Let’s ride

Temptation is not a permanent state. Don’t believe the lies of the enemy when he prowls around your head telling you that you must give into the temptation to get relief. Or when he tells you the rest of your life will feel like this if you continue to resist it.

Do you want to know what the truth is? Temptation is like a wave. It builds. Its power…its size…it builds. Stonger and bigger…bigger and stronger. And when it is at its highest of heights and strongest of strengths is when you feel like you can’t take one more second. It is when you feel so weak and you start hearing the lies that you will always feel like this.

That is the moment you have to lean on truth. Lean into God’s word. Pray. Ask friends to pray. Cry. Pitch a toddler size fit in your bedroom if you want to. Go ahead…feel bad for yourself. Lay yourself down at the feet of Jesus. You won’t be the first to lay there while your tears wash His feet.

But don’t give in. That wave will crest. And with the strength of Christ you can ride it out. You don’t have to let it take you under.

When the wave meets the shore you find rest. Will the wave return? Of course it will. But now you know you can ride it instead of wiping out in it. Now you meet that wave with new endurance and strength. Now you know the arguments of the flesh are all lies. So, you don’t even argue.

You just ride.

Balanced. Strengthened. Looking at the shore ahead.

You ride.

Surf’s up, friend. Let’s ride.

James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

1 Peter 5:8
Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.

2 Corinthians 12:9-11
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

No temptation

The Lord has been speaking on my heart the past couple days. I had been binging and in a moment of weakness I was asking God why He hasn’t taken this from me? Why hasn’t He healed me of this? Have I not prayed well enough? Been faithful enough? What am I doing wrong?

This is what He put on my heart:

1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us a wonderful promise:

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. 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 endure it.

That is a promise from God. There is not one single temptation in this world that we can’t overcome. It may feel like we can’t overcome it but we have to decide who we trust more. Our feelings that we can’t or our God’s promise that we can.

God may not remove a temptation but He will strengthen us in them. We somehow let the devil create a stronghold, but that is all he has and the Christ that is in us is so much stronger than a stronghold the devil has on us.

And He can break that stronghold.

It is up to us to tell the devil no, though. It is up to us to believe in and live in the promises of God. He will never break His promise.

HIS GLORY AND HONOR DEPEND ON HIM ALWAYS BEING TRUE.

And He is glorious and honorable and trustworthy and a good, good Father.

It is not His fault that this sin has entered our lives, but He is here to give us a way of escape.

Since God has promised I can bear it and I don’t have to give in then I will believe Him. Even when the temptation is so strong that I am on the floor crying out to Him so I don’t give in. When I stand back up, my endurance will be stronger. I will be stronger. And those chains to that stronghold will start to be loosened and they WILL be broken. Amen!

I pray that over us all that struggle. That God will lay that promise on your heart as well.

Luke 1:37
For with God nothing shall be impossible.

May the peace and love of God rest on you all. Let the blood of Christ wash away your sin and begin again. In Christ name I pray, Amen.

Love you ❤

The way of escape

“Carnal desires gain strength by indulgence”- Matthew Henry

We can either strengthen our carnal desires or strengthen our self control.

One takes no effort and the other takes the power of Christ.

One is a snare that wants to entangle us and the other is a fruit of the spirit.

One sends us into captivity and the other is a way of escape.

One is a careless life and one is a life of self discipline.

One is dangerous and one is safe.

One is satan and one is God.

1 Corinthians 10:13
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

No where does it say that the way of escape is always easy. If it was, how would we ever develop a “muscle” of self control? But working that muscle makes us stronger so that what was once difficult isnt quite so difficult anymore. When you stop working that muscle then it becomes weak again. That is why Paul warns us to be careful and not careless. Dont lose the muscle we have gained by giving in to little things or slowly giving up self discipline.

1 Corinthians 10:12
“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”

What are ways you have allowed self discipline to be weakened?

For me, I allowed thoughts of “you dont have to be so strict about working out and eating right.” to come into my mind. I allowed the enemy to convince me that I was being vain and needed to lighten up. Then, when people would say “dont worry about that work out” or “its ok to give in and pig out” I would agree and go for it. It isnt their fault. They didnt understand that I have an issue with gluttony of food and laziness. They didnt know that is my thorn in my side. They didnt know how God is working that out in me yet I was falling for the enemy’s lies.

Letting go of that self discipline weakened me. It gave the enemy a foothold to my emotions and how I feel about myself. It gave the enemy a foothold to my physical and mental health. And all I did was allow a small lie to grow.

So, when you see me hitting that workout or saying no to that food, you dont have to compliment or even comment, just say a prayer for me. Because working that muscle is hard.

Tell me what your prayer needs are. Where does the enemy have his foothold? Let me pray over you today!