Avoiding Temptations

 God knows that we are susceptible to all kinds of temptations. We are tempted by the world, the flesh, and the devil. Of course, we can stand strong in our faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit and resist these temptations, but some of us are weaker spiritually than others. That is why God warns us to stay away from those things which will tempt us to sin, in addition to growing strong in our faith in Him. This two-fold plan will help us remain faithful to the Lord, as we should. We see this in God's instructions to the Israelites when they were about to enter the land of Canaan. He knew they were still very weak spiritually, and they did not have the Holy Spirit living inside of each one of them like we do as believers today. (Numbers 33:52) Therefore, God commanded them to drive all of the people out of the land. Also, He commanded them to destroy all of their carved and molten images, as well as demolishing all their pagan shrines. God gave these instructions to help His people, and we can learn from them today, too.

Each of us needs to take a spiritual inventory of our life. We need to be totally honest with ourselves and with the Lord. We need to ask God to show us how we are doing in our spiritual growth, to show us our strengths and our weaknesses. Then, we need to pray for God to show us what we need to stay away from to avoid the temptations that tend to defeat us. When He shows us, we should do everything necessary to obey Him. That means we should avoid TV shows, and Internet sites that would tempt us. It means we should avoid places that lead us into wrong behavior of any kind. Then, we need to study the Bible, asking the Lord to show us what we need to do to become more and more like Jesus. He was tempted in every way we are tempted today, but He never sinned. He will give us power and guidance from the Holy Spirit, as we seek to be pure and holy before Him and others.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Numbers 34-36.