A DOUBLE-MINDED PERSON
A double-minded person—one who believes the power is equally divided between God and Satan—is unstable in all his ways. That explains why "in time of temptation [some] fall away" (Luke 8:13). They fall back into fear and lose sight of God's mighty power.
Jesus taught us that we are to “watch and pray, that [we] enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41). The spirit of God in you yearns to teach you confidence in His power but the flesh seeks to give in to fear. I believe it was fear—not weariness—that put the disciples to sleep while Jesus prayed in the garden. They had just received the news that Jesus would be betrayed and delivered into the hands of sinful men, that Peter would become a traitor, and that they would all be offended and scattered. Suddenly, they forgot all His miracles, His mighty power to heal the sick and raise the dead, His power to multiply loaves and fishes. They were terrified of being abandoned by the Lord. They slept the sleep of doomed men. When Jesus asks us to pray that we not be led into temptation, He is actually saying, "Pray that you learn to trust God's power now, instead of having to go back again and again into the arena of temptation until the lesson is learned!"
The Bible says that God "knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations" (2 Peter 2:9). How? By putting us under fire until we come out singing, "Greater is he that is in [me], than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). Until we learn that, we overcome by faith alone!
You do not have to yield to temptation, but at times you may! Even the saintliest of God's people occasionally do. That is why God made special provisions for those who fail. "And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1).
Our Lord is not nearly as grieved by our yielding to temptation as He is by our not learning how to deal with it. He is more hurt by the fact we have not trusted His power to deliver. God is hurt not so much by what we do as He is by what we do not do. The overcoming Christian is one whose life confesses, "God has the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen!"
Jesus taught us that we are to “watch and pray, that [we] enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41). The spirit of God in you yearns to teach you confidence in His power but the flesh seeks to give in to fear. I believe it was fear—not weariness—that put the disciples to sleep while Jesus prayed in the garden. They had just received the news that Jesus would be betrayed and delivered into the hands of sinful men, that Peter would become a traitor, and that they would all be offended and scattered. Suddenly, they forgot all His miracles, His mighty power to heal the sick and raise the dead, His power to multiply loaves and fishes. They were terrified of being abandoned by the Lord. They slept the sleep of doomed men. When Jesus asks us to pray that we not be led into temptation, He is actually saying, "Pray that you learn to trust God's power now, instead of having to go back again and again into the arena of temptation until the lesson is learned!"
The Bible says that God "knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations" (2 Peter 2:9). How? By putting us under fire until we come out singing, "Greater is he that is in [me], than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). Until we learn that, we overcome by faith alone!
You do not have to yield to temptation, but at times you may! Even the saintliest of God's people occasionally do. That is why God made special provisions for those who fail. "And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1).
Our Lord is not nearly as grieved by our yielding to temptation as He is by our not learning how to deal with it. He is more hurt by the fact we have not trusted His power to deliver. God is hurt not so much by what we do as He is by what we do not do. The overcoming Christian is one whose life confesses, "God has the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen!"