Does God Lead Us Into Temptation?

Does God lead us into temptation?

I can see why this might be a question for pondering, since in the Lord's prayer, we are taught to pray, "Lead us  not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil." Many translations say "deliver us from the evil one." Implicit in that prayer is that the evil one is the tempter--not God.

"When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed" (James 1:13-14). 

God does not tempt us. However all Christians can expect trials.

I asked the Lord about discerning the difference between trials and temptations, because these words are often used interchangeably in Christian dogma. What He impressed on my spirit is a simple way to discern the difference between a temptation and a "test" or "trial" of our faith.

Temptation always involves evil, or doing evil, and appeals to the lust of the flesh, the lust of eyes, the pride of life. I Jn 2:16

"For everything in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--comes not from the Father but from the  world,"  and  Jesus says the devil is the prince of this world (Jn 16: 11).

Temptation to sin leads downward. James 1: 15 says: "Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death."

A FAITH TRIAL always involves victory, moving closer to God, overcoming. Faith trials lead upward.

James 1: 13-14:

For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. ... because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

Always look at scripture for examples of tests or temptations.

Heb. 11: 17-19 says By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.

Abraham was specifically led (directed, spoken to) by God to offer up Isaac. A faith trial usually involves specific instructions from God. The devil didn't lead Abraham to offer Isaac. By that great act of faith in God's Word,  Abraham (often referred to as "Father Abraham" in New Test.) acted out a type of the Father offering up His only Son (Gen. 22:2). Isaac was the child of the promise, a supernaturally-birthed baby since the mother was past child bearing years, and therefore a type of Christ. (Note: God recognized Isaac, not Ishmael, as Abraham's only son).

Other Bible people who passed faith tests: Moses, Gideon, Jesus Who was led into the wilderness to do battle with Satan, Paul. Each of them had a specific task to perform and was specifically directed by God, not Satan, although Satan wanted to tempt them not to fulfill their FAITH assignments.

King David lost his battle with temptation when Bath Sheba bathed on the rooftop. But God didn't lead David to watch her. The resulting pregnancy tempted David to murder her husband, Uriah. The consequences also including the death of the child. Sin leads to death.

When the Lord leads His people, it is usually not by external circumstances (like accidents, illnesses, tragedies, etc.--that theology comes from the wrongly taught belief that God controls everything that happens to us. If that were so, how would we know when to resist the devil?)

God  desires to lead us by the internal spirit voice, which every born again man has within his own spirit.  We learn to hear His voice as we train our spirits to follow our Good Shepherd, Who says, "My sheep hear my voice."

I must admit, at times I'm better at this than at other times, especially if I let the cares of this world choke out the word.

Psalm 32: 8-9

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. 

Bible Hub

32:8-11 God teaches by his word, and guides with the secret intimations of his will. ....Proverbs 8:10,11 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge

I love the passage in I Kings. 19: God was not in the whirlwind, He was not in the earthquake, He was not in the fire, "Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still, small voice.¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave."

That still small voice rises up from your innermost being and You are led by God's counsel, always to do His will.

The tempter will always entice you to do the opposite.

What Should She Do? She Loves Him.

What Should She Do? She Loves Him.

What does a girl do when she's deeply in love with the guy, wrapped in his passionate embrace, and she doesn't dare risk losing him?

"If you love me you will," he says between kisses and promises of undying devotion.

The flesh answers yes.

She gives away her purity and expects him to keep those promises. She believes him because he actually meant them when he said them. He thought he did. But he wakes up now with a stain on his soul. He has violated the moral law of God. He may not realize it at once. Maybe never if his conscience has been seared over as with a hot iron by our culture's glaring lack of all moral responsibility. However, those people who allow him to do something wrong soon become people he just does not want to be around. He may not even realize it, but it's true.

We love people most who expect and require the best of us. Who lift us up to a higher standard and make us feel good about ourselves.

Soon he begins to take the girl for granted. And then to actually disrespect and dislike her, no matter how desperately she tries to please him. His passionate "love" turns to hate.

It's over. She realizes she has made a serious mistake.

She feels betrayed and sullied. There is a wound in her soul. Seeking to heal that wound, she moves on to the next guy. And the next.

So many young girls are looking for genuine love in all the wrong places. The wrong arms. They are created with this need for love and do not realize it is found only in the arms of their Creator. He has planned the best possible husband for them. It's not too late. She can turn to the Lord and truly find that her way is not leading to the good life she envisioned for herself. It is only in Jesus Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

The girl who has a sincere love for Jesus is protected by obedience when confronted with a guy's words, "If you love me you will." She answers, "If you love me, you would not ask me to do something that is clearly wrong in God's word."

He knows deep inside that she is right. He ends up respecting her for her convictions. He goes home and wakes the next morning with his own self respect intact. She has kept him from a transgression, a stain on his soul, whether he realizes it or not.

If he has any character at all, he realizes this is the kind of girl he wants to marry and cherish as his lifelong companion. The kind of girl who knows how to train up children in the way they should go.

The correct answer to anyone who pressures you to do something wrong or risk losing his or her companionship is: "If you really are my friend--pal, sister, brother, boyfriend, etc.--you would not ask me to do something that is wrong and against the Word of God."

You may lose that person, but the Lord has someone in your future who will bring you joy and not sorrow. Who will lift you up, not bring you down. And it's never too late to turn to Him. His tender mercy is new every morning. He will turn your mourning into dancing light and your sorrow to joy unspeakable and full of glory. He came to seek the lost and broken hearted and to heal all the wounds in their souls. He restores, ne-news, regenerates. A complete makeover from inside out. Who wouldn't want one of those!

Is There A Secret to Happiness?

Is There A Secret

To Happiness?

 

I stepped off the bathroom scale with a sigh of frustration. How was I going to conquer these unwanted pounds?

Bookstore employees say diet and self-help books are their biggest sellers. Many women are not happy with themselves. Inside, we secretly know this involves much more than just our outward appearance. Soon enough we discover that all efforts to change are not working. We fail ourselves.

If only we could discover the secret to happiness.

What if I told you I know where it is?

This is not just a make-over. You get a total transformation from the inside out.

Mine began when I had a desperate longing to become a mother. It took months of seeking, asking, knocking. I read God's word continually, learning that faith comes by hearing and hearing His Word. That makes perfect sense. How can you have faith in His word  if you don't know what He says?

I also found an amazing thing.

God talks!

Right away people put you in the category of "weird" when you say God speaks. Yet He speaks from Genesis through Revelation. How could He not speak to His own sheep who know His voice?

"When you seek me with your whole heart, you will find me" (Jer. 29:13). God who is spirit, spoke that verse to my inner spirit ear and I took it seriously. I was expecting to "find " that He would grant me a child. I found much more. I found a real and vital relationship with Jesus. Indescribable joy!

Wow. Now that God and I were on a first-name basis. Surely He would answer my prayer for a baby.

He spoke to me a second time in the form of a question. "Why don't you fast?" At first, I thought it was my imagination. Yet the question kept popping into my mind.  "Okay, if that's You, Lord I'll fast."

I went all day without food, then opened the fridge that evening. Hungry. What if it was only my imagination and I was going hungry for no real reason? I decided I had better ask the Lord before I took a single bite.

Being young in the Lord, I put out a fleece like Gideon did in Judges 6:36. "Lord show me a verse on fasting if this is really your instruction to me." I let my huge encyclopedic study Bible flop open. My eyes fell on the words: "And they sanctified a fast unto the Lord."

Whoa! Was that a coincidence? My stomach growled. I knew Gideon had put out his fleece twice, and I wanted certainty. "Lord, pardon me if I ask again." I let the book flop open once more. The verse was on fasting. I am embarrassed to say, I repeated this process a third time.

Confirmation? Oh yeah. I went to bed hungry but curiously satisfied.

God will confirm His Word when you seek Him, and as you get to know it better, He brings it to your recollection (John 14: 26). That's how He usually speaks. You will not need to put out a fleece.

The second day of my fast, God filled me with His glorious presence so powerfully that I knew I had touched His throne room. I experienced such fullness of joy, unspeakable and full of glory.

Raising my hands, I declared, "Father, I no longer care if I ever have a child. You are all I want and all I need in this world."

Right then, I learned to seek the Giver and not the gift. I laid my deepest desire on the altar with praises. Guess what? I got it back again. I now have two beautiful daughters and four grandchildren.

My transformation has been ongoing. God did what I could not do to change myself. My listening ear needs fine tuning every now and then, but my heart beats with passion to do His will.

Yes, there is a secret to happiness.  "Happy is the man (woman) who finds God's wisdom and gains understanding" (Proverbs 3:13). I have not been free from the trials and challenges of life, however I have learned to trust in Him. The joy of the Lord is my strength.

Oh yes, with His help, I have lost thirty pounds.

Harriett Ford is an award-winning member of Faithwriters, the author of six books listed on Amazon, a member of Kingdom Xperience, and an inspirational speaker. Contact her at harrietf@centurytel.net.

Does the Bible teach Soul Sleep?

Do our spirits sleep in the grave until the resurrection? 

Does the Bible teach soul sleep as many people believe based on a few passages which seem to indicate this. Actually Jesus used the term "sleeping" to describe only the body of a person who has died, such as Lazarus, and also the little 12-year-old girl He raised. 

Think of what He said when Elijah and Moses appeared with Him on the Mt. of transfiguration. God is not the God of the dead but of the living (Mark 12:27). Clearly they were not sleeping.  And Paul wrote that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). This illustrates that we are spirit-soul beings and only our flesh is mortal. (I Thess 5:23). 

Luke 16:22 "And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;"

Comments by Andrew Wommack on LUKE 16:19-31 follow: 

 Jesus clearly teaches that there is life after death. It shows that there is no "soul sleep" where our souls are awaiting the resurrection of our bodies, but we go into a conscious eternity immediately. It also shows that there are only two destinations possible after death. We either go to a place of torment for the wicked or a place of blessing for the righteous. There is no "limbo" or "purgatory" and there is no second chance, illustrating the finality of our eternal destiny once we die.

Abraham's bosom is a symbolic term designating a place of comfort for the righteous dead. It was located in the heart of the earth, in the same region as hell, where the ungodly dead go. The rich man's body was in the grave and yet this scripture speaks of him lifting up his eyes and seeing Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. Our soul mirrors our physical shape so closely that it is recognizable. It is probable that one's soulish body is an exact duplicate of their physical body.

Part of this man's torment was from the flames. However, he was also tormented by the thought of his loved ones' lives on earth and their eternal destiny. Surely his helplessness to warn them would make his misery worse.

Also, the fact that he could see Lazarus and Abraham in a place of total blessing and comfort would keep him from ever adjusting to his situation.

In the light of Jesus' words, we can see that hell will be much more than just a place of physical torment. Those who are consigned to that place will also be tormented with the thoughts of what could have been if they had trusted Jesus. The greatest witness that anyone could ever receive is the witness from God's Word. The gospel is the "power of God unto salvation".

Share the Word today.

Are you under an umbrella of curses?

I thought she had the victory and we would be rejoicing together in her healing and her travels with her friend.

Instead, I heard Sue crying once again on the phone, and it's true she has serious reason to feel betrayed.

This kind of thing happens way too often in her life. I love her and want this pattern to stop! She has been crying over various painful situations in her life for years, and while I do hurt for her, I want her to break out of this cycle. Sympathy from me is not the answer.

I have been seeking the Lord on this: He showed me through a very wise friend, the umbrella -principle which leads to victimization.

Some people can inadvertently keep themselves under a curse by having a victim mentality.

They see themselves as victims in almost every situation in life. It usually starts in childhood when they actually have been victims of abuse, neglect, parental dysfunction. They do not have much control over this. This umbrella brings a generational victimization curse which must be dealt with.  Deeply dealt with at the very roots.

When they grow up, they  still see themselves as victims, even when they become Christians. They do not learn that they don't have to be victims. They pray and worship, but they want God to be their Rescuer, perpetually. They do not learn how to get out of toxic situations.

They cry and complain about every wound in their souls, and yet they set themselves up for defeat time and time again by that very reaction of crying and complaining instead of singing praises.

They bring themselves  under the victim's curse by their associations.

Whoever you allow into your life brings an umbrella of curses or blessings.  This includes husband, family members,  especially those who are still living under the umbrella of generational curses ( such as a dependent brother or sister). The victim, Sue, supports or agrees with them and soon takes on their curses. Once again, she becomes a victim.

She can stop it by refusing the association. This must be done for her own spiritual and mental health. Mistaken charity can bring a curse. It is also not biblically correct to support a relative who chooses not to work. If a man does not work, let him not eat, said Paul.

Then there is another umbrella of curses or blessings in the work place. If an employer is honest, has integrity, kindness, etc. he will bring blessings. And the opposite is also true. I have seen this in effect in my own life to a startling degree.

The perpetual victim has a choice to make. She does not have to remain in toxic relationships. She does not have to allow the victim-wounds to remain in her soul. She can pull these out one at a time and ask the Lord to replace them with the good seed that brings forth the fruit of the spirit. She can continue to bless others and focus on being a blessing, rather than to focus on licking her wounds. That is the quickest way to heal soul wounds and defeat the curse.

It may take confessing to the Father and asking Him to forgive the victim mentality, because He says we are more than a conqueror through Christ, and if we don't see ourselves that way, and break off the old chains of bondage, we are not free.

You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free!!

Rejoice.

Love you with all my heart, faith, and soul,

Harriett

"You Must Curse God," she said

"You Must Curse God"

Children's laughter came from the wooden horse carousel and the Ferris wheel. Smells of popcorn and cotton candy filled the air.

Carney barkers enticed visitors to drop their hard-earned coins on side shows, ball tosses, games, and weird exhibits, including the Cherokee alligator wrestlers.

A young woman walked along the midway at the 1920s Arkansas state fair.

Caroline stopped at a curtained booth painted with the image of an exotic gypsy woman gazing into a crystal ball. Out of curiosity, she went inside, plunked down a coin and said, "Okay, tell my fortune."

The woman asked for her hand and studied the palm lines a few moments. Her eyes suddenly grew wide. With something like fear in her eyes, she said in a low voice, "I cannot tell your fortune. But you have the power to read the fortunes of others."

What power? What was this? Caroline puzzled. She asked, "What do I have to do?"

The gypsy woman spoke slowly and deliberately, a serious expression in her eyes, "You must curse God."

Caroline drew back. She answered, "I'm not going to curse God. Give me back my coin."

She left the booth and never looked back.

That young woman was my grandmother, who later married a cotton farmer and settled in eastern Oklahoma.

Upon hearing that bit of family history, I became curious in my adult years. Why couldn't the gypsy simply make up some kind of fortune and keep the coin? Why would she urge Caroline to curse God? Was there really some mysterious force at work here?

In my Bible, I soon found numerous scriptures warning people not to seek information about the future from any source but true prophets of God and His Holy Word. Why would God forbid this activity if it is harmless?

The desire to know one's future through oracles, astrologers, and people with "psychic gifts" goes back for thousands of years. All pagan nations have practiced it.

Following is a quote from Deuteronomy 18:9-13: “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire [human sacrifice], who practices divination [obtaining knowledge of the future through spiritualist practices, i.e. psychics] or sorcery, interprets omens [signs of activity of pagan gods, i.e. palm readers, astrology], engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead [séances and those who try to speak to the dead]. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God."

Galatians 5: 19-20 is just one of many scriptures repeating this same instruction.

I have an acquaintance, an author who was once a satanic priest. He is now an ordained evangelist who devotes his ministry to delivering people ensnared by these practices. "They are not harmless pass times or mere games," says Tim Thompson. More about Tim in another post.

How Do We Know It's God Speaking?

We hear people say it often. God told me this. God spoke to me. I have a word from the Lord. Sometimes we hear their claims with skepticism, simply because we know the person too well. Or we know that person did not hear from God because his "message" did not meet the standard of Truth in His Word.

How do we hear from the God of the Bible who so clearly spoke to Adam, to Noah, to Moses, to Abraham, to the Apostles of the New Testament? Did He stop speaking to individuals after the twelve died? Of course not.

God speaks to all people—to you and me. Jesus said, My sheep know my voice. Pastor Jack Hayford explains at least five ways to hear what He wants us to know.

First and foremost,

God speaks through the Scriptures and His Son Jesus, who is the incarnate Word and the true manna from heaven. Many a time, I have opened the Bible and found a word specific to my inquiry.

The Lord speaks through creation. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork" (Psalm 19:1). You can't look up into the night sky without something stirring in your heart that says, "God is mighty." You can't hold a baby in your arms without sensing the marvel of His creative dynamic.

God speaks to our heart. Our conscience "bears witness" (Romans 2:15). Everyone at some time or another, has sensed within themselves the rightness or wrongness of an action. People have an intuitive feeling there is Someone to whom, they are accountable.

God speaks through circumstances. By the very nature of circumstances we face in our lives—whether beautiful or frightening—there comes a revelation of our dependence upon God.

God speaks by His Voice. The conclusive revelation is in the Scriptures, but the Scriptures are filled with God speaking to people.

On that great day of Pentecost, the day the Church was born, Peter rises to preach and interprets what God had said 800 years earlier through the prophet Joel:

"And it shall come to pass in the last days," says God, "that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy." - Acts 2:17-18

God's goal in coming to work through human beings is to fill people with His Holy Spirit and enable them to prophesy. Still, we must always be careful to differentiate between what God has said in His Word, and whether there is a biblical basis to what a person shares as prophecy. The Spirit and the Word always agree.