Faith Today - March/April 2016

By: Brittany pettinger
i am sitting under an apartment
building in Damour, lebanon, tempted
to email my editor and tell her that i
can’t do this article, that i do not have
the time or patience to write it this
month. But something is stopping me.
a little voice inside my head is telling
me i have to write down everything i
am thinking and not give up. it’s telling
me i need to stop procrastinating and
start writing. When i was created, i was
given free will, so it’s up to me to quit or
continue what i’m doing – and believe
me, it’s tempting and quite easy to quit.

Being tempted and falling into temptation are two different things. Jesus had free will. When he “was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (matthew 4:1), he could have done the things that the Devil told him to, but he chose not to.

There are things i have been tempt-
ed to do that i never gave in to. i look
at myself a year ago and think about
how things would be different now
if i had given in to the temptations i
faced. There were many times when i
considered hurting myself, even killing
myself, because i felt so hurt and
worthless. it was not only the will of
God that pulled me out of it, but the
people who were placed in my life at
that particular time.

Temptation can be difficult, but it’s not impossible to overcome. i am reminded of 1 corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (ESV).

God is faithful,
and he will not let
you be tempted
beyond your
ability
Nothing is impossible with God or for
God. The moment you have a tempting
thought, turn to the lord. Find some-
one who can hold you accountable
and pray for you as needed. Talk to
God and figure out what caused the
temptation to come up. Once you have
that figured out, rebuke it and move on.

From personal experience, i have found that it is vital to always have one person you can talk to at any time of day, no matter what. Temptation is not something that you have to endure alone.

it can be extremely difficult to come out of temptations, so it’s way better to deal with it before you fall off the edge. But how does one do that? Just a few minutes ago, i was tempted to quit. i didn’t because the logical part of my brain told me not to.

But logic is not going to be in every situation. in fact, most temptations i’ve tried to deal with have not involved me using my logic. They have involved me falling into the hands of the enemy.