How to deal with Temptation.

Luke 4:1-14 (KJV).

"1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:
10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:
11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: "

People find that there are three ways of dealing with temptation, the first action is to simply not bother, because they have decided to do what they want to do when they require to do it. They in fact are following the way the animals behave, they need something, say food and they go out and obtain the food by what ever method is required. An animal eats and sleeps when it wants to, propagates when it wants to, self-gratification and self-preservation is how they live. Unfortunately, this is how some people live and treat their desires and requirements. They are not bothered by any idea of temptation.
The second way of dealing with temptation is to fight it, but they do this using their own strength. We can see from the above verses that we are in a fight with a very powerful, but a created by God, like us, the Devil whose name is Satan. He was prepared to tempted Jesus the Son of God so he will soon deal with you.
The final method is to fight temptation using the power of God through Jesus Christ our Saviour, then anyone will be successful.

We have an enemy.

" And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
2 Being forty days tempted of the devil."

Satan was prepared to tempt Jesus so he would be very pleased to harm us and tempt us to turn away from God. His plan is to harm anyone who has turned to the Lord for salvation, he will use any method that he can to make you fall. You may think that you are fully in control, living a life pleasing to God but he is very subtile and will attempt to hurt you and your fellowship with God at any opportunity.
I must point out that Satan is not bothered by your failures, your not important. Satan’s real war is with God, Satan knows that by getting at a Believer and hurting them, then because they love God and have a close relationship with Him through His love, then Satan knows that he is also hurting God in some way.

There can be very few, if any, who have not failed when being tempted, however, in most cases we benefit from the event, the experience humbles us and makes us turn more to the Lord. There are not many Christians who can say they are living a victorious life everyday, I have to point out that if you are living a life totally free of temptation it is possible that you are full of the power of Jesus, wonderful, but it could also mean that Satan does not consider that you are a threat to him and so is not bothering to tempt you to hurt God.

The possibility of temptation.

In the above bible verses we must note that Jesus was not just tempted for just a short few minutes but for forty days, and not just one temptation, but temptations which would be very strange for us to be exposed too. In addition, His human physical body was under great pressure, not having been able to eat and drink for sometime.
Because of these facts we can see that Jesus was an example on how to resist temptations. We should study how Jesus came head to head with the Devil and how He came out of this wilderness victorious. We should pray that God through the Holy Spirit is able to write the thoughts upon your heart and so enable a victorious life in God.
1 Corinthians 10:12-13 (KJV).

"12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. "

Temptation can come to anyone.

The fact that you have accepted the gift of salvation through Jesus does not mean you are safe from temptation, by being a true believer you are more likely to suffer as Satan would love to make you fail and so hurt our loving God. If the Devil was prepared to take on the Son of God, then you will be an easy target, you are definitely not immune, Jesus was tempted.

Note the warnings in the above verses, 1 Cor. 109:12, (KJV) "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Some "proud" Christians may actually challenge the Devil to tempt them, God has warned us not to be so silly. However, the verse goes on and tells us that God knows all about the fact and will only allow what He knows we can tolerate and will supply the way to overcome.
Hebrews 4:15 (KJV)

"15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. "

Do not think that there is something wrong with your faith if you have temptations, this means that you are in collision with the Devil and not God, temptation will come to any Believer.

Temptation can come at any time.

" And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,"
Jesus had just started His ministry and had just revealed himself to the people when he was baptized by John the Baptist
Matthew 3:13-17 (KJV).

"13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. "

God had just glorified His Son Jesus and now Jesus must suffer terrible testing by temptation. Many believers have had their greatest temptation following a wonderful spiritual blessing. As they praise God, in comes the Devil to counter-attack. It can come at any time, when heaven is revealing its glory, hell will attack.

Moses: Exodus 14:1FF. Exodus 15:22 (KJV).

" So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water."

The people had just seen the power of God and the Red Sea, now they did not like the situation, no water.

Moses: Numbers 11:10-15 (KJV).

"10 Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased.
11 And Moses said unto the LORD, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?
12 Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?
13 Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.
14 I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.
15 And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness. "

Moses wants God to kill him.

Elijah:- 1 Kings chapters 18 and 19.

Elijah had defeated 460 Baal prophets and called fire from Heaven, then runs from evil Jezebel.

There are many others, for example, David and Bethsheba, Jonah and Nineveh. All these people had great spiritual experiences but then responded to temptation.

Temptation can come in any place and location.

The Bible passage tells us that Jesus was in the wilderness at the time of the temptation so we can be in any location and situation when Satan attacks, he does not care where it happens, in some cases he may use the situation as part of the temptation. There is no way that you can isolate yourself from temptation, you may think that you are safe in a Church or with a group of Believer and say, "this place is so "holy," Satan will not attack here.," That is definitely not right., Satan will attack anywhere he thinks he can hurt us and God. There are many church workers who have known severe temptation.

Temptation can occur in any place, at any time and to anyone - BEWARE.

The wonderful fact is that Jesus was tempted "in all points like as we are" and therefore knows our weaknesses because He has also experienced it as a human.

There are three main points of attack by Satan,
1 John 2:15-17 (KJV)

"15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. "

1) Lust of the flesh.

The sin we use our bodies for. Our flesh is not evil, it is us who can use it for both good and evil actions.

Physical acts like food, possessions, sex, drink, leasure, violence. All of these involve our bodies and can be for good or evil.

How did Jesus deal with it?

"Turn these stones into bread." Jesus was physically hungary, He had the power, but was being tested as a man.

"It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."

Nothing wrong in desiring and eating bread or food, but Jesus must not put His desires above the will of God. Jesus was being tempted according to the Will of God, His human body and desires must go through a testing for us.

The lust of the eyes.

This lust deals with "Having." You "look" and "desire" and it will cover any subject or any interest. This action can be a sin against your personality, your soul.

How did Jesus deal with it?

"5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. -
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. "

"8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. "

What an offer as Jesus would not need to die and suffer on the cross in our place as planned by God.

The pride of life.

To be someone, have power, position, authority, be famous, have respect. It deals with who we are.

It is not wrong to have these situations, possessions are not wrong. But consider 1 Timothy 6:7-10

"7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness."

What are the most important objectives in your life? There is nothing wrong with desiring or having money, possessions or position, the problem comes when they take over your desires and the way you live.

Is God the centre of your life or your desires of "position and things."?

If you are part of the family of God through the blood of Jesus and yet God is not the centre of your life. Then Satan is winning, you are not worshipping God.
Are there any activities or possessions which you would not be willing to give up? Then Satan is winning.

The wrong use of Temptation.

The last stage of the temptation of Jesus is in verses 9 to 12.

"9 And Satan brought Jesus to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:
10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:
11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. "

Satan is telling Jesus that if Jesus made a very visible entrance into His ministry the people will flock to follow Him. "Throw yourself off the highest point of the temple, God has promised to protect and save you, His angels will safely put you on the ground alive."

The people will make you somebody and famous, they will follow your teaching and so on. Pride again, - you are tempting God to keep His promise!!!

The Answer to Temptation.

What method did Jesus use to beat Satan? The answer is found in Luke 3:22 (KJV).

"22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. "

Why was God the Father so pleased with His Son? John 8:29 (KJV).

"29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. "

"I do always those things that please him." I am submitting to the Will of God.
Now look at our own life and have to ask, "Do you live a life pleasing to God?" Does God say about you, " He, she is my beloved son, beloved daughter in whom I am really pleased?"
Note that in Luke 4:1 (KJV).

"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, "

Jesus did not win the battle with Satan as God, which He was, but as a man full of the Spirit of God. That’s our example on how to win against temptation.
1 John 4:4 (KJV).

"4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."

The final thoughts, Jesus was able to beat Satan, He used the Word of God, "It is said in the Word of God!!!"

1 John 2:12-17 (KJV).

"12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. "