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Gen. 39:10 - She kept putting pressure on him day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible. NLT
In our text above Joseph, who was a slave in Egypt, found himself facing the pressures that come from the sexual nature. He was a handsome young man and his boss' wife wanted to have a sexual relationship with him, but Joseph would not be seduced. If you ever find yourself facing the pressure that comes form sexual temptations you better have a plan to help you get away.
If there is a pressure that is being applied to you see if you can use the Joseph method and avoid the area where it is coming. This won't always work because some times the pressure is coming from where you work, go to school or even live. When people asked me how I was able to leave the partying life and become a Christian so easily I always tell them that I CHANGED MY ENVIRONMENT. I quit going to the bars and associating with the people who used drugs and alcohol. I started associating with other Christians. If it is possible a change of friends, and places you go will greatly help you overcome some types of pressure.
Pressure comes when someone calls upon you to do a task for which you are not prepared. If you have to take an important test and haven't studied, you feel pressure grind as you trudge off to class. However, if you have cracked your books, you are disappointed when you learn the professor has cancelled the exam. The key to staying pressure free is being prepared for the situation that you are about to face. Joseph had prepared himself mentally and spiritually so that when the situation did arise he departed. In Joseph's case the best thing he could do was RUN AWAY from the pressure. He did exactly what the Apostle Paul would say many years later. 1 Corin. 6:18 - Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. NASU
Identify what you believe are the top three things that are putting pressure on you today and then make a plan that helps you to be prepared to conquer them.
1 Corin. 10:13 - No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. NIV If you will take the word "temptation" and translate it "pressure" because we know temptations bring their own type of pressure. You will be able to see that God permits pressure to come into our lives to make us stronger. When the pressure becomes too great He will provide a way for you to escape. Be prepared and overcome the pressures in life that you will face and when you do you will be glad that you stayed the course.
I don’t know about you but that really sounds cool to me. If Jesus is preparing a place for me then I want to go and see what it looks like. He is also preparing a place for you and I hope you want to go and see it also. Think About These: You can either worry about the future or prepare for it. No man ever reached excellence in any one art or profession without having passed through the slow and painful process of study and preparation. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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John 8:34 - Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. NASU
When the devil comes at us with temptations he generally starts off very slowly enticing us to do that which is wrong. If you talk with an alcoholic or a drug addict they don't usually start out by drinking a bottle of whiskey or sticking a needle in their arms. The alcoholic usually starts out drinking a few beers and gets what is called a "buzz". He may get totally inebriated and say I am never going to do that again. That usually lasts until one of his buddy's calls him and tells him of their new laid plans. The drug addict most likely started out smoking a joint and when that doesn't supply him with the "high" he is looking for the only thing to do is move to something a little stronger. You may know someone that is an addict and you can remember them before they ever got as we say "hooked" on drugs. The odds are "sin" never left them off where it first picked them up. Genesis 4:5-8 - So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." 8 Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Sin picked Cain up when he was angry with his brother Abel. When it released him he was a murderer.
I think about the different people who have been charged with embezzlement. I wonder how much money did they steal the first time and get away with it? Did their thoughts say we only need to do this one time to get me out of this financial hole? So then another plan was devised and more money was stolen until it seemed so easy and they never thought they would get caught. This reminds me of the Old Testament story of Joseph and his brothers where they sold him to some Ishmaelites. Gen. 42:21-23 - Then they said to one another, "Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us." 22 Reuben answered them, saying, "Did I not tell you, 'Do not sin against the boy'; and you would not listen? Now comes the reckoning for his blood." Joseph has been gone for many years but you will notice they had been living with a guilty conscience and could not get away from it. They thought they could just sell their brother and that would be the end of it, but that isn't how sin works my friends. Now that they had given into the temptation to sell their brother and lie to their father about Joseph's body being killed by a wild animal. They had to live with what they did and a guilty conscience to go with it. They were corralled by sin and they weren't getting free. Genesis 4:7- "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." As we go through life we have an enemy and it is sin. It is crouching at our door and it wants to pounce on us because it has a desire to conquer us. The good news is Moses informs us we can master it. Just say, "NO!" and get away from the temptation as fast as you can. We must remember it is easier to be conquered by sin if we are where we are not supposed to be. King David sinned with Bathsheba because he was where he wasn't supposed to be (2 Sam.11:1). Think About These: A Christian has not lost the power to sin but the desire to sin. Confessing your sins is no substitute for forsaking them. Sin deceives, then defiles, then deadens. (Part 2 Next Week) Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Luke 4:1-2 - Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. NASU
Once a person is baptized into Christ they can expect the devil to bring all types of temptations before them for the sole purpose of getting them to give up on their faith in Jesus.
Praise God for His strength to overcome every temptation. There is only one way people were going to be able arrive safely on Heaven's shores and that was if Jesus could remain sinless. He is the world's perfect sacrifice because He never sinned.
You and I do not have to go through our trials and temptations alone. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and He will bring scripture to our memories to help us fight off the temptations the devil brings our way. It was with scripture that Jesus defeated the evil one and so it will be with us. We also have Christians we can call when we are being tempted and share with them what we are presently going through. It is during these times other Christians will pray with and for us. They will also share scriptures with us to give us strength and encourage us just by their being there. I John 4:4 says, "…greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." When Moses was leading the children of Israel out of the Egypt God protected them with a Pillar of Fire and a Pillar of a Cloud. Exodus 14:13 - Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. NIV We know how this story ends. God parted the Red Sea and they walked across on dry land and after all the Israelites were safe the seas collapsed and killed the Egyptians. God had saved the Israelites. God will save us.
Think About These: By yielding to temptation one may lose in a moment what it took a lifetime to gain. Few speed records are broken when people run away from temptations. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Matt 4:1-4 -Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'" NASU
Therefore temptation and sin cannot be the same thing. When you are tempted don't succumb to the thinking well I have been tempted I might as well do it. No. Just because you have been tempted that doesn't mean you might as well participate in sinning that is known as faulty thinking. Temptation is NOT the same as sinning.
Do you want to defeat the temptations the devil throws at you? Then know the Word of God that pertains to your specific temptation. Let me give you an example: suppose you have had a problem with " lying, anger, stealing, or profanity". The apostle Paul gives us a scripture for us to memorize when any of those four temptations come after you. Ephesians 4:25-29 - Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. We are told not to lie. Lay it aside or have nothing to do with lying and speak the truth. Maybe you have had a problem with anger. Well, good news, being angry is not a sin, but what you do with that anger or what you allow the anger to do to you might lead you into sin. Be angry Paul says, but don't sin. If you have had a problem with stealing as some did in Ephesus. Paul informs those who stole to "steal no longer". How is your speech? Is it filled with profanity, or maybe you are a gossip, a slanderer, or a backbiter? All of these are unwholesome ways your words can be used and they are not to proceed out of the mouth of a Christian.
Know the Word of God and when you are tempted, you can defeat that temptation by applying the Word to that specific situation. Think About This: By yielding to temptation one may lose in a moment what it took a lifetime to acquire. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Eph 4:26 - BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, NASU
Mark 3:4-5 - And He said to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?" But they kept silent. 5 After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. NASU
Jesus, according to Mark, was angry with the Pharisees attitude in regard to healing on the Sabbath. Jesus was there to heal people and it didn't matter to Him if the healing took place on the Sabbath or not. The way I have said it for years is like this: "It is never wrong to do what is right." What mattered to Jesus was a good deed was done and this glorified God.
I believe this to be a very important issue. You must identify what causes you to become angry. Many people have called Jesus' anger "righteous indignation". I have no problem with anyone calling His anger that. The question for us is "Could our anger be called righteous indignation"?
Driving laws in our country have been changed because Candace used her anger in a positive way. The apostle Paul said, we can be angry we just can't allow our anger to lead us into sinning. Candace allowed her anger to be used in a positive way. So maybe you have been cheated or robbed in some way as Candace was robbed of years with her daughter. It is okay to be angry but don't allow your anger to become sin.
The best solution is learning how to ventilate properly. Let's say you are driving and the person driving the car in front of you is going to slow according to you. How are you going to ventilate what you are feeling? You can get closer and do what they call "riding their bumper" or when you get an opportunity to pass you cut back in real close to them to let them know you don't appreciate how they are driving. OR You could think and say to yourself is God trying to slow me down to save me from a serious accident up ahead? One passenger who was supposed to be on ValuJet Flight 592 from Miami to Atlanta where all 110 people on board were killed. He said, he was yelling and screaming at all the cars that were in front of him for not driving "fast enough" according to him. He said the realization of the crash hit him hard as he stood in the airport and heard the report of the crash of ValuJet Flight 592. All those cars that were in his way were now the reason he was still alive. James 1:19-20 - But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. NASU
I hope you have an anger free week, but if you don't then be angry but don't sin. Think On These: "Anger" is one letter short of danger. For every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness. Striking while the iron is hot maybe okay, but don't strike while the head is hot. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Share this Pump Up with others by Sharing on Your Facebook Page or Forwarding to a friend. |
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