Walk by the Spirit

Have you ever felt powerless before your sin... like the temptation to sin was just too strong for you to fight alone? Or, have there been times when you didn’t even feel like fighting temptation? I know I've felt that way. What we need is an ally in our fight against sin. We need someone who is stronger than us and who is stronger than sin to help us defeat the power of sin in our lives. And that's exactly what God gives us in the Holy Spirit.

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Listen to what God promised to do for His people in Ezekiel 36:27 God says, 

“I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” 

God promised that when He put His Spirit in us the Spirit would move us to follow His decrees and keep His laws. God’s Spirit helps you want to obey God! 

We see the same thing in Galatians 5:16-17. ‌‌There the Apostle Paul says....

‌"Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want."

The Holy Spirit in you is in conflict with your sinful flesh and its temptations. It fights against your sinful desires. If you are a believer, then you are not fighting temptation alone any more. You have an ally. Before you got saved all you knew was the pull of temptation. You were drug around by your flesh like a dog on a leash and you weren’t strong enough to fight against it. But now, there is a tug of war inside you. The Spirit in you pulls against the flesh and helps you desire what is right.

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But the Spirit doesn’t just help you desire rightly, it also gives you the power to fight sin. Never forget that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside you and helps you fight sin. You have God’s eternal, limitless power helping you say no to sin. That’s why 1 Corinthians 10:13 can say 

"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."

No temptation is too strong for you, because you have God’s resurrection power on your side. You can say no to temptation. ‌‌You can win the war against sin in your life. But first you must learn to walk by the Spirit as Galatians 5:16 urges. If you are a believer, then you should live every day with an awareness of the Spirit’s presence in you. You should obey not only God’s Word but also the promptings of His Spirit in you. When the Spirit convicts you of sin, be quick to repent. When the Spirit prompts you to do some good thing, be quick to obey Him. When you are tempted to sin, don’t fight it alone but ask the Spirit for help. Ask Him to help you say no to temptation. Ask Him to change your desires. The Spirit’s presence and power should be a major part of your everyday walk with the Lord.

Asleep on Delilah's Lap

After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

Judges 16:19

When the Philistines realized that they could not defeat Samson by military force, they tried a different tact. Instead of attacking Samson head on, they seduced him. He had fallen in love with a Philistine woman from the Valley of Sorek named Delilah. So, the Philistine lords offered her a great sum of money to find out the secret of Samson's strength so they could overpower him. 

It turned out that Samson was strong but not wise. The man who was impervious to soldiers and to lions was only too foolish and vulnerable before this beautiful woman. In the end, Samson told his worst enemy exactly how to defeat him, then laid his head on her lap and fell asleep. All along the Philistines had been hiding in the shadows, plotting against Samson and waiting for their moment to strike. It was only once that great lion of a man had been turned into a lapdog by Delilah that they came out of the shadows and attacked him directly. 

It seems to me that the church in America is very much like Samson sleeping on Delilah's lap. We have not been subject to overt attacks and persecution like many of our brothers and sisters around the world, but our enemy has been hard at work trying to seduce us. Everyday you are bombarded with an intentional, strategic campaign to deceive and seduce you away from God and toward worldliness. It's in the TV shows and movies you watch, the music you listen to, the news sites you follow on the internet, and the social media posts and marketing campaigns you drink in everywhere we go. You are surrounded by temptation to sin and by crafty lies designed to make you doubt truth and reject God and His way. 

Yes, I fear that we have fallen asleep on Delilah's lap, and that at any moment our enemy could step out of the shadows and attack. So, I say to you what I would say to Samson. Wake up! And save yourself before it is too late! Open your eyes to the lies and temptation and seduction all around you. Get your head off of Delilah's lap, and arm yourself for the enemy is upon you and attack is imminent. 

Tested and Tried

Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them... They were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses. 

Judges 3:1a & 4, 

We live in a world of temptation! And it seems like temptation is always becoming more easily accessible to us. Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which we are currently in, some pornography providers decided to offer their service for free to those under quarantine. As though developing an addiction to pornography would help people out. Yes, there is temptation all around us, and isn't just sexual temptation. There is greed for riches. There's fame and longing after the approval of men. There's hatred and the incessant temptation to blame your problems on some other group of people. There are temptations to violence and theft and lying and living only for yourself. 

These temptations surround us and there is nowhere on this green earth we can go to flee from them. I know because the monks tried. They retreated into lonely wastelands to avoid temptation, but it didn't work. Recently, I read the story of St. Benedict who was so overtaken by lust in his desert hideaway that he stripped off his clothes and ran naked into thorn bushes to combat temptation. 

We must accept that temptation is unavoidable in this world. But have you ever stopped to ask why? Certainly, some of it is a result of the Fall, but even before the Fall God chose to place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. Why? 

Scripture tells us that God often tests His people (Genesis 22:1-19, Exodus 16:4, Deuteronomy 8:2). Now if you think of this testing like a kind of entrapment then you understand it wrongly. The word for "test" in the passage above can mean to prove something. In other words, what God is doing when He tests us is to bring out and prove what is truly in our hearts. He isn't tricking us or tripping us up. He is proving who we really are. And in our struggle against the temptation of the world every single one of us have heard the message Daniel interpreted for King Belshazzar off the writing on the wall. "You have been weighed on the scales (tested) and found wanting" (Daniel 5:27) We all fail the test. We all prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that what is in our hearts is wickedness and lust and greed and selfishness. 

What are we to do then? When our actions leave no doubt at all what is in us? We can either try to hide our true nature or we can drag it into the light and confess it before God asking for His forgiveness and grace. This is what the believer does over and over again. This is what I hope you will do. If you'll do this, Scripture promises that God will change you and give you a new heart. And as God transforms you more and more into His image you will win more and more victories over temptation. But you must be careful to never grow too comfortable. All of us still live in the flesh and none of us are beyond failing the test. So turn to God and ask for strength and help to pass whatever tests He will place in your path today.

Don't Fall Asleep in Delilah's Lap

When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

Judges 16:18-19

Samson's life wasn't an easy one. He lived during a time when Israel was oppressed by the Philistines. He constantly found himself in opposition to and in conflict with his oppressors. Of course, some of the difficulties he experienced were of his own making, but it was a hard life still. Unfortunately, Samson made matters worse by seeking comfort in all the wrong places. First, he sought comfort food in the wrong place when he turned aside to eat honey from a lion's carcass in Judges 14. But it's in chapter 16 that Samson's bad habit reaches its zenith. At the beginning of the chapter he seeks comfort in the arms of a prostitute. It nearly cost him his life. The rest of the chapter is dedicated to the worst mistake of Samson's life... seeking comfort and love from a woman named Delilah. What the Philistines were never able to take from Samson by sword, military strategy or might this woman stole by deception, manipulation and persistent nagging. And where was this strong man, this greatest of warriors when Delilah delivered the fatal blow that robbed him of his strength? He was curled up sleeping comfortably in her lap, lulled into a false sense of security as his life was betrayed for money. 

Learn a lesson from Samson. He sought comfort in the arms of the enemy. He gave her his heart. He listened to her lies and deceptions. Don't do the same! 

Believer, you have an Enemy. He is a master of deception, a dealer in the finest comforts this world has to offer, and he is currently working patiently and persistently to lull you into a false sense of security. He would have you curl up comfortably and fall asleep in his velvet-covered bear trap before he springs it on you. He will manipulate and deceive you. Be on your guard! Don't fall asleep in Delilah's lap!

All of us have tasted the forbidden fruit in one way or another and it has made fools of us all. We have sought comfort in alcohol, drugs, pornography, money, sex outside of marriage, or the approval of men only to have them be our downfall. Don't repeat your mistakes! The comforts this world offers have nothing for you. Don't be deceived. There is no rest for you in the things the Lord calls sin. Find comfort and rest in Him alone. Let the Lord be your refuge and strength. He alone is your source of every good thing in this world. 

I Will Not Be Driven Away

The arrogant mock me unmercifully, but I do not turn from your law.

Psalm 119:51

Do you know that Satan has a strategy to keep you away from God's Word? He wants you to ignore it, to leave it sitting on the shelf. He wants you to reject it, to walk away from it and choose to live your life on your own terms. And if you must persist in reading it, then he wants you to misunderstand the Bible and misapply it to your life. 

Consider the strategies the enemy employs in the Bible. The first time Satan attacked and tempted a human what did he say? Genesis 3:1- "Did God really say?" He starts by casting doubt on God's sure word. And the second thing he said was a direct contradiction of God's word. "You will not certainly die" (Genesis 3:4). First, he cast doubt on God's Word, then he called God Himself a liar. 

Consider one more example. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness the second of his three temptations was built upon a quote of Scripture. Satan actually quoted Scripture at Jesus trying to trick Him into sinning. He tried to confuse Jesus, to make Him think that God's Word said He should do what Satan was tempting Him to do. Of course, considering that Jesus Himself is the Word and the greatest revelation of who God is, Satan failed.

What strategies is the enemy using to try to keep you away from the Bible right now? For the psalmist it was mocking. Even in our world today, people line up to deride and mock those who openly believe God's Word is without error and to be taken as 100% true. In response to those who verbally abuse him the psalmist says, "...but I do not turn from your law." You can almost hear the psalmist cry out with determination, "I will not be driven away from God's good word!"

He refuses to be driven away because he knows that God's word is 

• Full of wonderful things- Psalm 119:18 & 129
• The source of life- Psalm 119:25 & 93
• Better than silver or gold- Psalm 119:72 & 127
• Eternal- Psalm 119:89
• Wisdom- Psalm 119:98-99
• Understanding- Psalm 119:130 & 169
• True- Psalm 119:151 & 160
• Peace- Psalm 119:165

So join with me in saying "I will not be driven away from God's Word!" Not by my busy schedule, or by force of habit, or by my sinful addictions, and certainly not by the mocking ridicule of naysayers. I believe that God's Word is true and good, so I will persevere in reading it and prayerfully applying it to my life. Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible is dedicated to sing the praises of God's good word. Dedicate your life to studying that Word, living by it, and giving glory to God for it. So what's the best way to start doing that today? Read it!