Be Watchful

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith.

1 Corinthians 16:13

For the next couple of days I want to share several devotionals written by Puritan preachers on temptation. They were very insightful and direct when addressing temptation. I hope it will help you understand temptation and how it impacts our lives. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

How can we recognize when a temptation has come to its hour?  A temptation has come to its hour when it is restless, urgent, and arguing.  It is a time of battle, and sin will give the soul no rest.  Satan sees his advantage, the convergence of his forces, and knows that he must now prevail, or be hopeless forever.  Satan pushes this opportunity and time of advantage with special pleas and promises.  He has taken some ground in his arguments so far, and seeks to exert his ground further.  He reminds us of a full pardon after the sin.  He realizes that if he does not win now he will lose the opportunity. 

When Satan had prepared all the events against Christ, it was the hour of darkness.  When a temptation presses in upon us through our imagination and reason, and when opportunities, solicitations, and advantages press us on the outside, we may know that the hour of its power has come. 

A temptation has also come to its hour when it brings both fear and allurements together to work with greater force.  These came together in King David when he planned the murder of Uriah. There was the fear of his sin being found out, and also the continued pleasure and enjoyment with Bathsheba. 

Men sometimes are carried into sin just by the love of it, but they often continue in it because of the fear of consequences that might appear by repentance and full disclosure.  Our Saviour teaches us the ways to prevent our entering into temptation, and there are two: ‘Watch’ and ‘Pray.’ 

To watch means to be on guard, to take heed, and to consider the ways the enemy might seek to approach us and entangle us in his baits and methods.  The second direction is to pray.  This important duty is known to all.  These two duties are the whole expression of faith to protect us from temptation. John Owen, Works, VI: 99-101

Team YOU: 1 Samuel 13-14; Proverbs 9; Luke 10:1-24

Motivations:  The apostles suffered incredible persecution and died horrible deaths in the Christian cause. The only possible explanation for their zeal was that they had actually seen, talked with and eaten with the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ had not really risen and had not appeared to the apostles, would they all have died for a lie? Fritz Ridenour

Practice to Remember: Level 1:Ephesians 5:17-18; Level 2: Ephesians 5:8-14

Powered Up:  The reasons why we obtain no more in prayer is because we expect no more. God usually answers us according to our hearts. Richard Alleine