Overcoming Temptation

Luke 22:45-46 KJV
And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

The following conversation ensued between a physician and his patient:

Doctor: how have you been feeling?

Patient: terrible.

Doctor: can you describe your feeling?

Patient: yes, yes, terrible headache most times, dizziness as if I’m going to fall and sometimes it appears the house just begins to rotate, it’s a really terrible expereince doctor.

Doctor: what have you been doing to handle the pain?

Patient: yea, just some pain relieving drugs and some rest and I get really relieved but it’s not working anymore.

After a series of tests, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and needed a brain surgery.

This patient managed the symptoms but left the cause unattended to, he got temporary relief but not a cure.

Many believers today are fruitlessly fighting temptation through methods such as confession, penance, increased church activities, and a pile of dos and don’ts, while they ignore the root cause of the weakness causing them to fall time and time again. But as pain in the body is not the problem but a sign of an underlying problem, so is falling into temptation, it’s a signal showing a deficiency in your prayer life. The spiritual strength required to resist temptation is made available through prayer.

Jesus told His disciple that Satan desired to sift him like wheat, but He had prayed for him and because He prayed, he overcame. See Luke 22:31-32.

Go into today knowing that it is only those who wait upon the Lord that get their strength renewed (Isa 40:31). We wait on the Lord through prayer.
Dr. Emmanuel James

Source: Devotional