Resisting Temptation Through Faith

In this episode, we delve into the profound insights from the Book of James on resisting sin and overcoming temptation. James 1:13-15 teaches that temptation arises not from God, but from our own desires that lead us astray.

Understanding this internal origin is crucial in our battle against sin. We will explore practical strategies to recognize and manage these desires, drawing strength from our faith to remain steadfast. By embracing the wisdom of James, we can navigate life's challenges and pursue a path of righteousness.

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Chapters

• 0:00 The Power of Worship and Personal Testimony
• 0:02 Surrendering to God: The First Step
• 2:25 Facing Trials and Temptations
• 5:01 The Importance of Resistance
• 7:34 Strength in Surrender and Resistance 10:16 Building Spiritual Strength Through Resistance
• 9:19 Audible FREE Trial
• 10:16 Building Spiritual Strength Through Resistance
• 13:10 Resisting Negative Influences and Emotions
• 15:40 The Path to Revival: Resistance Over Repentance

Transcript

Erika-Michelle Best
(00:00)
I've got such an amazing God that he gave me another word.

So we're gonna talk about that today. I'm gonna be talking out of the book of James, y'all.

And I'm excited for this message. I'm so excited. while we're thankful that we can repent for our sins, because we're going to sin, Right. while we can repent of our sins, there is a step that you can do before that. we've repented. We've been cleansed. We've been saved. And now what do we need to do to keep that right? And there's something that we can do before that. And that's what I'm going to talk about today. And I'll get to that. But first, I want to start with surrender.

We surrender to a lot of things in life, right? We surrender to our spouses. Let's be honest. We surrender to our children. We surrender to our jobs because I know some of y'all when that alarm clock goes off does not want to get up. You want to the snooze button, but we go in anyway because we have to. It's our job. We surrender to friends. we surrender to a lot of things. But when it comes to God, we struggle with surrendering. Why is that, y'all?

let's kick this thing off with little bit of prayer. And we're gonna pray for God to give us the strength to recognize when we need to surrender to Him. We need to surrender our lives over to Him. No matter what your struggle is, no matter what you're going through, no matter what is happening, you have got to know how to surrender it over to God. When you get to that point to where you are tired of trying to do it to yourself, just surrender it to God.

Thank you, Father God, for your strength. Thank you for your glory. We just thank you that we're able to just get down on our knees and surrender our lives to you because we know that your plan, the only plan, is the best plan for us in our lives. We get in the way. We mess things up and we thank you, Father God, for putting us back on the right path and letting us know that you are in control no matter what. No matter what's going on in the outside world, no matter what's going on inside our homes, no matter what's going on with the next door neighbor.

We thank you that you are 100 percent in control always and that we have the strength and the wisdom to surrender it to you, Father God. In Jesus name, we thank you. I'm to go super quick today, y'all. So this will probably be a short message because I'll talk really fast when I'm this excited. I don't know if some of us are ready for what I'm to talk about today. But as Christians, we will face trials and temptations.

Overcoming them produces maturity and strong character. We are going to be presented with things that we should not do. Are we going to say yes or are we going to say no? That's the real lesson in that. What are some temptations that you can think of? You know, drinking, jealousy, maybe adultery, envy, gluttony, A lot of those things.

It's easy for us to sit back and say, that's a temptation, but are we willing to admit food is a temptation? Are we willing to admit that electronics are a temptation? Are we willing to admit television is a temptation? What we speak is a temptation? James 3.6 says, the tongue is a flame of fire. You can curse and bless out of the same mouth. How crazy is that?

I am so much a believer in the power of the tongue. The power of the tongue has so much in it that you can bless somebody or you can curse somebody. And in the Bible when they talk about cursing, a lot of times in today's where they're thinking like curse words, know, bad words that you don't want your children saying things like that. But when you talk about people and when you talk about their situation,

And when you judge what it is they're doing or what they deserve because they've upset you, you are cursing them with that mouth that you can just as easily bless them with. Are we willing to admit that withholding our tongue or speaking words we shouldn't be is a temptation? It's a temptation because I know there are some days I want to say some things to my children and I'm like, OK, Jesus, take over. You better come get these children you bless me with.

y'all, period, sin is sin. Sin is sin. In the eyes of man and law, there are levels of sin, right? You don't go to jail for lying, but you might go to jail for robbing, right? You don't get a ticket for one thing, but you might get a ticket for another thing. In the eyes of the law, sin has different levels, but in the eyes of God, sin is sin.

And so while you sitting back thinking to yourself, well, I only smoke cigarettes, so mine isn't as bad as hers. She drinks every weekend. Well, I I only, you know, curse. I love Jesus, but I curse a little. So mine isn't as bad as her over there who's sleeping with the neighbors sin is sin in God's eyes, no matter what it is. So while you can sit back and think you're OK in your vice, you're still sinning.

You still need to repent and you still need saving. We all do no matter what it is. I want you all to be mindful of that as we talk about what I'm gonna talk about today, which is resist.

Because while yes, we can repent for the things that we do wrong, and we will do things wrong, and I'm not saying that's going to wipe this away, but there's a step right before you need to repent. And it is to resist. My husband, Michael, says one of the things that is never forgivable in his eyes in a marriage is adultery. He said because there are too many times where you can stop at any single moment and walk away from it.

It's the same with any type of sin. You can resist. God gives us the strength to resist when we are faced with temptation. And James 1.13 tells us, God will not tempt you with evil. So if you're ever wondering, is this God or is this the devil? If it's temptation or if it's sin, it's not going to be God. God will not tempt you with sin. Okay?

So if you need a little bit of discernment there and a little bit of understanding to realize that if it's going to cause you to sin, it's not a blessing from God because he won't do such a thing. When you are sitting. And faced with a moment where you could go left or right, where you could lie or tell the truth, where you could cheat or stay faithful, even if this is on a test, not necessarily on a partner or if you could doctor a document so you can get that house.

Right? You're going to doctor your income, you know, so it shows you make more money so you can get this house that you probably really shouldn't get. When you're faced with these moments and decisions and you find yourself wondering and making the mistakes that you've made, you're like, I maybe shouldn't have done that. And you're in your bag of arsenal trying to deal with the mistakes that you've made, whether it is, you know, drowning in a bottle, you know, overeating or stress eating.

Or maybe you go and gamble it all away because you're just so enveloped in the mistakes that you've made. And now you're like, how do I get out of this mess? At the bottom of that is your surrender to God. At the bottom of that bag, when you've got nothing left, is your surrender to God for him to remove you out of that situation and get you up out of that situation. And you know why that's the last thing that will always be left or the only thing that will always be there is because God is going to always be there no matter what. You know, after you phoned a friend,

after you've run to the neighbor's house, after you've cursed everybody out because you were mad at them, whatever it is that you think makes you feel better in that moment, God is still going to always be there no matter what. But you've got to resist some things. You've got to resist looking to the outside world to help you with something it's not their job to help you with. It doesn't matter how many times I sit in the pew. doesn't matter how many times.

No matter how many times, it's still my job to do what it is that I need to do and make sure that I'm not sinning. They can't do it for me. So the outside world can't fill a void that only God can fill. My neighbor can tell me how much they love me and how great I am and what I need to do to solve this situation or help this, but they can't fill the void and that place was left there intentionally. I think a lot of times,

So many people are miserable because they're looking to the neighbor, they're looking to the friend, they're looking to the gym, they're looking to this and they're not looking to God to fill the only thing that he can, he's the only one that can fill it. He's the only one, my husband can't do God's job. He's amazing at what he does, don't get me wrong, but he cannot do God's job, period. There's no amount of spousal support, friend support, alcohol or other temptations that can fill that space. James 127 tells us, refuse to let the world corrupt you.

He left that place in our heart for him and him alone. Surrender your heart and life to the Lord and resist. Whatever your temptations may be, God gives us strength to resist. And I want to encourage you today, somebody out there, possibly myself, because a lot of times we have to practice what we preach, put the cookie down and pick the Bible up because food is a temptation.

When you have a problem putting food down and stepping away from it, it is a temptation because gluttony is sin. So like the two pieces of cake I ate last night was not necessarily in my best interest. I should not have done that. It was gluttonous behavior, overindulgence. It is a sin. And while in your eyes you may think to yourself, yeah, but that's not the same sin as somebody sitting around the corner, know, shooting up or whatever. No, but it's still a sin in the eyes of God. And if that's something I know I struggle with, I can surrender that to God.

People don't understand that God will help you with all of your needs, even when it comes to your struggle with a food addiction. Any addiction. God will help you. Some people think it's so mundane because yes, this person has got cancer or sick Yes, and there are some things that have a much greater need than you, but God wants to help you even with your smallest addiction, even with your smallest infraction, even with your smallest.

temptation because bottom line it's sin and he wants you to live a life for him.

Proverbs 4, 14 through 15. Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not proceed in the way of evil men. Y'all know what that means to me? It means resist. Avoid it. Do not pass by. Like avoid it, resist. Turn away from it and pass on. It literally just says turn away from it and pass on. We need to avoid the path of the world that leads us into temptation because our flesh is weak. We are easily carried away by our own lusts.

If you were trying to make it through in this world with your flesh, like I did for most of my 20s, it's gonna be a struggle. You're gonna have some problems, like I did in my 20s. Resist. If my life can teach you anything, if my mistakes can teach you anything, if all of the things I did the hard way can teach you anything, it's that you're not gonna feel better about it when you're 40.

And God's going to have to do a whole lot of work to remind you you're still here. It's OK. Yes, you made some mistakes, but you have repented. You've given your life to God. And I have saved you. And we can turn this around. He can still use you for what he has you here for. But if you're in your 20s right now and you're faced with some of those things, God gives you the strength to resist. So I want to encourage you today to try and resist. There is a whole lot of stuff going on in the world right now.

There's a whole lot of confusion and a whole lot of people that want to tell you these things are helping you, but they're not. They're hurting you. And I want to tell you right here and now, just resist. And if you're confused about if what that professor is telling you is of God, or if you're confused about what this person is trying to get you to do on the weekends, or if you're confused about any of those things, just stop and resist and ask God to say, God, show me what it is I need to do.

Because if it's not from him, he will lead you away from it. There were times where I had to pray for God to remove people from my life because I knew they were no good to me. I wasn't asking for them to die. Let's not get that twisted. what did happen is he blessed them with a job somewhere else. So then that temptation was removed. But you have to ask him. You have to surrender and say, God, I don't want to be faced with this temptation anymore. Can you remove this from my life? I'm not strong enough because our flesh

is weak. It is weak. just is. And I don't care if you're the strongest person in the world. A lot of people look at me and they're like, you're so strong. And I'm like, no, no. God gives me strength. Trust me, because there are some days I just want to fall apart. I promise there are. But my flesh is weak. Your pastor's flesh is weak. And if your pastor does not stay in the Bible, they're going to succumb to that flesh. So it doesn't matter how high up you are, how low you are. It doesn't matter. We're all weak.

when it comes to our flesh and our job is to ask God to help us with that weakness. So if you're faced with these times of trials and temptation, ask God to help you resist. James 4, 7, so humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will flee. Y'all, do you know God gives you that strength to literally, and I said this a while back and I know we've said it a couple of times, get thee behind me, Satan. He will literally turn.

and flee. You, yourself, sitting at home, sitting right here, you as a child, you as an adult, you as a sick person, you have the strength to turn around, to tell the devil to get the heck away from you. Period. I just want y'all to know, and don't get it twisted, y'all. Don't get it twisted. You can resist more than just temptation.

You can resist negative thinking. You can resist naysayers. You can resist emotions. Y'all, anger is a sin.

I mean, are we gonna talk, can we talk about that? Getting so angry that you lose control of your tongue so you say wretched things. Or you do unspeakable acts with these beautiful hands of yours. Getting that angry is a sin, y'all. I'm speaking from personal experience, I've struggled with anger. I've struggled with what a lot of people would call generational curse, bad tempers running my family, and I begged God to break.

the generational curse because I didn't want to live my life that way. You can resist negative emotions. You can even resist the negative situations in your life. And this is I'm going start getting emotional. I had to resist the prognosis the doctors gave me for my daughter.

I could have done a lot in that situation, but I had to resist the medical speak and turn into what God was speaking. I looked at the doctor and I said, you got medicine, which I'm so thankful for, but I got God, so let me go get prayed up.

If the story could be anything to you, let it be that prayer works. God is listening and he will give you the strength to resist. Sometimes you have to resist what the world is telling you and start thanking God for who he made you to be.

The people he put in your path to give you the strength to accept and endure what this world presents to you. The power and glory of God has been working in your life since before you even knew what all he had for you.

Resist what the flesh would have you believe and accept the miracles and blessings God is providing you even amidst your biggest temptation, facing your largest moment of adversity.

It's like picking up weights. When you first start working out, maybe you can only pick up so much, right? And then you get stronger and stronger and stronger. The more you resist the temptation, the stronger your spirit gets and the easier it gets for you to resist the next temptation and the next temptation and the next temptation. It gets stronger and stronger and that is what your goal is. Your goal is to have your spirit so strong.

that it is easy for you to turn and walk away when you're faced with a situation that you know you should not be in. I didn't do that most of my life. Most of my life I gave in to all of the temptations.

And again, I just thank God that He allows us to repent and we can be cleansed and washed free.

but you have the strength inside of you to resist. It's the step before you need to repent. And doesn't that sound like such a better life than to always be living it, knowing, okay, well, I'm gonna have to apologize for this. You spend five, six days a week doing all the wrong things and then come to church on Sunday hoping to do the right thing, and it's great, we welcome you. Please come in, it doesn't matter how many days in a row you do the wrong things, you are more than welcome

but imagine if you could be lifted up from spending your entire week feeling shame for the decisions that you make when you know you have the strength to resist it to begin with.

the greatest barrier to revival is sin. The greatest tool against sin is resistance.

We can always repent, thank God for His grace and for allowing us to repent for our sins, but I encourage us all today to first resist the urges of the flesh before we ever even have to repent?