OVERCOMING TEMPTATIONS 1
KJV:And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
KJV:And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
KJV:And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
KJV:And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.
KJV:And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
KJV:And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.
KJV:And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.
KJV:And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.
KJV:But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
KJV:And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?
KJV:And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
KJV:And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.
KJV:And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.
KJV:And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
KJV:And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
KJV:And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.
KJV:And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.
KJV:Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;
KJV:And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king,
KJV:And if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?
KJV:Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
KJV:So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab had sent him for.
KJV:And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate.
KJV:And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and some of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
KJV:Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him.
KJV:And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
KJV:And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. 2 Sam 11:1-27
Good afternoon dear reader. I hope you had an amazing night rest and a marvellous weekend. This afternoon, we will be studying a very very crucial topic titled; "overcoming temptations". You see, we as Christians go through varying, diverse kinds of temptations at each minute or day of our life. But most of us do not know why this is so. I mean why would the all-powerful, all-loving father allow His children go through temptations. In this study series, we will be looking at the following areas.
1. What is temptation ?
2. What is the purpose of temptation in the life of a Christain.
3. How do we overcome temptations.
Before I continue, I want to appreciate all my consistent and faithful readers, all those who take out time to read my blog post with their own data as often as I can paste them. And all those who also help me share these posts to their friends and different social network groups available in their country. I may not know you but God does and he will bless you for it. Thank you very much.
The oxford dictionary has two definitions for the word "temptation". Firstly, it defines temptation as the desire to do or have something that you know is bad or wrong. It also defines temptation as a thing that makes somebody want to do or have something that they know is wrong. So you see that temptations stem from desire. The truth is, you cannot be tempted by something you don't have a desire for. The devil can only tempt you with what you have a passion for. If you desire sex, he tempts you with fornication, masturbation, lesbianism, gay etc. If you desire money, he tempts you with back door channels, corruption, pride etc. If you desire power, he tempts you with the occultic world. That is also what most of us call our weakspot. I have heard a lot of persons say, "I have a besetting sin and I just can't get out of it, I know that God understands". Well brother/sister, yes God understands but it gets to a point he will turn His back on you, until you get serious about outgrowing your besetting sin. Nor does it mean that he will always listen to your constant excuses. Don't forget anyways that His mercy, love, forgiveness are always present and intact. So when you offend Him, after you have resolved never to do so again, ask for forgiveness because He has already done that and don't let guilt weigh you down. Heb 12:1-2, tells us that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Which means that you are not the only one with a besetting sin, even more interesting is that, you are not the only with that particular besetting sin but unlike you, others who had the same besetting sin walked in their freedom and began living above the sin nature. This is what I hope to you show through this study series.
Since we now know what temptation means, the next question to ask is, what is the purpose of temptation in the life of a Christain? Why does God allow temptations? What does he stand to gain from it? Is it that He is interested in seeing His children continuously wallow in sin. Doesn't it break His heart for him to see us, His children cry, agonize, feel dejected and even beat themselves up when we sin against him. Well, let's look at some scriptures:
2
KJV:My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
KJV:Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
KJV:But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:2-4
6
KJV:Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
KJV:That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 1 pet 1:6-7
Are you shocked by the above passage? well you shouldn't be. Both passages tells us to be happy when temptations even come our way. That sounds outrageous and insane right? But see why. Without temptations our faith cannot be tested and proven strong, apostle peter tells us that tested, proven and genuine faith is much more precious than gold which perishes. The apostle James tells us that without it i.e proven genuine faith that produces patience we won't be complete and lacking nothing. Do you see that ?, so you need temptations for your own spiritual growth, for every temptation you overcome, you become stronger, you become wiser, you grow up more into the fullness of Christ. It strengthens you basically. So from now on, never be scared when you are faced with trails and temptations. But rather rejoice because it is for your own good.
I hope you have been blessed by today's writeup. Join us again on Wednesday as we treat the part 2 of this very interesting series. Please read, be blessed, comment and share with more of your friends and groups on any social network in your country. Write to me by email at anointedsaviour1@gmail.com with your questions and prayer requests, also please do write if you want me to send my write-ups from this blog to your mail. The world is in dire need of the Word of God. Help us spread this Word. God bless you and do have a wonderful, fruitful and exciting day and week. Shalom
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