Kansas City, Missouri,
United States - Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - “Be Wise…Avoid
Temptations” – Thursday, 1 May 2014 - Scripture: Proverbs 7: 1 My son, keep my words.
Lay up my commandments within you.
2 Keep my commandments
and live!
Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them on your
fingers.
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Tell wisdom, “You are
my sister.”
Call understanding your relative,
5 that they may keep you
from the strange woman,
from the foreigner who flatters with her
words.
6 For at the window of
my house,
I looked out through my lattice.
7 I saw among the simple
ones.
I discerned among the youths a young man
void of understanding,
8 passing through the
street near her corner,
he
went the way to her house,
9 in the twilight, in
the evening of the day,
in the middle of the night and in the
darkness.
“Be Wise…Avoid
Temptations” by Carol Rittenhouse
Rarely does a person set
out to live a life of destruction. More often, poor choices are made one at a
time. There has often been confusion about whether temptation is a sin. The
simple answer is: no. Still, temptation isn’t harmless. James 1:14 tells us
that temptation comes from “evil” or uncontrolled desires. Temptation provides
fertile ground for the growth of sin and eventually death. Some may flirt with
temptation, believing that they have the power to overcome it. When resolve
gets weak and temptation persists, sin is the natural progression.
Certainly the power of
the Holy Spirit can help in resisting temptation. The truth in our passage
gives wise instruction: avoid temptation altogether. How is this possible? We
need to embrace “wisdom” as a “sister” and “insight” as a “relative” (v.4).
Then we will remain intimately connected (related) to God and God’s word
(v.1-2).
Jesus was confronted
with temptation and did not give in. Why? He answered the tempter from God’s
Word, rather than from his own desire. Jesus would not be distracted by
temptation. Struggling with temptation takes away energy and effort that we can
better use for God and His Kingdom.
Hymn for Today:
“I Need Thee Every Hour”
by Anne S. Hawks
1. I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
no tender voice like thine can peace afford.
Refrain:
I need thee, O I need thee;
every hour I need thee;
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee.
2. I need thee every hour; stay thou nearby;
temptations lose their power when thou art nigh.
Refrain:
I need thee, O I need thee;
every hour I need thee;
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee.
3. I need thee every hour, in joy or pain;
come quickly and abide, or life is vain.
Refrain:
I need thee, O I need thee;
every hour I need thee;
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee.
4. I need thee every hour; teach me thy will;
and thy rich promises in me fulfill.
Refrain:
I need thee, O I need thee;
every hour I need thee;
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee.
5. I need thee every hour, most Holy One;
O make me thine indeed, thou blessed Son.
Refrain:
I need thee, O I need thee;
every hour I need thee;
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee.
Thought for Today:
” Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil,
and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7).
Prayer Needs:
Many people in Chile
will come to know Jesus the Christ (Yeshua the Messiah) and receive the
fullness of the Holy Spirit.
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