Temptation - part 3

Okay, so my response to the confession tip was, I am not doing that. Are you kidding me? What would I say? What would they think? Who would I even tell anyway? Then God dropped me a name of who I could confide in. I realized confession is the key to breaking the power of sin. It's power is broken when exposed to the light. If I have the means to break the power of the temptation the keeps seizing me why wouldn't I take it. I had to look at the bigger picture. This is not for me but for God and His glory. God will get the glory by another one of His believers getting victory and passing that on to another struggling brother or sister. They overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Revelation 12:11

Does doing these things mean we will defeat temptation once and for all? Never to face any temptation again. Unfortunately no. As long as we are living on this Earth we will have temptations in some form or another. With these tools we can learn how to keep them from controlling us. The closer we walk with Christ the less enticing these things will be. Some of these you will get complete victory over. Others will teach you how to continuously lean on the Lord and remind you that you need God.

So why do these temptations come to us? We could have put ourselves in that situation. It's also possible we're being sifted.(as Simon was in Luke)

At the Last Supper Jesus told Simon, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.” Luke 22:31-32

Jesus is for us! The next thing Jesus tells Simon is when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. We are more effective in ministering to others when we can relate to what they are going through. Going through temptations and trials can help you assist others who go through the same things. Because He (Jesus) himself suffered when he was tempted , he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 2:18 Sometimes we have a tendency to try to hide or cover up the hard or painful things we go through for fear of others judging us. Instead we need to speak up, help and encourage others.

On the flip side if your the person someone confides in don't judge them. We are all in this together. We are all vulnerable to something. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 We need to take the opportunities to bring our brothers and sisters in Christ closer to him and bringing those who don't know Jesus to His saving grace.

So instead of worrying about what others will think we should switch our thinking to breaking the power of sin in our life and to strengthening our brothers and sisters. If your story will save a soul or someone from straying...what is better then that. Remember this: whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. James 5:20 One thing we can do on Earth that we can't do in heaven is tell others about the gospel. Take every opportunity to do so.

To wrap this up I'd like to share with you a human video that was going aroung the internet about 4 yrs ago.  It's a great picture of what I've been talking about.