Episode 349
Recognizing and Overcoming Temptation with God's Word
Profound Quote
"When you have those moments of doubts, when you have those moments of 'I don't know if this is God or if this is the enemy,' turn to your word. Go to your Bible and find out what God says."
Word of the Day:
"Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one." – James 1:13
Summary
This episode focuses on the reality of temptation and the cunning ways the enemy tries to deceive us. By examining Genesis 3, we see how the serpent introduced doubt and led Eve to question God's commands, resulting in disobedience. The message highlights the importance of relying on God's Word to overcome temptation and recognize the enemy's lies. It also underscores the significance of setting and respecting boundaries as ordained by God, and the consequences of violating them. The episode encourages listeners to seek God's guidance through Scripture when faced with doubt and temptation.
Takeaways
- When feeling defeated, remember that God is not a God of defeat.
- Negative emotions are tools of the enemy and should not be embraced.
- Letting go of control and surrendering to God allows Him to work in our lives.
- Fully surrendering to God means taking our hands off the situation and trusting Him completely.
- Continually release worries and anxieties to God, trusting that He will take care of them.
Chapters
- 00:00- Recognizing Temptation
- 00:47- The Craftiness of the Serpent
- 03:13- Importance of Boundaries and Consequences
- 05:16- Lies of the Enemy
- 06:16- Recognizing and Resisting Temptation
What questions are you struggling to answer? Wesleyne would love to answer these questions for you personally. Send any questions or prayer requests to hello@askwesleyne.com
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Transcript
temptation is real as people we are tempted every single day and Oftentimes when we're tempted there's like this little voice in our head There's this little voice that saying do this do this did God really tell you that? So today we're gonna walk through Genesis 3 and I'll share a few verses with you
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? Let me pause there.
Wesleyne (:The serpent who represents the enemy was more crafty than any of the animals that God made. This serpent is still very, very crafty and he will question your motives. He will question your thoughts. He will question, did God tell you that or is that you? Did the pastor really mean it that way?
Or did he mean it like this? Did the Bible verse that you read really mean that or did it mean this? So those questions that you have about things that from of a moral nature of a biblical nature that is often the enemy trying to incite doubt into your brain. And how do we overcome this doubt? How do we walk through work through when the enemy is trying to
give us a doubt, we turn to the Word. We don't turn to YouTube or Google or ask a friend. We go to the Bible and we search for the behavior, the action, the thought that we're struggling with and we see what God says. We don't use the voices that we may hear in our head, we use the Word.
In verse two, it says the woman said to the serpent, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. But God said, you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden and you must not touch it or you will die. Boundaries are of God. I've mentioned this many times before. God doesn't say just do whatever you want. He specifically is telling Eve,
You can eat whatever you want, but not that one tree. And he said, if you eat it, you will die. So here, what I want to point out is that boundaries are of God and consequences are of God. If someone violates your boundary, if someone violates something that you ask them not to do, you are within God's will to give them a consequence. That consequence is,
Wesleyne (:You may no longer be a part of my circle. I'm not going to call you anymore. I'm not going to do this or do that. But don't allow people to use God's word or their own thoughts and say, well, God loves unconditionally. So you should just love me as I am and you should accept me as I am. Yes, you love, you accept, but you don't allow.
So you don't allow the bad behavior when it is hurtful or painful to you. The next verse says, you will not certainly die. The serpent said to the woman lies, literally contradicting exactly what God said. God said, don't eat of it or you will die. And what does the enemy do? He contradicts God's word in every single way possible.
And verse five says, for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. So what he did was he planted this bad seed in her mind and said, don't you want to be like God? You will know what's good and what's evil. And she said, well, I guess that sounds good. I want to be able to discern and understand what's good and what's evil.
And so she ate from the tree.
She in verse six says when the woman saw the fruit of the tree was good food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were open and they realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. So the enemy instituted doubt into her mind. The enemy.
Wesleyne (:told her to violate a boundary that God specifically put in place for her. The enemy fed her lies and told her she was going to be like God and she was going to know good and evil.
And so she looked at that tree. She looked at the fruit differently and she said, this is good. And this is pleasant to my eyes and I'm going to gain wisdom. So she rationalized within herself what this fruit was going to give her. And she gave it to her husband. So she gave it to someone who she was in covenant with and community with. And then they saw, wait,
we see evil. I, they didn't see good. They saw evil. They noticed they were naked.
Wesleyne (:What we learn from this passage of text is that the enemy is sly. A snake slithers around on its tummy on the ground because that's what it was created to do. That's how God allowed the enemy to show up. So a slithering snake, something in the darkness, something that looked like it belonged in the garden, snakes belong in the garden. And that's how the enemy shows up to us today.
He shows up in a manner, in a way that seems like he belongs in that place. He institutes a little bit of doubt in our mind. He makes us question ourselves. He makes us think that the outcome of not following God is going to be pleasant to us. And he makes us think that it is okay to violate boundaries of other people or boundaries that God has put into place.
So today be aware of how the enemy is showing up in your life what he is trying to convince you to do the doubt that he's putting in your mind and Remember when you have those moments of doubts when you have those moments of I don't know if this is God or if this is the enemy turn to your word Go to your Bible and find out what God says
what his instructions for you are.
