Ever feel like you’re in a losing fight with temptation?

Even if you’re not a follower of Jesus, you know the temptation to do what you don’t want to do and not do what you want to do. From cheating on your taxes to cheating on your diet, temptation is a universal experience. And the problem with your victory (or failure) over temptation yesterday is that it does little to help you with today’s battle.

But Jesus’ description of the inner-workings of temptation give you and I a powerful insight on how to get better at fighting temptation.

Cake included.

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No 30-minute sermons. No five-dollar words. No hard sell. I just do my best to let Jesus speak for Himself so you can respond for yourself.

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I’m a husband. I’m a father through adoption and foster care. I’m also a pastor of a church. My life mission is to “do whatever it takes so as many as possible can see Jesus”. This channel is one of the ways I live that out. <br> <h3>Auto Generated Captions</h3>

so take a look at this this is it
birthday cake for my daughter’s birthday
yesterday these are my running shoes so
I can work out I want to do this I need
to do this a couple videos ago I made a
video on what Jesus says about
quarantine and we looked at this time
where Jesus was you know in the desert
for forty days being tested and there
seems to be this connection between a
time of isolation and a time of testing
and so I thought let’s go ahead and make
a video on what Jesus says about
temptation and how to fight temptation
that maybe can be helpful for you and me
as we you know go through our own social
isolation but first I got a workout
you’re in my basement because you know
the gyms are closed
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so you might not agree with Jesus’s idea
of sin and that’s fine but you do
understand this idea and doing something
you don’t want to do or not doing
something you do want to do and this
idea being tempted for Jesus he grew up
reciting Jewish Scriptures and the
Scriptures talk about like God leading
us in paths of righteousness or meeting
us in the way everlasting and so this
idea of temptation or sin is this idea
of stepping away from what God wants so
that’s what Jesus is talking about when
he talks about temptation and there’s a
couple concepts that we can actually
apply here first I need to catch my
breath take a quick shower no write this
up okay all done
so the night that Jesus is betrayed and
arrested and all that kind of stuff he’s
with his disciples in a garden and he
tells them and he knows his arrest is
coming and so he tells them to watch and
pray so that you will not fall into
temptation and here again we see this
idea that temptation leads us away from
the path of righteousness in the way of
everlasting life but what’s so
interesting is that he tells them to
pray because the Spirit is willing but
the flesh is weak and right here we see
three things that we need to keep in
mind when we’re trying to fight
temptation and I’ve got a little
demonstration here I’ll do for you so
first Jesus says that there is the power
of your flesh like this is like your
body or your flesh that’s not a bad
thing and Jewish thought your flesh is a
good thing that your body was made by
God and your body was made with
appetites and those can be a good thing
like you have the appetite to eat that’s
a good thing but the problem with your
appetites is there’s no regulator on
them when our appetites rule us that’s
when things become destructive and so
like suddenly a good appetite like
eating or sex or sleep all of a sudden
we can be given into those things and we
have no control over them basically your
flesh is like pac-man it’s just like
more and more and more and more but then
Jesus says there’s also another power at
work it’s your willpower and this is
like what you want to do this is your
desires but the problem is is that your
willpower is weaker than your flesh and
this is why you do things that you don’t
want to
do and don’t do things that you do want
to do because your willpower is less
than your flesh is power so Jesus’s
solution to this is to go ahead and pray
and at first it seems really simple but
now think about what’s happening when
you pray you’re actively involving your
body and doing something that you want
to do and so like you’re now channeling
your flesh is power towards your
willpower and suddenly your willpower
becomes greater than your flesh is power
but it’s not just your effort Jesus says
that when you pray you tap into God’s
power for what you want to do and all of
a sudden you have a power outside of
yourself to do what you want to do and
so Jesus tells his disciples to pray to
ask for God’s power to give their will
power over your flesh and the same thing
is for true for you and I when we’re
trying to fight temptation pray and ask
for God’s power to give your will power
over your flesh and remember when you
pray to not just silently think your
careers but to actually physically
engage your body and and move your lips
and make a sound and say something like
God give me strength to and then fill in
the blank for whatever it is that you
need at that moment and I get it this is
so easy to dismiss but listen if it
worked for Jesus then you might as well
give it a try and there’s way more I
could say obviously but that’s what
Jesus says about temptation it’s time to
respond for yourself how do you react to
what Jesus says here and then also do
you have anything that you do to help
you fight temptation maybe it’s a you
know accountability or journaling or
whatever what is it that you do to fight
temptation and go ahead and leave it in
the comments below and I’d love to see
we have to say there thanks so much and
we’ll see you soon
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I earned it
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