Temptation Two

Rick Warren, in his book The Purpose Driven Life, says that "temptation follows a four-step process, which Satan used both on Adam and Eve and on Jesus." Then he goes on to list the four steps: desire, doubt, deception, and disobedience. We start out by simply thinking about the object of our desire. We play with it in our minds the way a cat plays with a mouse. We imagine how it would feel if it were ours. (This is true for people as well as possessions.) It's interesting that no matter how many blessings God has showered upon us, we always seem to focus on the one thing we do not have! We must ask ourselves, Could Satan be trying to redirect my focus?

We must remember that Satan wants to break up our relationship with our heavenly Father. If he can get us to take our eyes off the Lord and instead, to fix our attention on what we feel we're lacking, then he can lead us into desire.

Then, our desirous thoughts give way to full-blown lust. Rick wrote: "This intense longing is the culmination of our imaginings. We are no longer content simply to enjoy the objects in our minds; now we must actually have it. It's all we think about. It drives us insane. Our lust grows so intense that it's all we can do not to scream."

And the desire leads to a choice. Here is where we make the decision, Will I give in to this sin, or will I lay it down?

Every time we stand up to a temptation we become more like Jesus. Through the Holy Spirit, we have the ability ... and the power ... to walk away at any point in the process of temptation. We are never helpless to diffuse the situation, no matter how much momentum we've allowed to build up.

Do we ever feel as if we are powerless to stop a growing temptation? Understanding the nature of this progressive process can help us to stand firm against Satan's tactics. Every temptation comes with a choice ... an opportunity ... to do good. Temptations keep us dependent upon God. God can bring good out of any situation (Rom 8:28).

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Here it is another Friday. I'm facing two wonderful days off. I have no real "plans" for Saturday but Sunday will be our family Christmas over at my sister's club house which is always fun. Lots of love, laughter, and food! Poor Pepper will have to spend the day alone except for all the cats. But I'm sure he'll survive the day. He won't think he will but he will. I will wait and put all the bows on my presents until we get over there so they won't get knocked off or squished on the drive over.

I have no plans for today other than to do the things I didn't get done yesterday. I'll try to talk Michael into making the post office/store run today. It's his turn. Michael has requested something special for Christmas dinner. Maybe I'll cook a roast and we can thinly slice the left overs and make sandwiches out of what's left of the meat. That sounds good. We both like cold roast beef sandwiches as well as Hot French Dip sandwiches and Pepper's always game for any waste there might be. I think I'll plan on that. We haven't had a roast in ages. I like cooking things that are good for multiple meals. This business of deciding every day what you're going to cook for dinner gets old really quick.

Well, I guess I should get busy it's almost noon already and I haven't done a thing except read my emails and write my blog. The bed isn't made yet and I'm still in my pjs. I wish I could wake up early on my own every morning like my sister does. She's just naturally an early riser. She wakes up around 5:00 most mornings, whereas I slept until after 9:00. Makes for short days for me especially when you figure in the time I spend on my blog. And before I can write my blog I have to read all the news on FOXNews.com. Michael just came out and he's dressed now so guess I better not let him beat me by too much. (I beat him yesterday. He slept until 11:00 yesterday!!!) I would love to just wake up about 6:00 or 7:00 on my own. I have an alarm clock with a bed shaker but I hate when that goes off. It's such a rude way to wake up. No, I'm talking about waking up on my own after having had a nice restful night's sleep. And as long as I'm dreaming I may as well put a smile on my face too! Okay, okay, I'll see you all on Monday. I haven't decided if I'll blog on Christmas or not. I'm going to leave the option open for me and just see how the day goes. Until then ...