Day 27: Defeating Tempation

I must have gone back yesterday's reading (Growing in Temptation) and today's reading (Defeating Temptation) at least three times now.

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[from day 26: growing in temptation.]

"...Temptation becomes a stepping stone rather than a stumbling block when you realize that it is just as much an occasion to do the right thing as it is to do the wrong thing. Tempation simply provides the choice. While templtation is Satan's primary weapon to destroy you, God wants to use it to develop you. Every time you choose to do good instead of sin, you are growing in the character of Christ."

"...God develops the fruit of the Spirit in you life by allowing you to experience circimstances in which you are tempted to express the exact opposite quality! Character development always involves a choice, and temptation provides that opportunity.

"For instance, God teaches us love by putting some unlovely people around us. It takes no character to love people who are lovely and loving to you. God teaches us joy in the midst of sorrow, when we turn to him... God develops real peace within us, not by making things go the way we planned, but by allowing times of chaos and confusion. Anyone can be peaceful watching a beautiful sunset or relaxing on vacation. We learn real peace by choosing to trust God in circumstances in which we are tempted to worry or be afraid. Likewise, patience is developed in circumstances in which we're forced to wait and are tempted to be angry or have a short fuse.

"God uses the opposite situation...to allow us a choice. You can't claim to be good if you've never been tempted to be bad. You can't claim to be faithful if you've never had the opportunity to be unfaithful. Integrity is built by defeating the temptation to be dishonest; humility grows when we refuse to be prideful; endurance develops every time you reject the temptation to give up."

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[must unplug -- class now -- blog ya later!]