James 1:12-15 NIV Victory over Temptation
“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. 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. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”
With Perseverance over temptation means having victory when temptations came. temptations are from Satan, the evil one, its goal is to make people fell, hurts, drift away from God, to be punished, etc, etc, all these are destructive results of temptation. Satan used the twisted word of God to tempt Jesus, the Satan wished that Jesus would follow him, not to God. Jesus applied the word of God to fend off Satan, Jesus persevered over temptations. Whereas trial or test is a strengthening process, trial strengthen the faith and the will. Learn to trust God in time of adversities. Such as the faith and obedience of Abraham was tested by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. Because of his faith and obedience, the whole household of Abraham was blessed richly. Temptation is negative, it is destructive. Contrary, trial or test is positive, it help people grow to maturity. We should not wandering among temptations. It makes people lost their sensitivity and fall into the traps without knowing, the end results is punishment.
The lust of eyes, lust of flesh, self-indulgence and pride are examples or temptation. These will lead us to indulgence and corruption. Gradually, we lost our desire to seek purity, to seek after God’s pleasing life style. We should never underestimate the power of temptation. We need to be sober and alert, apply God’s word and teaching to discern the suggestion and requests from other people. Do not be intimidated by temptation, trust in God is vital, God helps us to win the battles. We have to be careful that temptations came in various forms. We should never compromise with temptation, no matter big or small, Lest we lost our alertness and fall into being victims of Satan scheme. We need to be aware that we may even formulate self-pleasing excuses which lead us drifting away from God without knowing, We ask God to give us wisdom and power to have victorious life, the life with victory over Satan.