Life Ministries

Whispers – Conclusion

    This may sound odd at first glance, but resistance is not the key to resisting. The Bible gives the key to resisting temptation in James 4:6-8  "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

    Many people believe - in error - that if we resist temptation the devil will flee from us, but that is not what this passage is telling us. The focus of this passage is humbling ourselves and submitting to God. When we draw closer to God, He gives us the power, and the devil flees from the power of God, not our resistance.
    Resisting temptation is like pushing a weight off our chest and holding it up. At first, I may be strong and able to resist dropping the weight, but in time I get weaker and more fatigued until in a moment of weakness, I give in… As long as my focus is on resisting, I am standing by my own strength. When my strength fails, I fall.
    God’s way is a complete paradigm shift from the way we think. Instead of facing temptation and trying to push away, we are to turn from temptation and draw near to God. Then we have the absolute promise that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. When I am standing in my own strength, I don’t recognize my need for God. The Bible says, "let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." God does not give grace to those who think they are self-sufficient. God “resists the proud.”
    If our focus is on the world then we will continue to be drawn in that direction. Where your eyes are, your feet will follow. (Take a walk in the snow - if you continually look over your right shoulder, you will continually turn right.)
    We tend to look at the pleasure, not the consequences. On the other hand, God shows us that the end is better than the beginning. It is better to sacrifice now if it means a great inheritance later. The enemy tries to blind us to the future inheritance or consequences of our actions so we only look at the pleasure at hand. What the devil does not reveal is that the illusion is all there is. It is a mirage - something that does not exist. There is never true satisfaction outside of God.
    Sin can gratify, but it cannot satisfy. There is a big difference. Gratification is the ’saturation point’ - the point where we no longer desire and may even have a temporary feeling of satisfaction. But as the feelings fade, emptiness returns.
    All pleasure was created by God and is good- inside His design. Pleasure was never intended to be our focus or the object of our desire. When living for pleasure is our first love, and the moment is gone, our focus and reason for living is gone. We must find another focus or be consumed with emptiness. For this reason, people crowd their lives with materialism and pleasure. They can’t be satisfied for long because there is no real peace unless they are constant-ly in the process of ’getting’.
    Temptation is like a Saturday morning commercial. When I was a child, I saw a commercial for a toy. In the commercial there were smiling, jumping kids surrounding this toy. It brought them excitement, joy and satisfaction. I thought; “If I could just have this toy, I would have the fulfillment they had.” I begged and begged for this toy. It was time for my birthday and I was willing to sacrifice anything to get this wonderful toy. Persistence paid off and I got the toy. I opened the box with great expectation. It was wonderful to have it. I played with it for 5 or 10 minutes, but where was the joy and excitement? It wasn’t there. It went in my closet and was never used again. What happened? It was all a lie. The kids were coached and the advertisers have self-serving motives. Nothing was real. That is exactly what temptation is! Everyone pretends to be fulfilled, yet everyone runs to and fro trying to find the elusive joy.
    We cannot enjoy the good things in life unless God is our reward. Money is not our reward, peace is. Pleasures, possessions, things and activities are not our reward, love is. The greatest pleasure and the greatest reward is our personal relationship with God and Jesus Christ. Anything that falls short of or takes away from that relationship will never satisfy. The first commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength…and all these things will be added to that! Everything in this life centers around that love relationship. We are free to not love God, but as Dr. Phil would say; “How’s that working for you?”
    You can’t turn from your sinful habits and create a vacuum. Just saying; "I am not going to do this anymore" is not enough. Something is going to fill the gap left behind. It is our  responsibil-ity to wisely choose what will replace an uprooted habit. Sometimes people exchange one bad habit for another. It is not much of a benefit to turn from sin and toward another destructive refuge. We may even return back to our wallowing in the mire unless God becomes our focus and desire.
    The power to resist does not come from our strengths or abilities, but from submitting to God. He lifts us up, makes us strong and transforms us from the inside out. Changes our thinking; changes the way we feel; which changes our actions. God will never do anything against your will. It is through submission that we become what God wants us to be. As we surrender our lives to Him, He takes what we give Him and transforms it for His glory and our benefit…and Satan can whisper all he wants, but he is powerless against a surrendered life submitted to God’s power!