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Show me a man that is labeled an overcomer and I will show you a man that has been tempted, tried, persecuted and conquered. We can not talk about overcoming without been tempted. They are both sides of a coin.
As humans we are always tempted in doing things we are not supposed to do. Oftentimes, we are helpless to the situation. In a world full of sin, with fleshy lusts and desires we will always be tempted. There would always be the temptation to steal, lie, commit adultery, and other sinful act.
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There are several occasions where i found myself doing the things i said I wouldn’t do. For instance, I know what sugar does to me each time i take but because of its sweetness I always get tempted to use it and the aftermath is usually terrible ( I usually sneak to use it..Pls don’t tell anyone… Smiles).
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Temptation is the process of giving into negative wills that often leads​ to the occurance of sin. Through temptation the enemy (satan) is able to achieve his goals . Evil thrives through tempting good people. Christians are continuosly waging war with sin.
Evil and suffering have extensively filled our world today. It has lead to many Christians asking the reason as to why God has allowed the evil to have a place in the world.
God is a perfect maker, he looked at his creation after creating them and saw that all he has created is good ” Genesis 1:31“. God doesn’t tempt us neither is evil associated with him. The outpour of evil in the world today is as a result of man’s choices. God made us like himself, he gave us the gift of freewill, it’s up to us to either choose good or evil.  God created humans in his image. Genesis 1:28 Unlike animals, which act mainly on instinct, we resemble our Creator in our capacity to display such qualities as love and justice. And like our Creator, we have free will. We must not forget that Eve made a choice, the wrong one at that when she was tempted by the devil and the consequences was disastrous, thank God for his saving grace in the person of his son Jesus Christ otherwise, you and I will still be in the bondage of that sin.
I strongly feel that if there is no evil, there would be no temptation. Do you?
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To a large extent, we can determine our future. We can choose to either resist temptation or fall into it. The Bible encourages us to “choose life . . . by listening to [God’s] voice,” that is, by choosing to obey his commands. Deuteronomy 30:19,20. This offer would be meaningless, even cruel, if we lacked free will. Instead of forcing us to do what he says, God warmly appeals to us: “O if only you would actually pay attention to my commandments! Then your peace would become just like a river.”—Isaiah 48: 18.
Temptation, in all seriousness feels wrong. God’s moral law is boldly written in the heart of every human being Romans 1:20,  and when a sinful temptation is introduced, our consciences immediately sense danger. However, the temptation itself is not the sin. Jesus was tempted Mark 1:13; Luke 4:1-13, but He never sinned Hebrews 4:15. Sin occurs when we mishandle temptation.
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There are two ways by which we are tempted:
Satan and our own sinful flesh. Do we still remember the story of Ananias and his wife? That’s a typical example of people who were tempted by satan. Sapphira, wanting to appear more spiritual than they really were, lied to the apostles and pretended they were giving as an offering the full price of some property they had sold. Peter confronted them: “How is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?”(verse 3). In this instance, Peter knew that the temptation to lie had come from Satan. Ananias and his wife both gave in to that temptation (verses 7-10). The betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot is also attributed to Satan’s influence (Luke 22:3; John 13:2).
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Ultimately, since Satan is the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and the father of lies (John 8:44), all evil originates with him and from him. However, our own selfish nature is an ally of Satan’s. We need no prompting from Satan to entertain sinful ideas. James 1:13-14 says, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.”
Even though we may desire to do good, we are all tempted. No one is above it, even someone like the apostle Paul. He shared his own struggle of flesh against spirit when he wrote in Romans 7:22-23, “For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.”
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Temptation is not of itself sinful. It becomes sin when we allow the temptation to become action, even in our minds. Lust, for example, is a sin even though it may never be acted upon Matthew 5:28. Covetousness, pride, greed, and envy are all sins of the heart; even though they may not be visible to everyone else, they are still sin Romans 1:29; Mark 7:21-22. When we give in to the temptation to entertain such thoughts, they take root in our hearts and defile us Matthew 17:19. When we yield to temptation, we replace the fruit of the Spirit with the fruit of the flesh Ephesians 5:9; Galatians 5:19-23. And, many times, what was first entertained as a thought becomes action. We can see more clarification in James 1:15.
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The best defense mechanism against giving in to temptation is to flee at the first suggestion. This is often the hardest part.  Joseph is a great example of someone who did not allow temptation to become sin (Genesis 39:6-11). Although tempted to sin sexually, he did not give the temptation time to take root. He used the legs God gave him and physically fled. Rather than stay in a potentially dangerous situation and try to talk, reason, justify, explain, or otherwise weaken his resolve, Joseph took off. The temptation was not sin for him because he dealt with it in a God-honouring way. It could easily have become sin if Joseph had stayed around to try to match his wits and self-control against the power of the flesh. This is what most of us try to do in the face of temptations.
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Romans 13:13-14 gives us a guideline for avoiding situations that can lead to temptation. “Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” If we are determined to “make no provision for the flesh,” we will keep ourselves out of situations that may prove too tempting believe me. But when we put ourselves in compromising situations where we know we will and can be tempted, we are asking for trouble. God promises to provide a “way of escape” when we are tempted 1 Corinthians 10:13, but oftentimes​, that way is to avoid the situation altogether. “Flee the evil desires of youth” 2 Timothy 2:22. Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation” Luke 11:4, but we have a responsibility to pay attention to the direction God is leading us and avoid temptations as much as we can.
#Its all about choices……Choose right and Consider what you stand to loose!

Whitney Edna Ibe is the Executive Consultant, Life & Mental Health Coach, and Writer/ Editor at Whitney Edna Ibe Consult (Blog), Flyhiee.com, The Social Talks, Penprofile.com, and Mental Wellness Society International. She is in charge of consultations, services, and implementation.

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