How to depend on God to help you resist temptations from the world in order to remain holy.
Temptation, it can come in many forms, ways, shapes, and areas in our life from cheating on our tests, ourselves, and on other people whom we care about. Temptation is a way from the enemy in order to ruin our lives, either physically, emotionally, mentally, or all of the above. Temptation is brough about what seems to be an innocent thought and can be, if not controlled however, it can lead to disastrous results. Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, was not just tempted, he was tempted and weakened for 40 days and night with no food or water. Yet, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior was able to resist the enemy not just once, but 3 different times all having 3 different temptations tied to them. Since Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior faced these temptations and the troubles that come with them, he can help us overcome them when they are on our door. He will help us, and God will not let us be tempted beyond our means when we call upon him to help us in order to resist the enemy.
Since it comes in many forms, temptation can be something small and lead to something too big for us to handle ourselves, often leading into sin and disastrous results. The biggest one most likely is the temptation to cheat, to cheat on our significant others that God has blessed us and provided us with. Attraction itself is not a sin, look at Adam and Eve, yet it being uncontrolled can lead to lust, self-pleasure, and cheating on your significant other. This could be because they said something to you or did something to catch your attention. We are not perfect, we will fall, we just have to stand back up and not let the world get to us to where we leave those whom Jesus provided us in order to fulfill his word. We are told to avoid Persuasive words that can lead us astray and not let them make thoughts in our minds that we do not control in order to avoid the foolish acts that will be birthed by them. The Odessey has a great example of this, the captain wanting to hear the siren’s call in order to experience it.
Other means of temptation can come from control, control over finances, your family, friends, and even co-workers. God will allow temptations in life in order to help us strengthen our faith within him as we understand him more and more. The closer we get to God, the more temptations we will get and the more he will allow because he wants to make us stronger in faith. These can come in forms of Presumptuous power, instant gratification, self-ambition, and so on; God will always be right with us though helping us to resist said temptations. We are supposed to seek God’s will in what he wants us to do, resisting these temptations and not asking him to back us up when we do what we want but to seek his will only.
One of the biggest ones we all probably fall into is the temptation of comparison, comparing the things we have to what others have or do not have. This can lead to jealousy which can lead to discontentment or can lead to pride as we think about what we have compared to someone else. One of the biggest ones we all probably have issues with is the discontentment; this normally comes about when we see people getting blessed and prayers answered yet we have nothing. This then leads to jealousy, and we get upset and start thinking to ourselves some bad things wishing that we had what they had. Jesus wants us to live with contentment, not comparing and stewarding what he has given us properly before he blesses us in order to make us grateful for what we have.
Doing this will take time since it is a complete retraining of our heart and making it be grateful, yet we want it to happen instantly. Let God work on your heart and remain grateful for the things that you do have in order to be grateful for what is to come. And when that blessing does come, do not boast about what you did or what you have, point people to The Lord and let them experience what he has for them. Stay humble with what he has given you in order to allow him to transform you and to raise you to where he needs you. A humble heart will be exalted as you exalt The Lord, a high and prideful heart will first be brought low and will be humbled. Trust God that he is working what he promised you in order to help you to keep living the life he needs you to live. And in the mist of it, do not lose your love for others, God, and yourself. May God bless you and keep you safe, protected, and guide you through with his help and wisdom, Amen!