My Journey 9/12 - 9/13/2010

God's insight to me:

This past week a friend of mine at his bible study said, "You can't prevent a flock of birds from flying over you head, but you can decide not to let any of them make a nest in your hair!" When I was reading these two devotionals by A. B. Simpson about temptation, that saying of his came to mind. See, even Jesus was tempted many years ago as being human on this earth. What He did was tell Satan to leave. Matthew 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, Go, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve." My friends we are to do the same. When you are being bombarded by the constant temptations of this world, tell Satan to flee. Stay firm in the Word! Stay true to our Lord and Savior.

Temptation

Very often throughout our days,
we are being tempted to do something bad.
It is most important when you are,
to just resist with all you have.

Don’t let even a single bad thought,
enter in your mind and then take hold.
Resist, resist with all your might,
for in the Bible that is what we are told.

Always keep Jesus as our example,
as tempted by Satan in the Bible we did read.
Though being human at that time many years ago,
Jesus told him it is written, flee from Me!

So as we go through our daily lives,
let’s stay focused on what is true.
Listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying,
and temptation won’t be able to affect you.

E. P. Shagott
9/13/2010


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9/12
Days of Heaven Upon Earth
A devotional by A. B. Simpson

"The furnace for gold; but the Lord trieth the hearts" (Prov. xvii. 3)

Remember that temptation is not sin unless it be accompanied with the consent of your will. There may seem to be even the inclination, and yet the real choice of your spirit is fixed immovably against it, and God regards it simply as a solicitation and credits you with an obedience all the more pleasing to Him, because the temptation was so strong.

We little know how evil can find access to a pure nature and seem to incorporate itself with our thoughts and feelings, while at the same time we resist and overcome it, and remain as pure as the sea-fowl that emerges from the water without a single drop remaining upon its burnished wing, or as the harp string, which may be struck by a rude or clumsy hand and gives forth a discordant sound, not from any defect of the harp, but because of the hand that touches it.

But let the Master hand play upon it, and it is a chord of melody and a note of exquisite delight.

"In nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to you an evident token of salvation and that of God."

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9/13
Days of Heaven Upon Earth
A devotional by A. B. Simpson


"Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you" (I. Peter xii. 16).

Most persons after a step of faith are looking for sunny skies and unruffled seas, and when they meet a storm and tempest they are filled with astonishment and perplexity.

But this is just what we must expect to meet if we have received anything of the Lord. The best token of His presence is the adversary's defiance, and the more real our blessing, the more certainly it will be challenged.

It is a good thing to go out looking for the worst, and if it comes we are not surprised; while if our path be smooth and our way be unopposed, it is all the more delightful, because it comes as a glad surprise.

But let us quite understand what we mean by temptation. You, especially, who have stepped out with the assurance that you have died to self and sin, may be greatly amazed to find yourself assailed with a tempest of thoughts and feelings that seem to come wholly from within and you will be impelled to say, "Why, I thought I was dead, but I seem to be alive." This, beloved, is the time to remember that temptation, the instigation, is not sin, but only of the evil one.