God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. James 1:12-18
I will only use one of the notes today, Note on verses 13-15
It is easy to blame others and make excuses for evil thoughts and wrong actions. We use excuses such as: (1) It’s the other person’s fault; (2) I couldn’t help it; (3) everybody’s doing it; (4) it was just a mistake; (5) nobody’s perfect; (6) the Devil made me do it; (7) I was pressured into it; (8) I didn’t know it was wrong; or (9) God is tempting me. A person who makes excuses is trying to shift the blame from himself or herself to something or someone else. A christian, on the other hand, accepts responsibility for his or her wrongs, confesses them, and asks God for forgiveness.
Today’s scripture is so fitting for me. Last night I fell under the conviction that I must start fasting and praying for God to answer me. Today, I have implemented that conviction. And now, I wait patiently for God to turn to me and answer my prayer. I will do this until He answers. The scriptures say that those who earnestly seek Him will find Him. So, now I wait until I find Him and He reveals Himself to me.
In my temptation to do things my way, I will never say that God is tempting me. It was the book of Job that really brought home the revelation that God does not tempt me, but He allows things to happen and allows the devil to reek havoc on our lives, not always for our benefit, sometimes it is to conform us to His image or to change our hearts, but it is always to glorify Himself. The ultimate goal of our lives is to glorify and honor God. Whatever trials and hardships that we endure, whatever temptations that we overcome or even the ones that we fail to overcome, can and will be used by God to glorify His name if we yeild ourselves to Him and allow Him to work in our hearts and lives to do His will. If we have failed to overcome certain temptations in the past, how powerful will our testimony be when we finally succeed! It will be powerful because it will say that of our own we couldn’t do it, but “with God all things are possible.” Amen and amen!
In this scripture, it is explicit, temptations come from our own sinful desires. Jeremiah says that “the heart is desperately wicked, who can know it.” It is absolutely clear to me that throughout the bible, it is me, or us, the created beings, that bring on our own problems and temptations which lead us into sin. It is God who corrects us, chastises us, loves us and rains down His mercy upon us to gather us unto Himself and make us “entire and perfect, wanting nothing.”
God cannot stand sin. He is morally perfect. He would never commit sin Himself to conform us to His image and will because that is against the very nature of the Living and Holy God. He is perfect, pure and holy and no one on this earth will ever be perfect, pure and holy until that day when Jesus comes again and takes us unto Himself, covering us with His shed blood as we stand before God, lowly in heart. It is this broken and contrite heart that God desires, that which King David knew and understood to the depths of his soul. That is what made him a “man after God’s own heart.”
I am a sinner. But more importantly, I am saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Even though I have been counted among the righteous because of my faith in Jesus and what He did for me on the cross of Calvary, no where in the bible does it say that I will escape persecution, hardships or temptation. Scriptures say to cast off the old man and put on the new, but they do not say that it will be easy. Daily, I struggle with these things, just as all people everywhere.
Every time the Israelites turned from the Lord in the Old Testament and things started getting so terribly bad for them, God, after hearing their pleas for help and rescue, turned from His anger and rescued them. Every time! He still does this today for me and for you. It is when we have a broken and contrite heart, when we know that we cannot live another second on this earth without God, that we are made right with Him and he helps us in our deepest need. It is also when we are moving along, resting in His care that He helps us in our need. God is always there. It is me or you that isn’t always there with Him. I will speak for myself, it is me who moves from God, not God moving from me.
God never changes. He is “the same today, yesterday and forever.” That means that the God who always turned back to the Israelites and helped them when they cried out for help will do so for me and for you whenever we cry out for help with a broken and contrite heart. The God that corrected and chastised His chosen people will correct and chastise me and you whenever we need it. The God that sent His only Son to die upon Calvary for the saints of old, did so for me and for you. God never changes. His word never changes. The “world will fade away, but His word will remain.”
All glory and honor to God for He is. And that is all that we need to know. Even God described Himself that way when He spoke to Moses through the burning bush, “I AM that I AM.” It is a statement that can only be understood through faith. God is. Because God is, all else will fall into place. Sometimes I can grasp truths like this within my soul, but I have such a hard time translating that into words that can be understood. Please, I ask you, to allow God to work in your heart to understand what I am trying to say.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139:23-24
May God provide the increase.
Whenever I feel as though I’m being tested I pray something like this….
“Please help me to learn the lesson you are trying to teach me so that I don’t have to have a make-up lesson!”
Good post!
Amen. I could not agree more. God bless you
marianne
http://heavenawaits.wordpress.com/
Thank you for your responses! They are encouraging. I love to hear from you. And I really enjoy the comment about the make-up lesson because it couldn’t be more true!
Blessings to each of you.
Praise and worship His name our Lord God and His Son Christ Jesus!!
Thank Our Lord for His unique patence, oh thank Him, We are sometimes so blind to what we do, like the Isrealies, God will open our eyes, He sees our Hearts and the best and shortest prayer woks wonders, “HEEeeeeeellP!”
Oh praise our Lord Christ Jesus!! John 1.1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
Only when the vessel is empty and self is poured out on the alter can it be filled with Jesus. When we are “dead” to self then we aren’t too affected by what others think or say about us, or when we are misjudged or misunderstood. But it seems like this old self keeps coming back to life. I guess that’s why Paul said, “I die daily” Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just crucify this old man once and for all and he would be dead for ever. Looks like until God calls us home we’re going to be doing battle against the enemy!
“My soul be on they guard,
Ten thousand foes arise,
The hosts of sin are pressing hard,
To draw thee from the skies.
Oh watch and fight and pray,
The battle ne’er give o’er;
Renew it boldly every day
And help divine implore
Ne’er think the victory won
Nor once at ease sit down;
Thy arduous work will not be done
Till thou hast gained thy crown.
Fight on my soul till death
Shall bring thee to thy God;
He’ll take thee at thy parting breath
Up to His blest abode.
This was a great reminder of how God is always there for us.
I have a question:
I’ve came back to Christ during a separation with my wife. We were (possible still are) on the path to a divorce but she is a born again Christian as well. As I male, I struggled with pornography since I was a teenager. I’m in my 30s now and haven’t looked at any pornography in a while. I found such love and warmth in Christ during my separation. Lately, I’ve been feeling very tempted by my flesh to give into looking at pornography again and self-gratifying. I’m alone and have physical needs that are not being met. This may sound selfish but I am just a human.
I am truly saved and will not see the wrath of God. My question being, if I did backslide and fail these lustful temptations, how would Christ chastise me? Would he let anything happen to my wife?
Brother in Christ,
Angelo
Let me comment again that my pornography use (addiction possibly) was the downfall of our marriage.
Angelo, I cannot begin to speak for Christ, obviously you know that. I have no idea how He would chastise you, nor if He would allow anything to happen to your wife. You obviously believe that God allows things to happen to us and our loved ones to bring us back into His will. Praise Him for His desire to have us in His will. We can always be thankful for His love.
As you know, it isn’t His will that we give in to temptation even though we know that He will forgive us whenever we repent. Pray hard that God will place a hedge of protection around you so that you won’t fall to your temptations. I will also pray for you. Allow God to work in your heart and allow Him to direct your steps. It isn’t ever easy to resist temptation, that is why it is called temptation, but with God, all things are possible. Cling fast to Him and don’t let Him go.
Praise God in all His glory and in everything give Him thanks.
Pornography and any other sin starts from the heart…also every battle a man fights starts from the heart. So the heart is a ground where seeds are grown. Hence, whatever seed goes on there gets reproduced automatically.
Seed comes from : What we listen to?, Who we associate ourselves with?, Where we are? If we fill our environment with Godly seeds our hearts would yield righteousness. On another note, we also need to know that we cannot do it all by ourselves, we ask God for grace, and He’s able to keep us from all evils…
God bless
Thank you Josh for your insight. You are absolutely right! As I said, I certainly don’t have all the answers and I’m so grateful and humbled whenever others leave responses. It takes all of us to come together and fully understand and remember all of God’s Word.
Blessings