By Angela M. Thomas  

Beware of worldliness! Worldliness is dangerous because it exposes our true love; it exposes the fact that we are driven by the search to satisfy our passions with the things other than God. James reminds us of this fact when he explains the source of sin, saying “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:14)

A lot of us are in deep trouble and blinded by the things of this world. We are no longer holding onto the things of God, we have a death hold on the world and things of the world. We are seeking, but lost, confused and sadly broken from lack of knowledge and love of “self.” We have let the things of God slip from our grasp! Most of us feel that we are defeated and depressed and sit back wondering just how we ended up that way. We have allowed a “seducing spirit” to creep into our lives very subtly, through the small things in life that are unimportant and seduce us away from God. As a result, many people who struggle in this area of being seduced and tempted find it easy to lie to “self” believing it’s not that bad, or nobody have to know and no one will get hurt. Even though they are unable to give up a behavior or substance despite its negative consequences, they think that since they function well in their jobs, they don’t have a problem being addicted or seduced by anything that eventually leads to nowhere. No matter our best efforts we somehow stumble and give in to temptations of the world. Often we succumb to temptations because we fail to recognize and know the way of defeating temptation. “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. Truly the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). The two part answer to temptation is to be watchful and to be praying. The only way we can stand against temptation is to stand on the pillars of watch and pray. The word “watch” carries with it the idea of vigilance and being alert. Often we see temptation and invite it in. Being watchful is being careful of what we are allowing to happen in our lives. Many things in life we cannot control but allowing that thing to remain and become a temptation is when sin happens. In defining sin, James said that temptation comes about when “each one is tempted by his lusts, being drawn away and seduced by them. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin. And sin, when it is fully formed, brings forth death” (James 1:14-15). We are to pray for the Lord not to lead us into temptation (Matthew 6:13) but we do not need to go running into it either. Prayer is powerful. The knee bent in prayer will keep the feet from running straight into evil. A humble heart of prayer will melt the fiery desire of temptation that surrounds us. The Lord will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability to resist; provided we are watching and praying. “Pray without ceasing” (1Thessalonians 5:17) is an admonition to help us overcome temptation “without ceasing.” Constant vigilance and watchful care for those things that will tempt us with harm and the continued spirit of prayer will defeat temptation. “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). We need to learn how to reach out to God as the source of power in our lives. We pray about our problems, but that is very different than completely leaning on God as a source of power during our times of weakness and when temptation comes our way. We can’t go this alone and expect to defeat the enemy. God gives us strength to overcome and prevail. He is there for us.

Angela M. Thomas is a Certified Speaker and has written and published eight inspirational books and Audio CD. To book Angela, please call (305)793-1347 or Visit: www.AngelaMThomas.com