When we are tempted we know one thing: We have drifted away from the intimate relationship that God longs to share with us.
Temptation is the result of our drifting and our failure to allow God to be our strength when we are tested. God allows tests to come before us, He never tempts us. 'The Lord's Prayer' (Mat. 6:13) is well translated by the NET Bible as "into a time of testing." Our request 'not to be led into temptation' is not to suggest that God causes us to be tempted, it is rhetorically asking for His protection from the Evil One's schemes when we are tested.
Being tested is being faced with an ethical choice based on a moral imperative.
Temptation enters the equation when we entertain the free-will choice of rebellion, listening
to Satan rather than listening only to God. Rebellion is a partnership with Satan, a surrender to
temptation, choosing to remove God from the decision-making process and allowing our
Satan-influenced flesh to dominate - leading directly to overtly sinful actions.
Failing the test requires a series of stages and of bad choices:
A. A decision-point with the potential for growth or loss: test.
B. An attempt by Satan to entice one to agree to contemplate sin: temptation.
C. A surrender, engaging in the contemplation of sin: temptation.
D. Actively engaging in sinful thoughts.
E. Actively engaging in sinful deeds.
The story of King David, as he was visually confronted with the bathing Bathsheba
(2Sam11), is an excellent illustration. The same decision-moments occured as Job, his wife,
and his friends wrestled with his response to his suffering . This process is often illustrated
using 'the frog in the kettle' or the 'the camel's nose in the tent' illustrations.
For the angels temptation started in Heaven (Isaiah 14:13-14; Ezekiel 28:15; 1 Timothy 3:6) when the most-beautiful angel challenged the sovereignty of God. The holiness of God instantly purged all rebellious spirits from Heaven. No being capable of rebellion will ever
again reside in Heaven which is why genuine salvation demands that one surrenders ones free will to God.
For mankind 'temptation' began in the Garden of Eden. Satan, leader of the fallen angels, was permitted by God to test Eve and then Adam (see Genesis 3). Later, God permitted Satan to test Job: "Behold, all that he has is in your power...." (see Job 1:8-12). Satan also attempted to tempt Jesus in the wilderness (see Luke 4:1-13) and again on the Cross (see Luke 23:35-39); Jesus passed the tests perfectly, refusing even to be tempted to sin.
Free will means nothing if choices are coerced or if one is excluded from the opportunity to choose right from wrong when tested. God wants man to freely choose Him.
To prevent tests from becoming temptations, we must:
1. Learn to discern our strengths and our weaknesses.
2. Discern when a situation tests one of our weaknesses, enticing us to sin. We are in trouble when we
are silently making excuses for 'stinking thinking' to an offended Holy Spirit within.
3. Train ourselves to flee when a situation is testing a weakness. God promised that He will not allow
His children to be tested "beyond what you are able" (1Cor10:13). He promised to be our strength.
If we lack sufficient faith-inspired trust to rest in His strength and to act with certainty that He is
sufficient, then He will "provide a way of escape....Therefore, my beloved, flee...." (10:14).
4. Discern when a situation is testing one of our strengths. When we are offended by the same things
that offend the Holy Spirit within we are in an area of strength.
5. Train ourselves to stand when we are in an area of strength "Therefore, take up the full armor of God,
that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm" (Ephesians
6:13; see 10-20).When a situation is testing one of our strengths we must stand firm, call sin "sin",
and become a witness to the power of God through our words and deeds.
Trust in God. He will change the world one act of trust at a time, through you!
