Day 7 - Week 39 - 1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to humanity. God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it."

"God will provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it."

Temptations / Trials....do you view them differently?

Some time back this thought occurred to me:

• Satan tempts us with opportunities to sin, to rebel against God, causing a separation between us and God.
• God allows trials in our lives to give us opportunities to seek Him, to ask for His guidance and help, causing a deeper relationship between us and God.

James 1:13 tells us, "When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone."

Interestingly, the Greek word translated as tempted above carries with it dual meanings....

To try, make trial of, test: for the purpose of ascertaining his quantity, or what he thinks, or how he will behave himself in a good sense

In a bad sense, to test one maliciously, craftily to put to the proof his feelings or judgments

So, using the first definition, we could say that God temps us with opportunities to show good behavior, to seek Him, and to show our faithfulness to Him (see Genesis 22:1 where the KJV says that God tempted Abraham, while the NIV has chosen to translate as God tested Abraham).

Satan is the malicious tester, throwing opportunities at us aimed at our weaknesses, attempting to draw out of us our poor judgment and causing us to stumble into the pit of sin and separation.

God's trials are always filled with purpose for us.  They grow us and bring us into deeper relationship with Him.  But sometimes God will allow those trials to bear down on us until we are forced to admit to Him that we are powerless without His supernatural strength to bear up.  Just as Paul admitted in 2 Corinthians 1:8-10,

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.  Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us...

So whether a trial allowed by God, or a temptation thrown at us by Satan, we can bear up when we rely on our Father and look to Him for our sustenance.  In the middle of the trial, seek God and know that He is near, working everything to good on your behalf.  In the face of temptation, look for the light of God's escape, peeking through the chasm of the canyon that you have been entrapped in and squeeze your way out!

Both trials and temptations now can be viewed as opportunities for growth and, when we victoriously handle them, as ways to please our Father and show our faithfulness to Him.  Don't you know that, as only a Southern girl can state it, just "bugs the tar out of Satan" when we foil his rotten plans for our failure!

God is faithful and He is good - never doubt it - no matter where you are or what you are facing!

Day 6 - Week 39 - 1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to humanity. God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it."

Back again after spending a wonderful weekend in Oklahoma City with my two sisters, my daughter and my daughter-in-law.  We "shopped till we dropped", ate some really good food, and talked, talked, talked!  I think the only time we weren't talking was either when we were laughing or sleeping!  It is such a blessing to be able to spend times like this with people that you love so much!

Now - back to temptation - or rather, how not to fall into temptation.  I don't know about you, but for me every day brings with it times that give me the choice of succumbing to my human side or of living by the Spirit that resides within me.  Galatians 5:17 let's us know that this is a constant struggle between our two natures, "For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.^" Not all of these times are huge, monumental, life-changing moments...but they are important because every time I either make a choice to please or displease my Father. 

I am thinking of a moment last week at work when I lost my temper with a co-worker and replied with a very sharp reply that was not at all what should have come out of my mouth.  I can rationalize my reply with the fact that I was tired, it had been a stressful week, and it was somewhat deserved by the other person's statement...but all of that is just what I started out saying it was...rationalization.  The fact is that I, as a professed Christian, had a choice as to how to respond and I did not respond by the Spirit of God living in me.  My words were purely my words, and they weren't lovely, gentle or kind. 

Every day, with so many different situations, we have choices as to whether we will show the side of us that Satan is prompting us to exhibit, the side that is self-seeking and self-motivated or the side that God is always ready to empower in us through the light of His Spirit, the better way.  The way that exhibits the fruit of His Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

I have an apology to make---and I hope that the next time that I feel tempted to respond so quickly with harshness, I take just a split-second to ask God to provide to me His way, to put words in my mouth that will be both pleasing to Him, and more effective, than my sharp tongue provided. 

Temptations - all around us - big and small - but rather than looking at them as chances to fail, let's flip our perspective and see them as chances to please our Father by looking to Him for His provision.

Day 3 - Week 39 - 1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to humanity. God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it."

When I read this verse, the thought that comes to my weak mind is, "If God won't allow me to be tempted beyond what I am able to bear, then why have I so often fallen to temptation?"

Well, when I read the rest of the passage it becomes clear to me that the reason I have fallen is that I have not looked to God and asked Him to show me the escape hatch that He has already prepared for me to use as a means of bearing up under the temptation that I am facing.  I have either been too prideful, thinking that I was beyond tempting, so I rely on my own strength (and I fail), or  I have been too willful, thinking that in this particular situation given all of my life's conditions, that God's rules must be able to be bent for me (and I fail). 

What Paul is telling us that IF we look to God in the face of our temptations, He is always there waiting for us and ready to lead us right out of that place and we will not fail.  We will come through victorious and those kind of victories are the ones that build our confidence in our faith and the faithfulness of the Gd we serve.  Rather than regretting, we will be rejoicing. 

Day 2 - Week 39 - 1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it."

Again, my early morning schedule of this week and other time constraints force me to be brief.  So tonight, I want to share a passage from Robert J. Morgan's book, "100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart" regarding this week's verse.

Paul, a veteran missionary, struggled to remain disciplined in his life.  The Israelites, having experienced the most unique set of miracles in the Old Testament, stumbled.  However mature our Christian experience, we're not beyond the danger of those temptations common to everyone.  But God is faithful.  He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we're able to bear but will provide a way of escape.

The Greek term for 'a way of escape' was the word used for a passageway out of a canyon.  Sometimes people wandered into ravines and couldn't see any pathway out.  They thought they were trapped.  But if they looked hard enough, there was a goat path somewhere, a way out.

Our best escape route is intentionally staying close to Christ on a daily and hourly basis.  Having successfully resisted temptation Himself, He knows the way out of the canyon. 

Day 1 - Week 39 - A great promise for daily use!

Get ready for another great promise...but first, you know the drill...Tuesday review time!

The Gift of Prayer (3)

Hebrews 4:16 Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.

1 John 5:14   Now this is the confidence we have before Him, whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

1 John 5:15   And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.

The Gift of Assurance (10)

1 John 5:11 And this is the testimony:  God has given us eternal life and that life is in His Son.

1 John 5:12-13  The one who has the Son has life.  The one who doesn't have the Son of God, does not have life.  I say these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life.

John 14:1  Your heart must not be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me.

John 14:2  In my Father's house are many mansion, if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.

John 14:3  And if I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you unto Myself, so that where I am, you may be also.

John 14:6  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through Me.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you.  I do not give as the world gives.  Your heart must not be troubled or afraid.

Isaiah 26:3-4  You will keep in perfect peace the mind that is dependent on You, for it is trusting in You.  Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed . (KJV)

Isaiah 53:6  We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquities of us all.

Praise and Thanksgiving (4)

1 Peter 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  According to His great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Psalm 100:4  Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.  Give thanks to Him and praise His name. 

Psalm 100:5  For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Revelation 4:11  You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.


Promises of God (10)
Matthew 6:33  But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (ESV)
Romans 8:28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.
Jeremiah 29:11  "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
1 John 1:7  But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:9   If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Proverbs 3:-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  (NIV)

I've loved this past week's verse --- it has been a source of confidence for me this week, a week that has been hectic and sometimes hard to handle.  But in my heart, those words would spring forth and remind me that I have a God I can trust with every area of my life --- the parts that make sense to me, and the crazy, non-sensible, hard-to-get-my-hands around parts.  When I don't understand, He does.  When I don't see down the road, He does.  And I can trust Him to nudge me, and sometimes shove me, down the path that He is laying out for me when I acknowledge Him and surrender to His Spirit working within me.

Now tonight's promise!  A lengthy verse, but one that flows forward with an assurance that we will learn to lean on as each day offers so many ways to stray from God's good path....

1 Corinthians 10:13   No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity.  God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it.

Now isn't that a good follow up verse to Proverbs 3:5-6.  Not only does God have a great path laid out for us, but when things try to pull us off the path, He always gives us an escape route to avoid the pitfall and stay on course.  He is a good, good God!

Day 7 - Week 38 - Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths."

Some weeks it seems harder to completely trust God than others---I think I'm having one of those weeks!  I have so much to get done and so many commitments and at times I think, "I just can't do it!"

And then those words ring loudly in my head, especially the first one, that very loud, self-absorbed, "I"!  For whenever I set out to do all these things according to my plans in my way, I am always going to feel frazzled.  But when I say, "God, you see me struggling and you hear my cry...let me trust in You to sustain me, to direct my steps so that I use my time most efficiently and wisely.  Let me trust in You to show me which things I have to just let go of, or at least put off.  Let me trust in You to set my priorities in the proper order, not my faulty order.

In all my ways, let me acknowledge Your authority in my life, Lord.  And let me then rest and trust that You will enable me and give me the strength I need to accomplish all that I need to, but possibly not all that is laid before me.  For Your path is not burdensome and it is not a path that leads me to exhaustion!

Matthew 11:28-30  "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Day 6 - Week 38 - Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path."

Sometimes it is not easy discerning if the direction we are heading is truly God's will or rather if it is what we are desiring so much that we convince ourselves it is God's will.  I think when we find ourselves wanting something very much, then we have to really examine our decision to pursue that course of action closely and ask God to affirm to us that we are moving not only according to our desire, but truly according to His will.

For our wants are driven from our understanding, and just as this verse tells us, our understanding is not foolproof or the deciding force for us as believers.  Trusting in God with our whole hearts is what should guide our lives...allowing Him to move as He wills according to His timing.

Tonight I must be brief as I have a very early morning schedule tomorrow...but I am praying for me and for you that we will yield our lives to react only to the impulse of God's hand and to wait on Him...but when He does prompt us to act, that we have not a moment of hesitation in our response.  It's a sensitivity that comes through a close relationship with God, and one that we should all strive for and pray for. 

Lord, let me trust you completely, and keep me from moving on my own selfish desires.  Let me look for Your hand moving in my life and follow the path that You are laying out for me.  Thank You for loving me so much that you chart out the very best course for me to follow...keep my eyes and ears open so that I do not miss any part of the life that You have planned for me and the blessings that staying on Your course will bring.  In Jesus name, I pray...Amen.