Life Capsule for Today Date 11th August, 2022
Theme: Overcoming Temptation (5)
Text: Matt 6:13
13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. NKJV
Topic: How to overcome temptation (A)
Today’s Reading: Prov 3:5-7
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.KJV
Words of the Ministry:
Still on the matter of overcoming temptation, today I would like to highlight some of the provisions God has made available for the saints to ensure we live a victorious life. In it not God’s will that we fall in sin every now and then just as parents don’t desire their children fall at every attempt of walking, it is expected that as we grow in the natural life, we master our walk within our environment, our feet should get firm and strong, we don’t say, I have a first aid box, I can administer treatment whenever my child falls, so it is with our spiritual walk, the blood of Jesus is the treatment for every fall into temptation but it is not a thing of joy to live a life of rising and falling over and over.
The first provision I like to comment on is the cross, the cross is the instrument of our death, and our victory, for every believer, our journey started at the cross, where we were crucified with Christ (Gal 2.20), our old nature of sin died and the bible teaches that the old man was crucified (Gal 5.24). The flesh is the nature of man inherited from Adam that expresses itself independent of God. The crucified flesh atimes tries to raise its ugly head to act again hence we are still putting on the fallen body we inherited from Adam, little wonder Jesus instructs all believers to take up their cross and follow him, we must remind ourselves that I have been crucified with Christ, my life now belongs to him. That mean we must deny the flesh whenever it tries to raise its head, we must remind him of the cross, we must take advantage of this testimony to overcome temptation which is but promptings of the flesh from the devil
We can relate with this from our experiences, the devil suggests to an individual to inflate the price of an article (temptation), he then tell him the beauty of having the extra fund, the flesh here this too and begins to imagine what it would be like having a larger account balance, buy a new car, stay in a better apartment or even have enough money to get his dream girl. So we must exercise our will to enjoy victory as we not have complete control because Christ lives in us, I like how it was captured in Rom 6:11-14 “11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. KJV
The second provision I like to comment on is the word. The bible encourages us to do two things without ceasing namely prayer and meditation on the word, we see the Apostles also giving themselves to prayer and word study. The temptation of Jesus that we looked at two days ago was a victory from the word. What the devil fears as an offensive weapon is the word (Eph 6.17), unfortunately, many have downplayed the word, there us much emphasis on prayer but not worded prayer. The word of God is to renew our mind, our mind being the battle center of our being, temptation happens in the mind and the defense system that must be in place is the word, when the devil comes suggesting, we are to counter it with the word.
The apostle in Rom 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” For us to present our bodies which was previously transmuted to sinful flesh to God as a living sacrifice, we are to renew our minds and through this we would prove or live out the acceptable will of God. A daily dose of the word is a natural immune booster against sin, it doesn’t matter how little the verses are, we must learn to read and meditate to gain mastery over the flesh and the tempter in our mind as the weapon of our warfare are nor carnal (2 Cor 10.4). Joshua was told not to let the word depart out of his mouth (Josh 1.8), unfortunately we do the opposite, the verse means not to go telling people rather meditate on the word in your mind so that the word would have root and grow to bear much fruit then you would have good success which is a testimony and can then be shared but instead of doing just that, we go telling people without meditating on it and just like the parable of Jesus in Mathew 13, we lost the seed and by this it departs from our mouth without bearing fruit, may God grant us light.
Bible in One Year: Isiah 52-27
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