There are two ways for people to learn life-lessons from God. The best way is for us to give God permission to teach us the things we need to know. But, some of us are pretty hard-headed; we have to learn some things the hard way. God wants us to have a teachable attitude so He can just tell us things. He wants us to take His new training information and start praying and asking for the power to be able to get it into our lives. But, there are those of us who just can’t learn certain things the easy way.

God has committed Himself to honoring our decisions; He is determined to maintain our God-given freedom of will. So, when we insist on doing things the way WE feel would be best for us, He allows us to go ahead and make our own decisions. These human decisions lead us into tough situations where the temptation to do wrong is strong.

James 1:13-14 (NIV) When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted WHEN, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. God, Himself, will never tempt us to do wrong; however, He will allow us to go our own way for a time. During this time, we will experience temptations to do wrong things. We will be allowed to see what it is like to start running our own life again. This helps us see how important it is for us to allow God to do His will in our earthly life like it is done in heaven.

The temptation to do wrong or evil things is strong inside us. Addictive pleasure comes our way, when we yield to temptation. God has healed your desire so you now “want” to do good to and for yourself and other people; however, your body still has a desire of its own. The Bible explains it this way in Romans 7:22-23: For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. Your inner being is the real you; you ARE a spirit being, you LIVE IN a body, and you HAVE a soul.

It isn’t a sin to be tempted; it is only a sin if you yield to the temptation. As you continue to study God’s Word, you will be trained on how to deal with the problems that Christians face with their bodies. You will be able to spend time being trained through the “Living Victoriously” courses. There you will get the Scriptures you need to help you with the temptations your body will be receptive to. Living Victoriously courses will help you add these Scriptures and Biblical concepts to your prayers.