What is your secret for overcoming temptation?

I believe HOW we overcome temptation determines success and failure. I would like to suggest that there is only way we can truly overcome temptation - by turning to Jesus moment by moment, especially during the heat of the battle.

It is equally important to understand that we cannot resist temptation by choosing not to sin. Focusing on not sinning is one of the main ways the Devil deceives us. If we make not sinning our primary goal then not sinning is our focus and sin is our god. We become like what or who we behold.

Due to the fall of mankind we no longer possess the ability to choose behaviour. All we have is the ability to choose relationship. If we do not choose a relationship with Jesus, we choose Satan by default, and we sin automatically (in one way or another).

However, if we choose Jesus then He will supply the behaviour necessary to, not only overcome temptation, but also to reproduce His character. In the heat of temptation we are incapable, nor are we wise enough, to choose the appropriate behaviour, thus we must trust Jesus to provide us with the correct response. There are a million good responses, but only one is the best way, and only Jesus knows which one is the right one.

Neither can we make righteousness our goal. When tempted, we must not focus on the correct behaviour, that's another one of Satan's deceptions. If we make right doing our primary goal then doing good is our focus and righteousness is our god.

We cannot resist and overcome temptation by focusing on righteous behaviour. Again, all we can do to resist sin is to make Jesus our one and only goal and focus, then He will empower us with the appropriate thoughts and feelings during the heat of the battle. Righteousness is a gift, it's not something we can generate by focusing on it.

But what thinkest thou?

Hi Mike. I thought that I would share a text that I happened to read today that I found interesting. I am comtemplating how it might fit into this topic of overcoming.

Prov. 16:3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

I would be happy for any input on this verse. I suspect that we would have to do more than say "I commit what I do today to you Lord... Amen" Anyone have any thought's or experiences pertaining to this verse???

Blessings
Forever His

Here is another one.

Pro 3:6
"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

Claim the promises, That is the victory that overcomes the world.

2 Cor 10
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

This Scripture seems to suggest that every thought will be in harmony with Jesus when obedience is fulfilled. This tells me that when we cease from sin our thoughts will be pure and holy. Which is not to say that our sinful flesh nature stops generating and communicating unholy thoughts and feelings we must resist in Jesus.

Hey Mike that reminds me of this verse. 2Cor 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

And of course a favorite of mine....

All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us. {DA 668.3}

Blessings
Forever His

Christ's Object Lessons, page 360, paragraph 2
Let a living faith run like threads of gold through the performance of even the smallest duties. Then all the daily work will promote Christian growth. There will be a continual looking unto Jesus. Love for Him will give vital force to everything that is undertaken. Thus through the right use of our talents, we may link ourselves by a golden chain to the higher world. This is true sanctification; for sanctification consists in the cheerful performance of daily duties in perfect obedience to the will of God.

Manuscript Releases Volume Twelve, page 215, paragraph 2
Spiritual life means full obedience to God. He who has this life possesses a knowledge of heavenly things, and with this knowledge there comes continual sanctification to God. The whole being is conformed to His will. There is a capacity to receive more and still more. There is a greater and still greater desire to obtain the knowledge that is from God. Intellectual attainments will surely be the result. As we gain Bible knowledge, it is as if we were eating of the leaves of the tree of life. Duties and privileges are perceived with the keenest relish. There comes an experimental knowledge of the pardoning love of God. There is peace and purity, conflict and victory. The heart is filled with love to God and man.

The Acts of the Apostles, page 560, paragraph 3
Sanctification is not the work of a moment, an hour, a day, but of a lifetime. It is not gained by a happy flight of feeling, but is the result of constantly dying to sin, and constantly living for Christ. Wrongs cannot be righted nor reformations wrought in the character by feeble, intermittent efforts. It is only by long, persevering effort, sore discipline, and stern conflict, that we shall overcome. We know not one day how strong will be our conflict the next. So long as Satan reigns, we shall have self to subdue, besetting sins to overcome; so long as life shall last, there will be no stopping place, no point which we can reach and say, I have fully attained. Sanctification is the result of lifelong obedience.

Faith and Works, page 100, paragraph 1
But while God can be just, and yet justify the sinner through the merits of Christ, no man can cover his soul with the garments of Christ's righteousness while practicing known sins or neglecting known duties. God requires the entire surrender of the heart, before justification can take place; and in order for man to retain justification, there must be continual obedience, through active, living faith that works by love and purifies the soul.

"When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience." DA 668.

In light of the above complimenting quotes it is difficult to image "continual obedience" meaning anything other than continual obedience. If we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, as Jesus knew Him, I believe our life will be free of moral defects of character.

I can't imagine it meaning that we are full of unknown and unconquered moral defects of character.

What do you think?

Here is an amazing thought...

Divine Experiments.

The Lord Jesus is making experiments on human hearts through the exhibition of His mercy and abundant grace. He is effecting transformations so amazing that Satan, with all his triumphant boasting, with all his confederacy of evil united against God and the laws of His government, stands viewing them as a fortress impregnable to his sophistries and delusions. They are to him an incomprehensible mystery. The angels of God, seraphim and cherubim, the powers commissioned to cooperate with human agencies, look on with astonishment and joy, that fallen men, once children of wrath, are through the training of Christ developing characters after the divine similitude, to be sons and daughters of God, to act an important part in the occupations and pleasures of heaven. {TM 18.1}

Phil. 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

I choose to be...
Forever His

[ September 14, 2002, 12:49 AM: Message edited by: Forever His ]

So Daryl... would not "continual obedience" be the same as saying "continual surrender" ???

Forever His