Part of the Lord’s Prayer mentions, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13).
It’s amazing to think about the fact that every act of your life is motivated by a spiritual force. So, the question for today is, “Who is controlling you?” Or we might ask, “What is motivating you?”
I am a lover of cake! Old classic cake flavors are “Devil’s Food” and “Angel’s Food.” So, aside from the dessert, which sort of food are you feeding your body? What spirit is being satisfied through your soul?
If the spirit of the enemy is allowed to work in you, then you are grieving the Holy Spirit; something the Bible tells us not to do (Ephesians 4:30, 1 Thessalonians 5:19). Any time you allow the enemy to work his will through your mind or body, you grieve the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit also desires to use you; He wants to use you for God’s glory and God’s service. The Spirit provides a gift for you to use in the service of God. The Holy Spirit’s purpose is not to dominate you or crush you, but to fulfill you.
Satan desires to use you for his own purpose, as a pawn in his hand to laugh in God’s face. He desires to use you, abuse you, and then refuse you. You are in a state of living death when you give in to the enemy’s purpose.
Temptation is Satan’s tool for getting you to do things that you really don’t want to do. Deep inside your spirit, you know that what he is tempting you to do is wrong. The worst and most hardened criminals in our world today know they have done wrong, and they often blame others for their actions. They may act as if they don’t care about the fact that they’ve done wrong, been caught, or are facing serious consequences, but deep inside, they have to know. They knew when they were doing wrong that what they were doing was wrong.
Satan’s lie is that you have a right to do wrong. Society is at fault. You have a right to get even with society. Your daddy is at fault. You have a right to rebel against him. Your boss is at fault. You have a right to steal from him or cheat him. God is at fault. He made you this way. You have a right to act the way you do because He made you with this temper, this anger, this lust, this desire.
God’s Word says that you have a right to choose. Joshua said to the Israelites, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve … as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15). You have a right to choose, a free will, a mind that can make a conscious decision. But none of us have a right to sin.
My challenge today, is to make sure that you are yielding the control of your life only to God. Eat a bit more “angel’s food” and see how your life can change. Imagine how our lives, marriages and families can be different if we totally yield to the will of God.
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