In II Peter 1:4 God tells us that he put His own divine nature in us at salvation. In II Corinthians 10:13 we are told that God will be faithful in temptation and send us a door to escape. In Romans 6:6 we are told that on the cross our old man is crucifed and when we reckon it to be so we walk in victory over sin. When these three things are applied in a time of temptation we will be made strong and more than conquerors.

The Look Of Delight

Let us muse for the last time on an Encounter With Truth on the road to God’s Blessings from James 1:23 and 25. These verses speak of ‘being doers of the Word’. Obedience brings the delight of God’s blessings. Psalm 19 says, ‘With the keeping of the law there is great reward’. Psalm 119 says, ‘Blessed are those who keep the Word and seek Him with the whole heart’. John said, ‘If ye keep His commandments, happy are ye’. Revelation said, ‘Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of this book’. A proper encounter with truth brings God’s blessings.  I am reminded of the blind girl who loved to read the Bible with her fingers. She was broken when she burnt her hands and lost the feeling in her fingertips. She later found that she had the same feelings in her lips. She spent the rest of her life kissing her way through the Bible. My, what a relationship with truth.