We can all expect to be tempted from time to time.  It seems as if the devil never takes a break.  Peter says that he is constantly prowling around like a lion, “seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).  Satan even tempted our Savior (Matthew 4:1-11), so we know he will tempt us whenever he can.  What must we do to overcome him?

To begin with, we must pray about it.  We all remember the words of Jesus when He found His disciples sleeping in the garden of Gethsemane.

Matthew 26:41 (ESV)
⁴¹  Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Why does the devil tempt us so much?  It is because he has been very successful at it.  He knows he can have his way with most people because the flesh is so weak.  There is something, however, that he cannot defeat—a praying Christian resisting him by the power of prayer.  If we resist, he will flee (James 4:7).  One of the best ways to resist the devil, is by praying.  The very next thing that James wrote, after exhorting us to resist the devil was to draw near to God, which we accomplish, primarily, through the avenue of prayer (Hebrews 4:16).

Another way to overcome temptation is to fill our minds with the Word of God by consistently studying it.  God’s Word is more powerful than any temptation, but it is up to us to allow it to abide in us.  This is why Paul said, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly…”  He knew the power of the Word of God.  So did John.

1 John 3:9 (ESV)
⁹  No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

As long as the Word of God is in us, we can defeat the assaults of Satan.  David once said, “I have stored up your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalms 119:11).  He realized the power of God’s Word, and so must we.

Let me suggest one more thing we must do to overcome temptation.  We must flee!  Flirting with sin is a foolish thing to do.  We need to give sin, and the temptation it produces, more respect.  If you fool around with a rattlesnake, you are likely to get bit, and if you flirt with sin, not willing to flee from temptation, sooner or later you are going to fall prey to its power.  On the old TV show “Hee Haw,” Doc Campbell is confronted by a patient who says he broke his arm in two places. He told him, “Well then, stay out of them places!” He may have something there. We cannot regularly put ourselves in the face of temptation and not be affected.

Remember the words of Paul.  “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

If we want to inherit eternal life, we must overcome temptation.  Fortunately, all we have to do to accomplish that is take the way of escape that God provides for us.  

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.