Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Have you given thought recently to how many people are working very hard to manipulate your thinking and your behavior? Many of them have high paying jobs and sophisticated titles. Some receive extensive training in areas of sales or marketing or advertising or coaching or behavior manipulation. Have you considered how many times EVERYDAY you are deluged with information intended to convince you that you need to do something you hadn’t thought about, like… spend the money in your pocket, or your precious time, in doing something actually contrary to your values! But after their very effective efforts, you are giving serious thought to following their advice?!
In contrast to that, can you imagine how Jesus would like to advise you, counsel you, coach you, by the power of His Holy Spirit, about every aspect of your life, guiding you to live your life with no regrets and with great fulfillment, having nothing to hide and everything to celebrate!?
As we continue our journey with James in the New Testament, we’re in chapter 1 of his letter. James next deals head on with a source of great confusion among Christians in the first century and today in many parts of our world. Where does temptation come from and why would God allow it? James writes:
“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone, but each person is tempted when, by their own evil desire, they are dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:13-15)
Temptation to sin always comes from the devil and his dark kingdom. Sin temptation never comes from God and His holiness. Temptation appeals to our sinful nature and unless we stand strong in our relationship with Jesus, we will find our sinful self rising up in response to temptation, desiring to sin in rebellion and rejection of all Jesus has done for us! It’s a battle my friends, which will not end until we arrive in God’s Presence where there is no sin, no temptation.
Years later Paul added this as he wrote to the Christians in Corinth: “So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall. No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.“ (1 Corinthians 10:12,13) Do you see the powerful anti-temptation work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Jesus follower? When we are tempted, the Holy Spirit reminds us of God’s Power available to us in His Truth, which is why I yesterday mentioned the importance of having Scripture memorized.
The Holy Spirit also gives us the courage and strength to resist the temptation, rebuke the dark kingdom, and turn toward Jesus and experience HIS victory over the temptation! One of the most dangerous things we can do is pretend. Pretend we’re not being tempted. Pretend we can handle it with no problem. Pretend that if we yield to the temptation it won’t hurt us! We have to take responsibility for ourselves, my friends, in the face of temptation and take action, resisting and rejecting the temptation and following the Holy Spirit! Have you learned how to do this, and do you do it effectively?
Jesus spoke clearly and forcefully about the devil, Satan, and that he is a liar and a murderer, and will ALWAYS come against God’s people with deceit, distortions of truth, and always for the purpose of awakening in us doubt about God and God’s truth! That’s the tactic Satan used with Adam and Eve and it hasn’t changed in all these millennia of time! My friends, can you discern when you are being duped, deceived, fed lies? Jesus said “The devil was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)
We all understand temptation, don’t we my friends? It is the primary work of the devil and his demons. Their objective is to tempt us to think, speak and act in ways which dishonor God, deny the work of Jesus in our lives, and disregard the work and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Paul warns us about the schemes of the devil, and that we can, as followers of Jesus, stand strong and victorious with the armor of God, when the temptations come. Have you recently read about that in Eph. 6:10-18? It’s important you read those 8 verses often! Peter warns us of the prowling devil and that we need not be fearful, for we can stand against him… “Resist the devil, standing firm in our faith in Jesus…and the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ… will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast…” (1 Peter 5:8-10)
Now watch this friends, Paul gives us one other really important warning in Ephesians 4:27 & 30 “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed…do not give the devil a foothold.” When a Jesus follower is being tempted, one of the important roles of the Holy Spirit is to warn us, and offer to strengthen us, and lead us away from that temptation. But we have the free will, however, to refuse the work of the Holy Spirit and choose to yield to the temptation in sin! When we do that, we, followers of Jesus, actually give the devil a foothold in our lives! We have invited the dark kingdom to have some influence in our lives at that moment and the devil will take every advantage of that opportunity. As the darkness has been invited in, the darkness will not leave until rejected by us, and we repent, asking God to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
Watch this friends… yes, Christians, followers of Jesus, can BOTH have the Holy Spirit of God living within them and GRIEVE that Holy Spirit by yielding to sin temptation and inviting the influence of the dark kingdom into their lives!! In that situation the Holy Spirit will convict with invitation to repent and return to a right relationship with Jesus… but God has given us the freedom of choice. We can either agree with the Holy Spirit, repent and reconcile with Jesus OR we can refuse and continue to live in our sinful rebellion, continuing to invite even more influence of the evil kingdom into our lives!
If we continue that for long, a ‘foothold’ can turn into a spiritual ‘stronghold’ of the devil in our lives. Consider 2 Corinthians 10:4,5 “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world, we do not wage war as the world does. On the contrary our weapons have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” This, my friends, is spiritual warfare!
I hope you see the powerful, painful truth of the warning James gives us in James 1:13-15 “…but each one is tempted when, by their own evil desire, they are dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.” None of us ever ‘falls’ or ‘slips’ into sin. Once we have trusted Jesus Christ to be our Savior, and the Holy Spirit lives within us, sin is a double choice! First we choose to disregard the sin warning of the Holy Spirit, then secondly we choose to yield to the sin temptation, and by doing so, we INVITE the influence of Satan’s evil kingdom into our lives! King Solomon warns of this process over and over in his writings called Proverbs in the Bible. I urge you to go there often!
I think wisdom would say we pause right here and ponder this deadly reality. I urge you to take your journal and write these verses, from James 1:12-15 and Ephesians 4:27&30, in your journal, and then write what the Holy Spirit says to you about your own life pattern. What is your pattern of response when you know the Holy Spirit of God is warning you about the dark kingdom temptations, trying to draw you away from Jesus and into sin? Is it time to make some real life changing decisions? I urge you to talk with Jesus about this very real battle which rages for your soul. If you are a Christ follower, anywhere in the world, this song can be your theme song as you stand against the devil’s schemes. Especially take note of the second verse!
Today’s Scripture is James 1:13-15.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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