The Bondage Breaker by Neil T. Anderson

Author:Neil T. Anderson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Non-Fiction, Religion, Spirituality
ISBN: 9780736918145
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
Published: 1990-01-01T22:00:00+00:00

you, and forgot the God who gave you birth (Deuteronomy 32:15-18).

8 Enticed to Do It Your Way

When our children were young we struggled through the ritual of family devotions. One harried evening we inadvertently overlooked our time of Bible reading and prayer with Heidi and Karl. Several minutes after we had put them to bed we heard Heidi's voice from down the hall: "Daddy, we forgot to do our commotions." "Commotions" were what devotions usually were in our family!

The devotional series I remember best was a continuing discussion with Karl about temptation. For several weeks all he wanted to talk about was temptation. I think he was mainly fascinated by the sound of the word, just like I used to like to say the word "aluminum" when I was a child. But even after several weeks of discussion on the subject, Karl couldn't distinguish the concept of temptation from the act of sin itself.

I have found that many Christian adults struggle with that distinction. Bombarded by tempting thoughts, they conclude that there must be something pretty sick about them. They equate temptation with sin. But even Jesus was "tempted in all things as we are." But finish the verse: "Yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). As long as we are in the world we are exposed to temptation just like Jesus was. But He didn't sin, and we don't have to sin either (1 Corinthians 10:13). In this chapter I want to define and describe temptation so you can easily recognize it and quickly refuse Satan's mvitation to do things your own way.

THE BASIS OF TEMPTATION

Since Adam, every person is born into this world physically alive and spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). Having no relationship with God as we progressed through our developmental years, we learned to live independently of Him, and we attempted to get our needs met apart from Him. We developed patterns of thought and habits of behavior which centered our interests on ourselves.

When we were born again we became spiritually alive, but our flesh, that collection of ingrained, self-centered habits and patterns which we learned when we were spiritually dead, remains to contest our commitment to walk in the Spirit. The essence of temptation is the enticement to have legitimate human needs met through the resources of the world, the flesh, and the devil instead of through Christ (Philippians 4:19). Every temptation is an invitation to live independently of God.

The power of temptation depends on the strength of the strongholds which have been developed in our minds as we learned to live independently of God. For example, if you were raised in a Christian home where dirty magazines and television programs of questionable moral value were not allowed, the power of sexual temptations in your life will not be as great as for someone who grew up exposed to pornographic materials.

Why? Because your legitimate need to be loved and accepted was met by caring parents who also protected you from exposure to illegitimate means of establishing your identity and worth.

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