{"id":35990,"date":"2022-09-13T12:36:47","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T17:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/what-is-the-importance-of-temptations-to-a-christian-namibia\/"},"modified":"2022-09-13T12:36:47","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T17:36:47","slug":"what-is-the-importance-of-temptations-to-a-christian-namibia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/what-is-the-importance-of-temptations-to-a-christian-namibia\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the importance of temptations to a Christian? (Namibia)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>James 1:2-4 (CSB), &ldquo;Consider it a<strong> great joy<\/strong>, my brothers and sisters, whenever you <strong>experience various trials (<em>including temptations<\/em>)<\/strong>, 3 because you know that the <strong>testing of your faith produces endurance<\/strong>. 4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be <strong>mature and complete<\/strong>, lacking nothing.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>These scriptures in James teach we should<strong> be joyful <\/strong>(<em>although not at the moment of suffering &#8211; but afterward<\/em>) because we will learn to <strong>lean on God for help<\/strong>. As we<strong> see God&rsquo;s power<\/strong> working in our lives, our<strong> faith<\/strong> grows as does our<strong> endurance<\/strong>. Philippians 2:13 (NKJV), &ldquo;it is <strong>God who works in you <\/strong>both <strong>to will<\/strong> and <strong>to do <\/strong>for His good pleasure.&rdquo; This results in becoming a <strong>mature<\/strong>, Christ-like follower of Jesus.<\/p>\n<p>A <strong>temptation <\/strong>is a specific kind of trial which tries to <strong>entice a person to sin<\/strong>. James 1:12-15 (NKJV), &ldquo;<strong>Blessed<\/strong> is the man who<strong> endures temptation<\/strong>; for when he has been approved, he will <strong>receive the crown of life <\/strong>which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, &lsquo;I am tempted by God&rsquo;; for God cannot be tempted by evil,<strong> nor does He Himself tempt anyone<\/strong>. 14 But each one is tempted when he <strong>is drawn away by his own desires and enticed<\/strong>. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives <strong>birth to sin<\/strong>; and sin, when it is full-grown, <strong>brings forth death<\/strong>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>God never tempts anyone with evil. The <strong>temptation comes from within<\/strong>, from the desires of our sinful flesh. How can we overcome our sinful desires? Recognize you can&rsquo;t overcome through your own strength. Pray to God for help. Then<strong> turn your will and your life over to Him<\/strong>. You could make a list of all the ways <strong>you have hurt others and yourself<\/strong> by succumbing to this sinful temptation. Share your list with a trusted friend. Then go and <strong>apologize to the people you have hurt<\/strong>. These steps will <strong>cause you to grieve.<\/strong> Then you will earnestly avoid repeating the tempting behavior.<\/p>\n<p>2 Corinthians 7:11 (NLT), &ldquo;Just see what this <strong>godly sorrow produced in you<\/strong>! Such <strong>earnestness<\/strong>, such <strong>concern to clear yourselves<\/strong>, such <strong>indignation<\/strong>, such<strong> alarm,<\/strong> . . . such <strong>zeal<\/strong>, . . . You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>James 1:2-4 (CSB), &ldquo;Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials (including temptations), 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.&rdquo;&nbsp; These scriptures in James teach we &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/what-is-the-importance-of-temptations-to-a-christian-namibia\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;What is the importance of temptations to a Christian? (Namibia)&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35990\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}