Seeking Jesu First - Nov. 19, 2022
Tribulation is like weather. It rains on the just and on the unjust. Tribulation happens in the earth because there is a devil and people can choose good or evil. Temptation is what our flesh or unrestored soul wants to do in response to tribulation.
Tribulation creates a real or perceived need in our life. We are tempted by our own desires to selfishly meet our own need instead of trusting God to do it or to lead us into the solution. “Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
James 1:12-18 “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”
- Temptation s something that takes our attention off of Christ Jesus and His word, will and ways. It is not necessarily a thing that people consider evil that tempts us.
- James defines temptation as that which our own lust uses to take us into sin.
- Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
- We may be tempted to doubt God’s Word or God’s character. Temptation is anything that hinders your faith in God..
- We may be tempted to doubt what God says about us.
Temptation is also translated as testing and trial. So, temptation, testing and trial is the result of us following our own lustful desires. Let no one say when he is tempted, tested and tried that it is coming from God. Simple, don’t ever say that again. No form of temptation is the result of God sending it. God allows what we allow.
- Offense and injustice may invoke the desire to be bitter or vengeful.
- Being injured or getting sick can invoke doubt in God’s promise of divine health.
- Feelings of loneliness can invoke the desire to take fleshly action and leave “The Rest” of God’s Presence.
Resisting temptation can be simply saying, “Yes” to God, and “No” to that which derails your faith in God and His word. Saying, “Yes”, to God is the equivalent of saying, “No”, to the devil. We focus our attention on Jesus, and in doing so, our attention is off the devil. When a devil tries to get between us and Christ, we say “No, I bind and cast you out.” When a devil tries to get between us and the promise of God, we say, “No, I bind and cast you out.” And we go right back into focusing on Jesus and His Word.
The one who endures temptation will receive the crown of life and the promises of God. “Endure” means to persevere or to stay back. So the one who does not follow after or give in to temptation will receive the crown of life and the promises of God.
This is not legalism. This is a relationship with a Father who wants the best for us. He has promised the best for us. He has paid for the best for us. He is leading us into the best for us. Your enemy wants to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus has come to give you life and life more abundantly.
The Father has no darkness or variableness in Him. He is always the same. And He is always giving us every good and perfect gift. Ephesians says that God has given us every spiritual blessing in the spirit. Every spiritual blessing is without a doubt every word of promise. All of the promises are in Him, “Yes!” It glorifies The Father to manifest the promise in us.
Sickness and pain are not good and perfect gifts (neither is financial lack). They are tribulations. They are tied to sin in Scripture. It is an attack of the destroyer as Jesus said in John 10:10. Even Paul calls persecution, tribulation and sickness a messenger of satan. To accept sickness as coming from God is to lose faith in God’s character. God will most definitely teach you something in sickness if your focus is on Him, but He did not tempt you with sickness so He could teach you. God is always a good Father who is correcting and teaching us by His Spirit. Jesus said that Holy Spirit is the teacher who lives in us. Sickness is not a teacher; sickness is a trial.
Sin brings forth death - God doesn’t..
Sin brings forth sickness - God doesn’t.
When we sow to the flesh, of the flesh we reap corruption. It doesn’t say we reap it of God but of the flesh. God is not the author of sin or sickness. We resist sickness in the same manner that we resist sin. We say “Yes” to every spiritual blessing and “No” to every demonic attempt to take our focus off of Christ Jesus and His Word of Promise.
We are not saying that sickness is or is not the result of our own sin. It is the result of sin in general. Adam’s sin unleashed sin, sickness and death on humanity. But, just as Jesus dealt with sin on the cross, the Bible says that Jesus bore away our sicknesses and carried away our infirmities and diseases. Why would Jesus bare them away only to give them back to us? He doesn’t.
Your adversary the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He throws tribulation and persecution and trial at us. But we don’t answer the door when he comes knocking. We just go right on up to the throne of grace and obtain mercy and grace in our time of need.
We always have an advocate standing before The Father on our behalf, Jesus Christ The Righteous. If what is going on in our life is corruption from our own sins, we confess them and He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So we are free to enjoy every word of promise (every spiritual blessing). He who withheld not His only Son, how much more will He freely give us all good things?!