SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 08-25-03
My
Worship Time Focus: Consider God’s
Judgment
My
Worship Time Reference: James 1:13-16
Message
of the verse: “13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am
being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself
does not tempt anyone.” (NASB)
The focus
that is written down is the focus on verses 13-16, and I am only going to look
at verse 13 today. The word for tempted
and the word for trial that has been used in the previous section (2-12) comes
from the same root word in the Greek.
“Tempt 29, try 4, tempter 2, prove 1, assay 1, examine 1, go about 1”
These are some of the definitions that Strong’s Concordance gives for this
word. The reason that I bring this up is
that James uses this section to describe temptation, where as he used the first
section to describe trials. There is a
difference between trials or tests, and temptations, however a trial can become a temptation
if the believer tries to handle it on his own, and not trust the Lord to
bring about good from the trial.
Temptations come from Satan, and he uses the fallen nature to accomplish
temptation in a believer’s life. In
1Corthians 10:13 Paul writes about temptations and has this to say, “No
temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful,
who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the
temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure
it.” James goes on to give the believer
three facts that must be considered if believers are to overcome
temptations. The first one is Consider
God’s Judgment, (1:13-16), Consider God’s Goodness (1:17), & Consider God’s
Divine Nature Within (1:18).
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I have
learned the difference between trials and temptations from this verse in James,
and I believe that knowing this will help me to mature as a believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
The Word of God has certainly challenged by heart today, as
well as instructed me too.
My
Steps of Faith Today: Not
to allow trials to cause me to give in to temptations.
No comments:
Post a Comment