February 1
“And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ.” Colossians 1:28
Some of you are familiar with the Overcoming Temptation booklet that I wrote over ten years ago. In the ten years since writing that booklet, with approaching 150,000 copies published and distributed primarily in other languages and mostly in India, I have come to appreciate much more how much our ability to overcome temptation is not derived from ourselves but rather is a grace from God, a grace that we should seek daily and throughout the day.
The first month of thoughts and exhortations given in January are intended to capture some of those thoughts, trying to help point us more to Christ as an ever sufficient and only sufficient source for victory and not put so much emphasis on our own ability and determination to overcome. We still ought to be fully engaged fighting and resisting tooth and nail, don’t misunderstand, but now I appreciate more that even that determination can be eroded in the trials of life, and I must seek Him diligently just to retain that commitment and desire to remain in Him and keep myself from sin.
January was sort of a distillation of the big things that I would say to folks today; pray and be in the word as much as you possibly can. If you don’t have the desire or the time, pray earnestly for these disciplines. The success of your Christian life and your ability to bear fruit for Him that will withstand His test of fire depend on it. Don’t be one who just muddles through or who buries his talent in the ground. Make certain that you are working hard to please your Master and bear fruit for Him.
Let’s start this month with a sincere and earnest prayer to God that He would allow us to be fully submitted to Him in every area of our lives and to show us every area where we are not submitted to Him and address those areas. We will never regret giving ourselves and our desires to Him, for He seeks only our good, whereas our fleshly lusts seek only our destruction. Submit to God fully, and you will see spiritual blessings (and possibly material blessings also) like you have never dreamed possible.
Father, may You grant us the desire for Your holiness and Your fellowship more than anything else in this world. We confess we are selfish, lacking in faith, lacking in obedience, blind, and apart from You impossibly corrupt and lacking in any real love or grace for others. Thank You for You, for the gift of Christ, for the amazing indwelling of Your Spirit in us. Let You and Your glory, Your will and Your work, be enough for us and the only thing we desire in this brief life You have granted us. In Jesus’ Name we ask it, Amen!
In February we will revisit the 24 principles of the Overcoming Temptation booklet and hopefully introduce some new thoughts about each. After this I am thinking we will hit hard the topic of overcoming the temptation of pornography, Lord willing, since that is a struggle so many Christians are having today.