Satan knows that when you recognize him as the source of your temptation, he loses his advantage. He knows that when you understand he initiated the temptation you’ll recoil from it faster than if you think you have initiated it. Satan wants you to believe you yourself are the source of the temptation. If Satan approached you and said, ‘I’ve come to make you sin and feel condemned,’ your vulnerability to his temptations would evaporate! He won’t tell you that—but if you remember it you’ll have the advantage over him. As Paul puts it, ‘…we are not ignorant about Satan’s scheming.’ (2 Corinthians 2:11 GWT) Another misconception is that temptation is time lost and effort wasted. In long periods of temptation we feel like we’ve lost ground rather than gained it. This is important to understand! Withstanding temptation is ‘[fighting] the good fight of faith…’ (1 Timothy 6:12 NKJV), and that’s when God develops your character. ‘When all kinds of…temptations crowd into your lives…Realize that they come to…produce in you the quality of endurance…’ and when that happens, ‘…you will find you have become men [and women] of mature character…’ (James 1:2–4 PHPS) Indeed, your compensation goes far beyond your present development to the reaping of eternal rewards. ‘…be exceedingly glad on this account, though now for a little while you may be distressed by trials and suffer temptations, so that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested, [your faith] which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire.’ (1 Peter 1:6–7 AMP) Add to this God’s glorious guarantee: ‘Blessed is the man who endures temptation... he will receive the crown of life...’ (James 1:12 NKJV) You are Loved!
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