Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan. Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save. (Collect from the Book of Common Prayer).

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Heb. 4:15 ESV)

This is holy ground. It’s holy because Christ is here. He is here to meet each one of us in any and all our temptations. I was struck as I sat down to write today’s post (which is the third in a series on temptation) that each and every one of us is so dear and precious to the Lord. I was drawn to simply pray and wait. I do have responses to the points about temptation that I wrote about yesterday, but I want to be very careful to not reduce our struggles to ‘fill in the blank” answers. We each have our own story, and we each have our own needs. More than 6 steps to freedom, we need the triune God to come and be with us, to listen and to show us the astonishing, outrageous love that was given for us at the Cross. This is our Lenten journey – to give all that we have and are to our beloved Jesus; to walk with him this path to Calvary – and beyond.  

Yet there is wisdom in being practical, especially with our struggles with sin and temptations. It clears the mind and can strengthen our wills and affections.

From the list yesterday these are possible ways of helping us deal with temptation:

1. Temptation breeds in the indecisive will.

               Be decisive. Settle the sin question. By that I mean, having wrestled with your conscience and through listening to God you know what sin lies on the other side of temptation. I really don’t like talking so much about my own struggles – but those that know me well know my problems in the car. It runs the gamut from simply being impatient with other drivers to yelling, throwing my hands up… I think I’ll stop there. Ugh. There are two things I know I must do about this problem. One – be clear on what the sin is when I act out my frustration. The second will come up a little later, but I know I am not going to fix this problem in the car. I tried pretending the person in front of me was someone I loved dearly, but that didn’t last long. I knew that my aggressive driving had nothing to do with what happened in the car. Please know friends, I am not trying to trivialize temptation or sin. This is a long standing challenge for me.

With that, we need to pray for the strengthening of our wills. We know, don’t we, that when our wills are weak, we will most likely not make good decisions. We need the supernatural work of the Spirit, not only in our minds or hearts, but especially in our wills. Pray this every day if you must.

2. Temptation relies on impulsivity. (Do it now, don’t think, just act).

               Be prepared. Have a plan. In some ways, though, this is more than having a plan. This kind of impulsivity can often indicate a problem in our character. There are good spiritual practices that will help us here. Slow down on the Amazon purchases. Amazon knew what they were doing when they added the buy now swipe button. You don’t know about that? Well, you didn’t hear it from me! In other less fraught moments, practice delayed gratification. It will make a difference in the battle over your temptation.

3. Temptation calls us to numb anxieties and fears.

               Be present. Know your heart. I have chronic migraines and often I know one is coming long before the actual pain starts. I’ve learned the triggers, and I’ve learned the signs. I think we can do that with our anxieties and fears. Learn our own personal triggers and signs. This is an area that requires much prayer and help. Do the hard soul work required here. It truly does help us in the grip of temptation to know what’s going on in our hearts.

4. Temptation thrives on procrastination.

               This is my wheelhouse (look it up). This is one of the hardest challenges in my life. I am always starting my new plan next Monday, the day after my birthday… I would imagine most of us struggle with this. I’m not at all sure that the answer to this is simply to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and just do it. It would serve us well to understand what might be driving that procrastination. It could be depression, or trauma or simply a way to shut down. Make this an intention in your prayer life. Listen to God, others, and seek help.  

               I think there is great wisdom in simply being careful and intentional about our responsibilities. Procrastination aims at shutting the voices out that shame us. I think this temptation is so deceitful because we think we are only delaying the action. But in fact, we are running away from the demands placed on us either by ourselves or other people.

There’s wisdom in being careful. Deuteronomy talks about being careful to do what God commands over 23 times. Slow things down. Listen to what stands in the way. Be careful. I love this verse in particular.

4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.

Deuteronomy 13:4 (ESV)

You shall follow, fear, keep, obey, serve and hold fast to him!

5. Temptation counts on us isolating.

               Hear this carefully. It is not just sin that isolates us (which of course it does) but the temptation itself. We might be so deeply ashamed of our temptations and feel that they have to be so much worse than anyone else’s. Christians shouldn’t struggle. Friends, this is exactly the place where we need each other. We need prayer partners, companions on this journey of life. Find someone who will help with accountability, and by that I mean someone you can call while in the midst of the temptation – not to judge you, but to stand with you before the Cross and be a witness to what God can do!

6. Temptation can trigger despair.

                Even the temptation, which has not given birth to sin can trigger despair. This is so difficult, and so tragic. But, know friend, there is a way back to hope. Hold on, press in, practice His presence, call a friend. I will be writing about virtues that can help us on this journey soon, but one virtue that helps us here is fortitude. “It’s the virtue that allows us to overcome fear and to remain steady in our will in the face of obstacles.” Hans von Balthazar writes this:

               “Hence the importance of patience in the New Testament, which becomes the basic constituent of Christianity, more central even than humility: the power to wait, to persevere, to hold out, to endure to the end, not to transcend one’s own limitations, not to force issues by playing the hero or the titan, but to practice the virtue that lies beyond heroism, the meekness of the Lamb which is led”. Hans von Balthazar

Finally friends, while it is very helpful to think about and act on some of these helpful suggestions, we know that our true and lasting help comes from above.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2

We will end here, with this quote,

When we are tempted and seek to know and love God, and like Moses long to see His glory, and out of that occupation of our minds have no further love for that previous temptation, we have experienced something of the reality of the very highest form of freedom from sin. It is one thing to love sin and to force ourselves to quit it; it is another thing to hate sin because love for God is so gripping that the sin no longer appeals. Jim Ellif