The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
I was in a discussion today that was basically can you sin so many times that God will quit forgiving you. I think that is an easy question, God's grace is amazing and God is patient with us. However, the other end of that question comes can you truly be repentant and never change? If the power of the Holy Spirit lives within us can we really keep sinning? I believe there should be victory in our lives. We should learn to overcome some sin in our lives and then God will reveal new things for us to work on to overcome.
Paul gives us a key verse to help us learn some ways to overcome sin in our lives and to fight against the temptations we face.
1. Remember you are not alone! You are not the only one to experience what you are experiencing. The trick of the devil is to tell you your are the only one who faces this so you are okay to give in to sin.
2. Remember God is faithful and God wants to help you overcome the temptations in your life. He is not fighting against you, He is fighting for you! He wants us to overcome the temptation and not fall to it.
3. God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can stand. There is no temptation that is so powerful that you must give into and fail. There is really no excuse on our part and we like to make excuses for our sin. We always have reasons why we had to make that decision to go against God and His plan for our lives.
4. God will provide a way out! Not that we have to be smart enough or strong enough to overcome temptation. We can't just will ourselves to overcome temptation. We must look for God to provide a way out and He will provide.
Too many people have settled with sin being the normal in their lives and temptation being to powerful for them to overcome when the reality of the Good News is that there is power to overcome temptation.
Once again you speak directly to me about what I'm struggling with...it's 3am here in Seattle, I haven't "used" for 8 days (yay me) I'm laying here worrying about the temptation to "use" when I get home Monday and something told me to google living faith Girard. God responded to my worries by giving you the words I needed to hear/read to ease my heart. Thank you
ReplyDeleteGod is so amazing and He is always working for us!!!
ReplyDeleteThis passage of scripture has been an amazing challenge and encouragement to me on my journey!