Temptation

Temptation: the fact or state of being tempted, especially to evil.
Tempted: to entice or allure, to do something often regarded as unwise, wrong, or immoral.
Repentance: deep sorrow, compunction for a past sin, wrong doing, or the like.
Compunction: feeling of uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience caused by regret for doing wrong or causing pain.

Temptation is something that everyone faces, and everyone will continue to face. It can take a lifetime, but we can learn how to avoid temptation.

1. Recognize your tendency toward sin: Be aware of what your most common sins are, or what things you tend to sin with. Recognize that you will be tempted, and be prepared. ^"2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. ⁹ Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. ¹⁰ But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. ¹¹ For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.
   ¹² Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. ¹³ When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ¹⁴ but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. ¹⁶ Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ¹⁸ He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." ~James 1 (NIV)
2. Run away from the temptaion: After we recognize what tempts us, we need to run away from that temptation. Now, we have to want to run away and get it out of our lives, but keeping it out of our lives as best we can is the only way to avoid that temptation. "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." ~1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)
3. Resist with the Word of truth: You can't resist temptation without knowing the truth, so spend time regularly reading the bible. If you regularly read the bible, you are better prepared to fight off temptation. "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." ~Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) We have a weapon that we can use to fight off our sins! "⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." ~2 Corinthians 10 (NIV)
4. Refocus with praise: It's hard to focus on your sins when you are praising God. Praising God takes your focus off of yourself and others, and puts it on God. No one is strong enough to fight temptation alone, but when you focus on God, He will give you the strength to walk away. There are many great praises to God in the bible (as we use the Word to fight off temptation), but check out Psalm 147.
5. Repent when you fail: You will sin. Everyone will sin. It's important to remember that when we do fall to temptation, that we ask for forgiveness of our sins. We need to continual repent (not necessarily quickly, that's where a relationship with God comes in) when we sin.

Sins are all on the same level. Some common sins that you struggle with could be what was talked about at FCWC. It is important to follow these steps when you are tempted with anything. This is one way that you can work on a relationship with God, which we'll talk about next week.