MANAGING MENTAL HEALTH

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Mental Health as a state of well-being in which every individual can carry out four roles: -

a.     Realize his/her potentials

b.     Cope with normal stress of life

c.      Work productivity

d.     Participate meaningfully in the community. It also includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being.

It is important to note that the bible does not explicitly speak on the topic of mental health. However, it does have a lot to say about the heart, mind and the condition of the soul. Health is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a complete state of physical. mental and social well-being. It is not just the absence of disease or infirmity. Mental health is important as it affects the whole being. (Proverbs 4:23).

In contrast, it is a psychological disorder affecting one’s mood, thinking and behaviour. The term mental illness covers a broad range of disorders from mild depression to schizophrenia – a condition that impairs a person’s ability to think, feel, process and respond to life situations in an appropriate way. Mental illness can distort our view of God and others and as well contribute to sinful behaviour.

There are some cases of emotional issues in the bible such as

a.     Depression. 1 kings 19:1-4

b.     Loneliness. 1 kings 19;10

c.      Hopelessness. 1 kings 17: 9-12

d.     Suicide Matthew 27:5

e.     Rejection. 1 Samuel 18:7-8

f.       Insanity Mark 5:1-5

CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS

It is the desire of God for believers to live a peaceful and fulfilled life (Genesis 25:8; Jeremiah 29:11). However, there are some believers who are not operating in this realm of God’s intention for them. This may be as a result of some of these factors; -

a.     Childhood abuse          Proverbs 17;22b

b.     Trauma/neglect             2 Samuel13:19

c.      Loneliness                       1 Kings 19:10

d.     Discrimination/oppression    James 2:6

e.     Poverty                              Proverbs 10:15

f.       Loss of loved ones         2 Samuel 18:33  

g.     Debts                                   Proverbs 22:7

h.     Low self-esteem               Numbers 13:33

i.        Severe stress                     1 Samuel 30:4,6

j.        Family difficulties/challenges Genesis 34:30 etc. Also in some cases, spiritual forces have a direct effect on mental health 1Samuel 16:14; Mark 5:1-5.

To overcome mental ill-health and enjoy emotional well-being, you must understand that

1.       Failure and challenges are part of human life Proverbs 24:16

2.      Investing in good social network and godly relationship are important 2 Samuel 9:1

3.     Loneliness and isolation which are risk factors for depression and suicidal behaviour should be avoided. Proverbs 17:22

4.     Good sleep helps the brain restore itself. Proverbs 3;24

5.     Regular exercise expunges toxic chemicals from the body. 1 timothy 4:8

6.     Drug abuse is not an option for good health

7.     Healthy thoughts are necessary always. Philippians 4:8.

Conclusively, good mental health is necessary for good daily living. Therefore, take care of your health.

God bless you.

Source: The Redeemed Christian Church of God Sunday School Manual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't You Believe in Miracles?

Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.

I find that hugely helpful because it tells us that miracles are not merely a random display of God’s power. Every miracle has a purpose. Think of it this way:

When God works a miracle, he’s not just doing something. He’s also saying something.

Sometimes we focus on the amazing thing that happens without considering what message it is intended to convey. But miracles in the Bible never happen without a context. When God works a miracle, he is using the “small letters” of the miracle to help us understand the same message that is “written across the whole world.” When we read a miracle story in the Bible, we ought to ask, “What is God saying to us through this amazing event?”

That leads me to make these two observations:

 

1) The Bible is filled with miracle stories.

2) But they do not happen routinely or predictably.

We read of amazing miracles in the time of Moses when he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. We read of more miracles during the days of Elijah and Elisha. We read of amazing things that happened during the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we read of other miracles in the book of Acts.

That’s one side of the story. The other side is that you can read page after page after page in the Bible without running into any miracles at all. It’s not as if miracles were an everyday occurrence even in Bible times. They did not happen routinely or predictably. That is, the blind man in John 9 had no way of knowing when he got up that morning that he was about to regain his sight. Ditto for the lame man in Acts 3. As a general rule, those who received miracles in the Bible had no advance notice.

“I Pray for a Miracle Everyday”

It is right at this point that we come to the core issue regarding miracles. You can’t read the Bible without running into miracles, but they don’t happen all the time, and you can’t predict in advance when they will happen. That fact ought to us help us as we think about miracles today. In one of his books, William F. Buckley quotes British author Evelyn Waugh who said, “God does work miracles, but it is presumptuous to anticipate them.”

“Don’t you believe in Miracles?” Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. We believe in miracles! Always the answer is yes. And we pray and fervently believe and hope and trust and wait for miracles to occur. But we understand that God works according to his own will, and that we cannot anticipate miracles even as we pray and wait and hope for them.

I have a friend who serves on the staff of a large church. He has been at the church for almost twenty years. Because of his longevity, and because of his quiet, godly, gentle demeanor, he is beloved by all who know him. Shortly after he was married, his wife was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Her condition deteriorated to the point that she has been bed-ridden for many years. Although my friend has served on the church staff for a long time, many of the people in the church have never seen his wife because she has been unable to attend a service for many years. My friend rarely speaks about the burden he carries. At night he gets up every two hours to turn his wife so she won’t get bed sores. The sadness he feels must be enormous, but you would not know it to listen to him. Somehow he has found great joy in the Lord in the midst of his own personal sorrow, and those who know him cannot doubt his deep love for the Lord and for his wife. A few months ago, during a tour of the Holy Land, a place where you feel very close to the miracles of the Bible, my friend said regarding his wife: “I pray for a miracle every day.”

No one questions the power of God to work amazing miracles today. He’s God. He can break into our world any time he chooses to do things that we cannot explain. It’s not God’s power that is at issue. And it’s not our belief in miracles–past or present. The issue rests at a much deeper level–with the sovereign plan of God for our lives. The question is not, do we believe in miracles? But what kind of miracles do we believe in? And what kind of God do we believe in? Sometimes our understanding of how God works is much too narrow.

Here is another way to say it.

 Miracles are not about us.

Miracles are about God.

That’s where the story in 1 Kings 17 becomes so helpful. And so challenging. Of all the sorrows of life I know of no sorrow greater than the death of a child. This is nothing that seems more unnatural. Parents are not supposed to bury their children. It is the privilege and the honor of children to bury their parents. It is not supposed to be the other way around. The death of a child is like a period before the end of the sentence.

Your Starting Point Matters

I have learned that where you start makes all the difference in thinking about sickness, suffering and death. If you start with the accident or with the sickness or with death itself, you will never come to the right answer. I know many people whose faith has been badly shaken and even destroyed by the tragedies of life. I know that feeling myself. If you start at the tragedy and try to reason your way back to God, you won’t make it. You’ll fall off the ladder somewhere. None of us is smart enough to reason from a tragedy back to God. If you start with yourself, you’ll end with yourself, and you won’t be any better off.

The only hope is to start at the other end, with what we know to be true about God. The theologians call this the First Principles. In the time of trouble, start with God. Ponder his character. Meditate on his attributes. Think about who God is.

God is holy.

God is righteous.

God is just.

God is gracious.

God is merciful.

God is love.

God is all-knowing.

God is all-wise.

God is present everywhere.

His ways are perfect.

His plans are beyond finding out.

He works all things together for our good and his glory.

He loved us so much that he sent his Son to die for us.

He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell us.

He forgives our sin through the blood of Jesus.

He seals us with the Holy Spirit.

He fills us with the Spirit.

He promises to conform us to the image of his Son.

He will never leave us.

He disciplines us when we stray.

He loves us with an everlasting love.

His plans for us are good.

He makes no mistakes.

Make a list like that. Write it down. Say it aloud. Repeat it in prayer. Tattoo the truth on your grieving heart. Start with what you know to be true about God. If you remember who he is and why he sent his Son to the earth, and his wisdom, power, goodness and love, if you start there, you can slowly make your way back to the tragedy itself. I have walked that road myself many times. This is not some sort of magic trick that will make the pain go away (it won’t) or answer all your questions (it won’t do that either), but starting with God provides the only possible framework for answering the questions we all have.

We need a God so big, so great, so powerful, so wise, so vast, so eternal, that he can encompass the sudden death of one of his children. Some people talk as if the tragedies of life are accidents in the universe. As if God turned his head away and something bad happened while God wasn’t looking. As if God tried to stop it but couldn’t. A God like that is no God at all. I cannot worship an impotent, puny, manmade God who abdicates the throne of the universe and leaves us alone in our despair. That is not the God of the Bible.

And that brings us to the story of the death of the widow’s son in 1 Kings 17:17-24. Of all the episodes in the life of Elijah, this is probably the most troublesome. In our text Elijah lays himself out over the body of a dead child and the boy comes back to life. And it’s not exactly like the story of the resurrection of our Lord on Easter Sunday morning, which is surrounded by angels and a sense of glorious triumph. It doesn’t even carry with it the same feel of Jesus crying out, “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:43). Because this story is so unusual, some people have discounted it as being a myth. They see it as a kind of folk story, almost like a fairy tale. Some liberal scholars suggest that either the boy wasn’t really dead or that it never really happened at all.Before we examine this passage, I want you to know that I firmly believe exactly what the Bible says. I think the widow’s son died, Elijah stretched himself over the boy’s body and prayed, God heard his prayer, and the boy’s life returned to him. But I also acknowledge the emotional difficulties because it raises questions we don’t often talk about. If God does this some of the time, why doesn’t he do this all the time? That is an enormous question, but I don’t know how you can deal with the story without coming to grips with some of the great mysteries of God in his mercy and sovereignty, what God does and what God doesn’t do. We’ll look at that in just a moment.

Let’s focus on three parts of the story:

1) A Sudden Sorrow

“After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” (vv. 17-18).

Note carefully the first two words, “After this.” The Hebrew literally says, “After these things it happened.” That’s a powerful statement about God’s sovereignty. Whatever else you want to say about this unforgettable episode, don’t call it an accident. The child didn’t get sick by chance, and he didn’t die by chance. His sickness and his death were both part of the sovereign plan of God.

There are so many mysteries about why God does what he does. I’m reminded of the words of Tony Evans who said, “Everything in the universe is either caused by God or allowed by God, and there is no third category.” That’s a hugely important statement. So many times we look at heartbreaking tragedy, and we want to invent a third category called, “Bad things that just happened for no reason.” But there is no such category. When the text says that it came about that the child grew ill, it’s the writer’s way of saying that what happened to this young boy was not an accident. It was not chance. It was not fate. God was present in the home when that boy died.

The timing of all this deserves our attention. The boy gets sick after many weeks and months of miraculous provision by God. After many months of the flour and the oil never running out (1 Kings 17:8-16), suddenly the boy gets sick and dies. Why does it happen that way? We walk with the Lord and we do the best we can, and one day the phone call comes that changes life forever. Or we get a report from the doctor with bad news. Or our children get into terrible trouble. Or our marriage falls apart. Why do these things happen?

It is very easy for us to become complacent in the midst of the blessings of God. We secretly begin to think, “Everything’s okay now; I’ve got life all wired up. My marriage is good and my kids are doing well and my job is good and life is good and I love my church. Everything in my life is exactly where I want it to be.” If that happens to be your situation at this moment, don’t feel bad about that. If your life is like that, you ought to enjoy it and be profoundly grateful to God. But know these two things for certain:

 

1) You don’t deserve these blessings.

2) They won’t last forever.

They never do. Soon enough the clouds will move in and the rain begins to fall. You shouldn’t live in fear, but you ought to be wise enough to know that after sunrise comes sundown, and after high noon comes the darkness of midnight. So it is for all of us sooner or later.

After the time of God’s blessing, disaster strikes. We don’t know why the child got sick. It almost seems like a contradiction. There was the testing, then the blessing, and then the sorrow comes. It seems like it ought to be reversed around somehow, like it ought to be sorrow and then testing and then blessing. But that’s not how God works. It’s more often this way:

Testing

Blessing

Sorrow

It is so easy to be lulled into false thinking. “Ah, we made it through the hard times. It’s going to be smooth sailing from here on out.” But that usually is not God’s design for us.

It’s good for us to remember this as we approach Thanksgiving. If this year your family is gathered round your table and everyone is doing well and everyone is happy, if as you celebrate, you have no problems to speak of, rejoice and give thanks. But don’t take your blessings for granted. Enjoy them, but do not presume they will last forever.

2) A Powerful Prayer

“And he said to her, ’Give me your son.’ And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. And he cried to the LORD, ’O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?’ Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the LORD, ’O LORD my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’ And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, ’See, your son lives’” (vv. 19-23).

As I read the text, a question comes to mind that I cannot answer. When the child first became ill, where was Elijah? Was he there and did he pray for the boy? I assume the answer is yes, but the Bible doesn’t tell us. I have a further question. When the child died, why did Elijah do what he did? Here’s my answer.He got involved because he saw God in everything, including all the sorrows of life. I find his response very instructive when the mother accuses him of coming to her house just to kill her son.

 Number one: He doesn’t get angry.

Number two: He doesn’t try to explain why her son died.

Number three: He doesn’t argue with her.

Number four: He doesn’t make any excuses.

There is no easy way to explain what happens next. Elijah lays down on top of the body of the child. Foot to foot. Leg to leg. Chest to chest. Arm to arm. Hand to hand. Face to face. He does it not once, not twice, but three times. No one really knows exactly why he laid down even once, much less why he did it twice or three times. Perhaps Elijah understood that to do anything for this boy he was going to have to get very personally involved. As a side note, since the boy was dead, he was now unclean under Jewish law. It was wrong for a prophet of God to touch a dead body, but extreme cases call for extreme measures. And so by lying down on the body of the child, it is as if he is saying “Oh Lord, take some of the life from within me and give it to this boy.” He prayed for a miracle because he believed in a power greater than death.

3) A Joyful Testimony

We come now to the end of this amazing story. Seeing that her son has come back to life, the grateful mother declares to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth” (v. 24). The Bible doesn’t record that she said, “Thank you,” though surely she did. It’s not recorded here because that’s not the point. Her words explain the miracle, and they also explain why not every mother receives this miracle when a child is sick to the point of death. The miracle happens to authenticate Elijah as God’s anointed prophet. God had promised to sustain all three of them–mother, son and Elijah–until the rains came and the drought ended (v. 14). On the basis on that promise, Elijah believed that God would bring the boy back to life. Strange as it may sound, the miracle is less about the boy and more about God’s power working through Elijah. It is a miracle of sovereign grace, given this one time in Elijah’s life and never again given during his ministry. God answered this prayer bythis man in this way at this particular moment in time. And he did it for his own purposes. There is no other way to understand the story. This is a lesson about the Sovereign of the universe moving in a miraculous way in answer to the prophet’s fervent prayers.

Here are two Scriptures to meditate on. The first comes from Isaiah 53:10 in the New American Standard Bible: “But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief.” Isaiah is speaking of the Father’s decision to put his Son to death on the cross for the sins of the world. Think about what that says. Not just that the Father sent his Son to die or that he allowed his Son to die. It is much stronger than that. In ways that we cannot fathom, it pleased the Lord to allow his Son to suffer and die. How can any father be pleased to crush his own son? I cannot imagine it. Parents do all they can to protect their children. But our Father was pleased (for the sake of our salvation) to crush his own Son. That tells us that God’s ways and our ways are not the same, and we cannot judge him by human standards. The second verse is Psalm 115:3, “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him” (NIV). This means that God does what he wants and no one can stop him. Here we come up against the bedrock of God himself. He is great and powerful beyond our imagining. All that he does is right, even those things we do not understand.

And that brings me back to the original question:

Don’t you believe in Miracles? Yes!

Do you believe God can work miracles today? Yes!

Should we pray for miracles? Yes!

I think of my friend who said, “I pray for a miracle every day.” And I remember the words of Evelyn Waugh: “Miracles do happen. But it is presumptuous to anticipate them.”

Another Kind of Miracle

We can’t boss God around. As a friend said on Sunday, “God’s God.” That’s right. He’s God and we’re not. He’s in charge of the universe, and he does what seems best to him. You can fight against him if you want to, but you’ll lose every time because your arms are too short to box with God.

Let’s return to the story of Greg Hatteberg for a moment. When that well-meaning but misguided man predicted that Lisa would be healed of MS that very day, Greg seemed unconvinced so the man said, “Don’t you believe in miracles?” Here was Greg’s answer:

I believe with all my heart that God can heal Lisa. I pray that when I come home Lisa runs out to greet me. If she does, you will be the first one I’ll call so we can praise God together. But if when I go home, Lisa is sitting in her reclining chair and says, “Did the seminar go well?” I just want you to know that another miracle happened today–the miracle of God’s sustaining grace keeping her close to him for another day.

That strikes me as exactly the right biblical balance. We are fully justified in asking God to work miracles on behalf of our loved ones. I can think of some friends in desperate situations who need some miracles at this very moment. But God doesn’t limit himself to our understanding of what our loved ones need most. He is fully able to do spectacular miracles today just as he did in Bible times. But more often he gives strength to the weary and courage to the fainting and hope to those who feel like giving up. Greg and Lisa Hatteberg are living proof that God’s miracles come in more than one variety, a truth they experience every day.

I am writing these words on the day before Thanksgiving. If your heart is filled with joy because your life is free from trouble, rejoice and give thanks to God. You need not feel guilty if at this moment your problems are small and your blessings are large. But if you are in the 99% of the human race to whom those words do not apply, keep these truths in mind.

God still loves you.

He has not forgotten you.

He knows what he is doing in your life.

He loved you enough to give his Son to die for you.

He is with you even when you do not sense his presence.

Keep Believing. Never give up.

When you count your blessings this year, remember to give thanks that we serve a God who is bigger than all our unanswered questions.

Do you need a miracle today? Or do you seek a miracle on behalf of someone you love? You need not feel bashful about asking your Heavenly Father for what you believe you truly need. Pray and believe, and then leave the matter in God’s hands.

Trust in the Lord with full confidence, remembering this truth:

Miracles aren’t about us.

Miracles are about God.

Let God be God and all will be well. Amen.

Teresa Alzamora Haskett

Teresa Alzamora Haskett

An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and he turned
to her and said, "Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike
up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total
stranger, "What would you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know," said the atheist. "How about why there is no God,
or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?" as he smiled smugly.

"Okay," she said. "Those could be interesting topics but let me ask
you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same
stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns
out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?"

The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence,
thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea." To which
the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss
God, Heaven and Hell, or life after death, when you don't know shit?"

And then she went back to reading her book.

Hell; the place of torment!

MOST UGLY MUSIC EVER!!! (A must read PLEASE) This is the most UGLY and frightening song you will  ever hear! In a vision, I saw a naked man covered in flaming worms that cannot Die! He turned to me and heaved a deep sigh as flames surrounded him and he sung this song in an emotionless voice! A voice that held NO emotion only the pain and torment he was in! Here are a few lyrics from the song: Flaming worms crawl in, laming worms crawl out in the belly button and out the mouth! In the front and out the rear! In the eyes and out the ears! 

We cream for mercy yet NO one cares or hears! Red hot pain in my blood rivers of feces, lava, vomit and blood it looks like a flood! Flames everywhere yet they cast NO light! All I have is every kind of pain, terror, torture and fright! I am a Citizen in HELL! This is the first level of HELL the other levels there are NO words to tell! Hell is so hot it boils the flesh off my skin how do I describe the HELLISH pain I'm in! I'm so thirsty yet I 've not even urine or tears to drink! And OH my GOD how this HELL stinks! AHHHH, I am a Citizen in HELL! There's NO water of any kind not even sweat to cool my brow, I know from Hell I will never be set free and demons curse and mock me! I scream to God to help me! Yet He does NOT hear! Instead the voice of Satan laughs and jeers! HaAa!

There's NO GOD and there's NO mercy here! I have torture, terror, and Damnation and every kind of FEAR!
But there's NO GOD HERE! Hahaha!" I am reminded how God in his mercy gave JESUS, His Only Son to suffer
crucifixion for my sins and on a cross he hung! Just so from HELL I would be free and Satan would have no
claim on me! But I refused JESUS blood to cover my sins. I wanted to live my own life so I denied Him! I know I have no one to blame now forever I 'll live in Satan's evil domain with every kind of torture and shame! Wanting to die but forgetting there is no death, thinking it will be better tomorrow but forgetting I have FOREVER left! 

This is what its like to be a CITIZEN IN HELL!!! Where the Horror is so gruesome! NO tongue can tell!  Everyone who is coming here will have to dig to their own level before they die! And that is how deep your sins are piled up high! But beware the greatest of all sins is the REJECTION OF JESUS CHRIST! One torture room to the next what seems like your worst nightmare is ONLY satan at his BEST! This is what its like to be a CITIZEN IN HELL!!!!! - Sherrie Elijah Flaming WORMS that looked like Snakes! were crawling in and OUT of EVERY OPENING OF HIS BODY! His EYES, EARS,NOSE, FRONT, REAR, I repeat EVERY OPENING! without getting graphically gross here! The screams yet echo in my mind as I am writing this down! The rich man in the bible who went to HELL told God if he would just send a man back from HELL to warn others his brothers of the torment in Hell they would not want to come there, they would live differently! But God said even if he sent someone back from HELL, few would listen and take the warning seriously! Few would believe! In this end time how many has the LORD allowed to see Heaven and Hell to be brought back to life to tell of the Horror!

So many people die everything, and majority are trooping in to hell. Your friends and family members who died without Christ, or who lived sinful and worldly Christian life, are singing the same ugly songs in hell now; you will never see them again if only you also do not go to hell. If you are reading this article before the Rapture, it means you have the chance and choice to make in order to avoid hell, but it all depends on you. Jesus only is the way to save from going to hell; if you have not surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, you urgently need to do that now. If you claim to be a Christian but still living in sin, you need to rededicate your life to Jesus before it is too late. And if you have dedicated your life to Jesus, but living a worldly life of modern Christianity, hiding your sins, rising and falling into sin or ignoring to do necessary restitution, then you are also at the danger of hell. Until you surrender all to Jesus Christ, ALL! Are you ready to rededicate your life to Jesus now and start a new life?
The repent! Confess all your sins, ready to forsake them all and ask Jesus to forgive, cleanse you and save you.

Dealing with temptations

TEXT: GENESIS 3:1-13

INTRODUCTION

 The serpent, Satan, tempted Eve by getting her to doubt God’s goodness. He implied that God was strict, stingy, and selfish for not wanting Eve to share his knowledge of good and evil. Satan made Eve forget all that God had given her and instead focus on the one thing she couldn’t have. We fall into trouble, too, when we dwell on the few things we don’t have rather than on the countless things God has given us. The next time you are feeling sorry for yourself and thinking about what you don’t have, consider all you do have and thank God. Then your doubts won’t lead you into sin. Note that sin always begins either by questioning God’s word, or God’s goodness.

A. TEMPTATION OFTEN HITS HARDEST IN OUR AREAS OF WEAKNESS (1 KINGS 11:1-10).

For all his wisdom, Solomon had some weak spots. He could not say no to compromise or to lustful desires. Whether he married to strengthen political alliances or to gain personal pleasure, these foreign wives led him into idolatry. You may have strong faith, but you also have weak spots-and that is where temptation usually strikes. Strengthen and protect your weaker areas, because a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If Solomon, the wisest man, could fall, so can you.

TEMPTATION CAN STRIKE ANY AREA OF LIFE (MATTHEW 4:1-11).

The devil focused on three crucial areas when he tempted Jesus: (1) physical needs and desires, (2) possessions and power, and (3) pride (see 1 John 2:15-16 for a similar list). But Jesus did not give in. Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus “faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin.” He knows first hand what we are experiencing, and he is willing and able to help us in our struggles. When you are tempted, turn to him for strength.                                                

B. HOW CAN WE RESIST TEMPTATION?

 RESISTANCE BEGINS WITH BEING AWARE OF TEMPTATION WHEN IT STRIKES.

How could Eve have resisted temptation? By following the same guidelines we can follow. First, we must realize that temptation in itself is not a sin. We do not sin until we give in to the temptation. To resist temptation, we must (1) pray for strength to resist, (2) run, sometimes literally, and (3) say no when confronted with what we know      is wrong. James 1:12 tells of the blessings and rewards for those who don’t give in when tempted.

RESIST IMMEDIATELY; ANY DELAY MAKES IT MORE DIFFICULT (2 SAMUEL 11:2).
As David looked from the roof of the palace, he saw a beautiful woman bathing, and he was filled with lust. David should have left the roof and fled the temptation. Instead, he entertained the temptation by inquiring about Bathsheba. The results were devastating.
DO NOT BE SURPRISED BY TEMPTATION AT UNLIKELY TIMES AND IN UNLIKELY PLACES (MATTHEW 4:1-11).
Jesus wasn’t tempted inside the temple, or at his baptism, but in the desert where he was tired, alone, and hungry, and thus most vulnerable. The devil often tempts us when we are most vulnerable-when we are under physical or emotional stress (for example, when we are alone, tired weighing big decision, or faced with uncertainty). But he also likes to tempt us through our strengths, where we are most susceptible to pride. We must guard at all times against his attacks.

HAVE A PLAN FOR RESISTING TEMPTATION.

To flee temptation, (1) ask God in earnest prayer to help you stay away from people, places, and situations that may tempt you. (2) Memorize and meditate on portion of scripture that combat your specific weakness. At the root of most temptation is a real need or desire that God can fill, but we must trust in his timing. (3) Find another believer with whom you openly share your struggles, and call this person for help when temptation strikes.
Discuss some ways that believers may expose themselves to temptation.
MEMORY VERSE: Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his lust, and enticed (Jam.1:14).