A Test vs. A Temptation, Pt. 2

Genesis 22:1 says, “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.”

Temptation is the result of the battle between love and lust, your spirit and your flesh. If your love for God wins out, love will birth righteousness and that righteousness will lead to everlasting life. If the lusts of your flesh wins, that lust will birth sin and that sin will lead to death. The devil always wants your mind to focus on the now and never at the end result. He will show you how exciting the party life is, but he refuses to show you that drunk tied up to every kind of machine in a hospital room somewhere who has no life to live. When you are tempted, keep your focus set on what is ahead. Get our mind on the consequences of the decisions you make. The crown of life will be worth enduring every temptation, and it is only promised to those that love the LORD. Nothing is worth going to hell over!

James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” James said that man is blessed when he “endures” temptation. He did not say you are blessed because you “go through” or “experience” temptation, but because you “endure” it. We all go through temptation, but the reward belongs to the man that endures it rather than the one who gives into it. Giving into temptation is what classifies it as sin, but enduring it is what results in receiving a crown of life.

We all know the famous “LORD’S Prayer”. Matthew 6:9-13 says, “9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” One of the last key notes in our prayer lives is to ask God to “lead us not into temptation, but deliverance.” If we maintain an authentic prayer life, that is quick to listen to and hear the voice of God, it will birth in us a greater discernment to withstand and even avoid temptation. God cannot tempt anybody, but His Spirit can lead us into temptation. Matthew 4:1 says, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, after the Holy Ghost descended upon Him like a dove, the Spirit of the LORD led Him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Although the Bible says that God cannot be tempted with evil, the Spirit of the LORD led Jesus to be tempted with evil. Again, it sounds like another contradiction, but it really was not. Sin did not stand a chance against Jesus Christ. He was the Word of God made manifest in the form of human flesh to destroy the works of the devil. That is why every time Satan tempted Him, He bounced back quoting scripture because the devil is powerless against God’s Word. When you have the Sword of the Spirit and you use it correctly, the devil does not stand a chance against you. It profits to speak God’s Word in authority! If you are a Christian, truly born again, you have a license to use it! God the Father wanted to prove to the devil who Jesus Christ is, which was His only begotten Son, and He did that successfully. Sometimes, the Spirit of the LORD will lead us into the wilderness to be tempted, or we will go through our tests of faith because God has enough confidence in us that will make the right choices, especially since we are adopted as His children. He wants to prove to the devil who we are, and we must be prayed up and willing to meet the challenge. However, Jesus Christ still instructs us to pray to God that we be not led into temptation, but rather deliverance from evil.

Deliverance is when we become free from whatever has held us bound. When we are delivered, we do not go back into the sin that we are free from. We continue on in freedom, for where His Spirit and truth are, there is freedom! What are we free from? Evil. What is evil? It is anything that is opposite of that which is good, which would be sin, sickness, cancer and disease, attacks against your body, soul and Spirit. From every form of evil and work of our adversary, we can be delivered and eternally free from it. We must pray for His deliverance, for it is deliverance that makes God who He really is, for His deliverance is the “kingdom, power and glory forever.” His mighty acts of deliverance show forth the greatness of His kingdom, power and glory, and we should see that again in this generation! Once you are free, do not go back to what He delivered you from. It is called deliverance for a purpose! Galatians 5:1 says, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Do not be tangled up again in the web of your adversary and allow him to snatch your life away from you. Stand fast in your freedom, and whatever price you have to pay to maintain it, do it. Freedom is never really free, so do not let that price for freedom go to waste.

There was another famous prayer in the Bible known as the prayer of Jabez. 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 says, “9And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. 10And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.” The final thing Jabez asked for is that he would be kept from evil, that it may not grieve him. He wanted to have no hint of impropriety in his walk and decisions in this life. He wanted nothing to take away from his integrity and relationship with Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 says, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” We are to hide from any appearance of evil so that it will not bring any reproach or negligence on the name of Jesus Christ. When you say, “Yeah I am a Christian, and go to so and so’s church”, and you are out here cursing, throwing temper tantrums, lying, gossiping, stealing, drinking, partying, messing around and carrying on, you not only make yourself look bad, but you bring a bad representation of your church, your pastor and the name of Jesus Christ. We are to watch every move we make because people are watching us, and what it takes a lifetime to build can take just a moment to destroy. That is why when televangelists fall into some public humiliation because they have tried to keep their private sin dusted under a rug for so long, they lose everything. God gives you space and time to repent, and if you refuse to, a horrific price will be paid, and you will never be able to get your ministry back to the level it once was, neither gain the respect of people like you once had. That is why Jabez prayed what he prayed. He did not want to fall like others had, but he wanted to leave a legacy in which people would chase after the very thing he once had. He did not want any sin, temptation or work of the devil tainting everything he prayed and work so hard to achieve, but he wanted God’s favor to continue to be upon his life, and it was!

There comes a time though when we must discern what is real food and what is bait. In other words, as we grow in the LORD, we should begin to start realizing what is of God and what is of the devil. The same ol’ thing should not be tempting us all the time. We should find freedom in Christ and refuse to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage! We should be making the transition from the milk, trying to discern what is good and evil, to the meat, which is doing the will of your Father and fulfilling His purpose for your life. Every good and perfect give comes from above, and if that think makes you feel bound and disgusted, you need to pray to God for deliverance and victory. We should pray that we are not even tempted with sin, and that will be the detection of spiritual growth. That does not mean a believer should be lifted up in pride and think they cannot sin any longer because that pride will make one fall pretty quickly. We should be humble and help lift someone up when they fall whether than bury them into the ground. Galatians 6:1 says, “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.” So, we better not be too quick to judge, but we better pray for them and remain humble before God and God’s people. But what I am saying is that there should come a time in a person’s life where drugs, alcohol, perversion and gossip is not a temptation any longer. They need to be elevating and growing in the LORD instead of being stuck in the same place! Our temptation should be persecution, not giving into sin. Just as the church of the book of Acts, they were tempted to recant and deny the LORD, and that should be where we suffer is through persecution, for even Paul said, “All those who are godly will suffer persecution.” It is time we grow in the LORD and pray this very prayer Jabez prayed, “Keep us from evil.”