Entering into Temptation -- Part 2

ENTERING INTO TEMPTATION - Part 2

"The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations." 2 Peter 2:9

The past couple days have been discouraging to hear stories of guys who have thrown in the towel and given up on their desire to be more than a conqueror. I'm not talking about grads from the Colony - I am talking about men who have served in leadership positions in ministry. Men we must be vigilant in terms of guarding our hearts!

Understanding temptation and its power is one of the ways that we will develop a THINK VICTORY! mindset that will help us move from victory to victory rather than living from defeat to defeat.

Listen to what Puritan John Owen's says about entering into temptation:

"Satan attacks us with greater force than his ordinary solicitation to sin. He uses fears, allurements, persecutions, seductions, by himself or by others. He takes advantage of a lust or corruption and by his instigation it approaches us to provoke us or terrify us with a much greater disturbance than usual. When we enter into temptation there has been a special activity of Satan to take particular advantage of us. Our heart must be entangled enough in the temptation to cause it to rise up in its own defense, yet not be wholly able to eject or cast out the poison or leaven that has been injected.

Every great and pressing temptation has its hour, a season in which it grows to its greatest force, when it is most vigorous, active, operative, and prevalent. It may take a while to get to this point, but given the right circumstances, outward or inward, temptation arrives at this very dangerous hour. The outcome is that the temptation has power over a man and carries him quite away before it, when at other times it has little or no power over him. Then he can despise it, laugh at its expression, and easily resist it. But temptation at other times is supported by other circumstances and occurrences that give it new strength and effectiveness. The man is weakened; the hour has come, he has entered into it, and it prevails.

All will experience a season in which their temptations will be more urgent, sin's reasoning's more plausible, its pretensions more glorious, hopes of recovery seemingly clearer, opportunities broader and more open, the doors of evil more beautiful than ever they have been before.
Blessed is he who is prepared for such a season! There is no escape without this preparation. If we maintain preparation, we are safe." Adapted from TEMPTATION ... Resisted and Repulsed (Banner of Truth) This powerful little book is available in the Keswick Book and Gift Shop
(732-350-1187 ext. 31)

People in Mexico are either taking precautions for safety or saying, "It won't ever happen to me!" We can do the same in our lives. We can be vigilant about THINKING VICTORY! and PREPARE or we can play this game of "I am invincible! I would never _____________ -- well you fill in the blank. In my short lifetime, I have seen way too many casualties on the battlefield - not because they were laying down their lives for King Jesus, but because they have allowed sin to reign supreme in their lives. Don't be a statistic! Prepare! THINK VICTORY!

Great quote: Until we know Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we can't have faith in Him. But once we hear Jesus say, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9) we immediately have something that is real, and our faith is limitless. Oswald Chambers