Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from the group Mercy Me singing … Even If … poignantly and powerfully declaring the reality of life tempting and testing us to trust in God’s faithfulness and willingness to lead us thru and away from the temptations of life.
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Highlight Verse[s]: James 1:14-15 [NLT] …
4 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. 15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
… The bold/underlined word, in the Greek, is”peirasmo” a verb form of the root word, “peirasmos,” which can mean being “tested” or “tempted,” and when it is used as above, it means being lured into Satan’s grasp rather than the other context when God tests us to help us grow closer to Him.
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Highlight Passage [context]: James 1:5-6, 12-15 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus’ brother helps us, as Christians, to realize the nature of temptation.
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Reference Passage #1 [NLT] : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NKJV] …
5 Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding. 6 In ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.
… Trusting God’s desire to lead us in His will/ways is the answer to dealing with the lure of temptation.
Reference Passage #2 [NLT] : … Matthew 26:38-41 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus trying to help His disciples learn about the nature of temptation so that they’d be able to resist its lure.
Reference Passage #3 [NLT] : … 1st Corinthians 10:13 [NLT] …
13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.
… Paul helping Christians realize God’s promise to faithfully be with us and show us the way clear of temptation, luring us toward sin.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Linda Washington, related a personal story to illustrate that, as Christians, we are often tempted and tested by the circumstances of life. The ODB author wrote: In the summer of 2016, my niece convinced me to play Pokémon Go—a game played on a smartphone, using the phone’s camera. The object of the game is to capture little creatures called Pokémon. When one appears in the game, a red and white ball also appears on the phone’s screen. To capture a Pokémon, the player has to flick the ball toward it with the movement of a finger. Pokémon are more easily caught, however, by using a lure to attract them.
The Pokemon story is a good word picture of how life can lure us (i.e., tempt us) into following the wrong leads in life, … i.e, those which can lead us right into the clutches of satan using our human desires. Personally, I’ve always liked the word picture of what a fisherman (like Satan) uses to lure a fish to its death (see photo). But both illustrations show that we, in our human state, can be lured by the world and our flesh toward death producing sin.
But no matter what the lure of temptation from our flesh or Satan … or from the testing of God’s Spirit to help us grow in Christ, … God is ALWAYS faithful to draw the Christian closer to Himself (see 1Cor. 10:13). But we have to be willing to humbly receive His enabling grace to overcome the temptations of life.
So, take in today’s song and the promises from God in the Scriptures above and know that Jesus will always be there to lead us to Himself … IF … we but choose to trust Him and follow Him.
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Help us all to avoid the lures of Satan and to trust that You are leading us to Yourself. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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