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Sunday, 6th of March 2022
Otakada Content Count 2,220,530
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Perfect Temptation, Trials and Testing – What are the differences? How do we handle them? and True Stories of temptations, trials, and testing as perfect ingredients to outstanding testimonies
Hello friends, happy Sunday!
If you hear the word – Temptations, Trials and Testing, what comes to your mind? What are the differences? How do we handle them? And true stories to drive home the points. Let’s explore!
Before then, I ask you a question: – The Russian and Ukrainian war, is it a temptation, a trial or testing for the people of Ukraine, Russia and the World? Or The economic hardship, bad leadership, terrorism, sickness and diseases, lack, joblessness and hopelessness in your country, which of these can you classify as temptations, trails and testing for you and your nation?
Keep these questions in mind because they will help you develop answers that correspond to God’s mindset and eventually, perfect response that elicit divine endorsement and blessings as we explore the above title – Perfect Temptations, Trials and Testing – What are the differences? How do we handle them? and True Stories of temptations, trials, and testing as perfect ingredients to outstanding testimonies
If you missed our last title, “Perfect Stories – Are You Depressed? Suffering Waves of Attacks? – Don’t Quit! – Three Steps to dealing with Depression biblically + Prayer and Fasting for Oceania”, follow this link – https://www.otakada.org/dealing-with-depression-biblically/
Let’s begin our title today
TEMPTATIONS
Let’s start with temptations. Temptation is defined in the dictionary as “the desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise” The purpose of temptation is to bring out the worst in us… and for us to learn to overcome. Fortunately, God is our partner; He promises to bring us victory in the midst of our temptations — if we so choose. We can choose otherwise because the realm of the spirit respects our freewill. God, devils, angels or evil spirits respect our freewill to the extent of our submission – Good or bad.
It is written in the scriptures, and I quote, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Sometimes, the way of escape is to flee, read this
1 Corinthians 6:17-20
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
17 But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him.
18 Shun immorality and all sexual looseness [flee from impurity in thought, word, or deed]. Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
19 Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own,
20 You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.
Another rendition says, in 1 Corinthians 1 Corinthians 6:18 – Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
How we handle our temptations is a good indicator of our level of spiritual development. And it helps to come up with a plan.
So many of us, the male folks struggle with lust. I found that a good coping mechanism when we are tempted to lust after a beautiful woman is to immediately pray for her rather than lust for her – Better still – FLEE.
Remember, we cannot keep the birds from flying overhead; but, we certainly can keep them from nesting in our hair.
Here this from Jesus in, 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” (Matthew 5:27-30)
In the short scope of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus could only cover the most important of subjects. One which he selected was adultery. In our day adultery is rampant. Some estimate that half of husbands commit adultery sometime in their marriage, along with a third of wives. But the problem begins, Jesus teaches us, in the heart.
True story of deliverance of a missionary and a young Christian from lust – pornographic bookstore
If fornication is sin, why do Christians engage in it? Why is sexually immorality prevalent among the Body of Christ? And what’s the appropriate response?
Understanding the Culture
Everywhere we look we see the word SEX. Sexual immorality is not only blatant; it is subtle too. Magazine articles, books, movies, and videogames are enticing us. Even provocative dressing in church can distract even the most consecrated minds.
With each generation, we seem to have new ways to commit old sins. Now fornication is even portrayed in cartoons. This generation grapples with animated characters using perverse language and engaging in sexual immorality. Media is bold; I must screen what I watch. Fornication is an expected problem among unsaved youth. It’s horrifying when it becomes an epidemic in the church.
We have discovered the greatest battle among the youth in youth ministry was fornication. Their questions and personal stories were unbelievable. Clearly, we had failed them. They hardly concerned themselves with soul-winning and maturing in their Christian faith. They engulfed themselves in how much sin they could get away with. Christian youth are not the only ones struggling. Christian single adults face maintaining sexual purity while risking not being chosen because they uphold biblical principles.
Since the internet is awash with pornography and most people are or have engaged in fornication and adultery and other sexual perversions, I believe the spirit has a stronghold over many peoples’ lives.
Here is one true story of dealing with this spirit by a missionary in Japan and a young Christian man:
If you flirt with pornography, some satanic powers will corrupt and enslave your mind. It is an easy step from there to bind your life with lustful cravings that will enslave your body in sin with far deeper tyranny that the old nature could affect apart from demon power.
Recently a veteran missionary from Japan related the example of a fellow worker on the field who came under enslavement of an unclean spirit. The spirit gained entrance when the missionary yielded to temptation and began visiting a pornographic bookstore in Tokyo.
Yielding to the temptation and cultivating the sin of lust, the missionary became enslaved by a demon of uncleanness. Fortunately, he repented in time, and through prayer he was delivered. Otherwise, total shipwreck of his life and ministry would have been inescapable.
It was my privilege to participate with several other believers in a prayer session on behalf of a young born-again man who was severely troubled by demonic powers harassing him. Only as the demons were faced, forced to give their names, and challenged through the power of God’s Word and on the basis of Christ’s shed blood did it turn out that the vile spirits of lust were the most vexing and, in this case, the most resistant.
Only as the victim was commanded to come out of the demonized state of unconsciousness into which he had lapsed at the beginning of the prayer battle, and then as he consciously and firmly renounced any ground he had given the devil to invade his life and reassert his position in Christ, did the “unclean spirits” (cf. Mark 5:8-9) depart from him with frightful cries and horrible chokings.
TRIALS
The dictionary definition of trial is as follows: a test of the performance, qualities, or suitability of someone or something.
The purpose of trials is to refine our lives and leave us with a purer, stronger faith, as well as a character that God can bless and use.
“These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:7)
The result of trials is that, over time, we begin to look more and more like Jesus.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” (Romans 8:28-29)
Read this word from Jesus in, Mark 9:49-50
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
49 For everyone shall be salted with fire.
50 Salt is good (beneficial), but if salt has lost its saltness, how will you restore [the saltness to] it? Have salt within yourselves, and be at peace and live in harmony with one another.
Trials are painful and difficult by nature. But how we handle them makes all the difference.
We live in a fallen, broken world where hurricanes come, earthquakes occur, wars, terrorist attacks, armed robbery, corruption as a way of life has become the norm. God is credited for things with which he had nothing to do. Insurance companies call these things, “Acts of God.”
Sometimes things just happen in the natural order of events. Jesus said that “The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike.”
Trials can come from our own mistakes and errors.
Through neglect, inattention, and selfishness, King David ruined his entire family. He had at least seven marriages and destroyed them all. He ruined every child he ever had – they struggled with neglect, incest, murder, rape and rebellion.
Tragically, it was his fault!
David failed to handle his trials with character and strength. But don’t forget, God still called him “the man after His own heart.” God still loved him dearly.
God does designs—or allows—trials for the purpose of making us like Jesus.
A true story is told of a woman who reversed her car and ran over her 3 years old daughter
In the tabernacle after one of the services, a woman was weeping. Her husband said to me, “She is angry at everything you are saying.”
Finally, she opened up enough to tell me her story. She accidentally backed her car over her three-year-old daughter. Her daughter died in her arms with a crushed chest in less than three minutes. Her last words were, “Mommy, why did you do this?”
She glared at me. Are you telling me that “God is sufficient for this? Are you trying to tell me God let this happen on purpose?”
I wanted to say, “But, this wasn’t God’s doing, you did it.” But, of course, I didn’t say that. I wanted to say, “As tragic as this is, Jesus can even use this to mature you to look more like Him.”
I didn’t say any of that. This was not the time for a theological discussion. So, I did my best to comfort her in her trial.
Paul’s thorn—his greatest trial—originated with Satan. Three times he begged God for relief; unfortunately, God said, “No.”
Why? God told Paul that his trials were meant to keep him humble.
HOW to HANDLE or DEAL with TRIALS:
Hebrews 12 reveals the proper response to trials (three don’ts and one do):
Don’t get bitter.
Don’t get angry at God.
Don’t lose heart.
Do submit to God’s will, remember His love, and live.
Consider Peter. He began his journey with Jesus as a fisherman. He denied Jesus three times. Then when Jesus told him to wait in Jerusalem, he went back to fishing instead. But as he grew and matured in Christ—fighting through his trials—he developed into the shepherd of God’s church (John 21).
Read this as encouragement on how to handle trials:
Hebrews 12:1-17
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
12 Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,
2 Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Just think of Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself [reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds.
4 You have not yet struggled and fought agonizingly against sin, nor have you yet resisted and withstood to the point of pouring out your [own] blood.
5 And have you [completely] forgotten the divine word of appeal and encouragement in which you are reasoned with and addressed as sons? My son, do not think lightly or scorn to submit to the correction and discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage and give up and faint when you are reproved or corrected by Him;
6 For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes.
7 You must submit to and endure [correction] for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not [thus] train and correct and discipline?
8 Now if you are exempt from correction and left without discipline in which all [of God’s children] share, then you are illegitimate offspring and not true sons [at all].
9 Moreover, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we yielded [to them] and respected [them for training us]. Shall we not much more cheerfully submit to the Father of spirits and so [truly] live?
10 For [our earthly fathers] disciplined us for only a short period of time and chastised us as seemed proper and good to them; but He disciplines us for our certain good, that we may become sharers in His own holiness.
11 For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness—in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God].
12 So then, brace up and reinvigorate and set right your slackened and weakened and drooping hands and strengthen your feeble and palsied and tottering knees,
13 And cut through and make firm and plain and smooth, straight paths for your feet [yes, make them safe and upright and happy paths that go in the right direction], so that the lame and halting [limbs] may not be put out of joint, but rather may be cured.
14 Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord.
15 Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look [after one another], to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God’s grace (His unmerited favor and spiritual blessing), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it—
16 That no one may become guilty of sexual vice, or become a profane (godless and sacrilegious) person as Esau did, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.
17 For you understand that later on, when he wanted [to regain title to] his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected (disqualified and set aside), for he could find no opportunity to repair by repentance [what he had done, no chance to recall the choice he had made], although he sought for it carefully with [bitter] tears.
TESTS- TESTINGS
The dictionary defines test as follows:
A procedure intended to establish the quality, performance, or reliability of something, especially before it is taken into widespread use.
Or
Take measures to check the quality, performance, or reliability of (something), especially before putting it into widespread use or practice.
Remember this and remember good that God is the source of all tests.
Nevertheless, please note that tests and trials may look a lot alike.
The purpose of a test is so that both we and God learn whether or not we can assimilate and apply the lessons of living a godly life.
When God said, “Go sacrifice your son,” it was not the first-time Abraham’s faith was tested. God didn’t begin with “Go slay your boy.” He started with, “Why don’t you find a new house” and built from there. In a nutshell, He said to Abraham in
Genesis 12:1 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
12 Now [in Haran] the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself [for your own advantage] away from your country, from your relatives and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.
Let’s look at the series of test Abraham went through before the command to sacrifice his son – Isaac.
The home test: “Go to a land that I will show you.” Abraham Passed!
The famine test: Abraham arrived in the in Promised Land during a famine. Instead of staying there, he panicked and went to Egypt: Abraham Failed!
The flock test: Abraham offered the best pasture to his nephew, Lot. God honoured his decision. Abraham Passed!
The fortune test: The king of Sodom offered to make Abraham rich. He rejected the offer. Abraham Passed!
The family test: Abraham tried to fulfill God’s promise of descendants in his own earthly way, leading to tragic problems among Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael. Abraham Failed!
Read this in Genesis 17:1-2
American Standard Version
17 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
The Isaac test: Go sacrifice your son Isaac. Isaac was no child; he was most likely early in his twenties.
Imagine the pain Abraham endured. On the way to Mount Moriah, Isaac asked his dad, “We have the wood, fire, and the knife. Where is the lamb?”
What carried Abraham through this test? He’d learned that faith in God’s promise mattered. He trusted God that in Isaac he would have many descendants. Abraham was planning on a resurrection.
Hebrews 11:19 tells us: “He calculated that God could bring life out of death.”
When Abraham raised the knife, he passed the test!
God provided a ram and foreshadowed Jesus the lamb dying in our place on the cross.
Look at your life. You’ll recognize all sorts of interactive tests where God is evaluating how well you are growing to maturity in Christ.
Are you responding to tests by learning the teachings of the Scriptures and the promptings of the Holy Spirit?
The ultimate test: Will you follow Christ at any price?
True Story – The Purpose: Testimony Begins with “Test”
Testimony Begins with “Test”
Names: Maurice Ogola & Jael Shali Ogola
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. James 1:2-3
Sometimes people say to us, “Oh, I wish I had the kind of marriage you have.” Well, we did not get it by wishing. These people didn’t see when we stayed in a single-roomed house for a year, when we went for some nights with little or no food, miscarried our first pregnancy, didn’t have money to afford basic needs and feeling we couldn’t hold on one more second, begging God to help us to not quit or give up. They don’t know the tests and trials we’ve faced along the way.
No one who does anything worthwhile for God has traveled an easy road
Doing great things for God requires character, and character is developed by passing life’s tests and staying faithful to Him through the trials.
I’m sure you know people with amazing stories of the way God has worked in their lives. We always love to hear a great testimony, but we also know that behind every extraordinary account of someone’s life lies some kind of challenge or difficulty. No one ever has a testimony without a test.
We must pass all kinds of tests as we go through our lives, and passing them is part of never giving up. It’s vital for us to understand the important role that tests and trials play in our lives, because understanding them helps us endure them and actually be strengthened by them. Everything God permits us to go through will ultimately be good for us—no matter how much it hurts, how unfair it is, or how difficult it is.
When we encounter tests and trials, if we will embrace them and refuse to run from them, we will learn lessons that will help us in the future and make us stronger.
One reason we must go through trials is to test our quality (1 Pet. 4:12). Often, we find ourselves wishing we had the faith of Sister so-and- so or Brother so-and-so. We can assure you, if they have a strong and vibrant faith, they did not develop it easily. Just as muscles are strengthened through exercise, firm faith comes from the furnace of affliction.
Put into action: God has a unique plan for your life. Trust Him when you go through tests, knowing that they are strengthening and preparing you for the great things He has planned specifically for you.
I hope you are blessed and equipped to yield to perfect test, trial and temptation in our today’s title, “Perfect Temptation, Trials and Tests – What are the differences? How do we handle them? and True Stories of temptations, trials, and testing as perfect ingredients to outstanding testimonies”.
Now let’s look at the question we asked in the beginning, – The Russian and Ukrainian war, is it a temptation, a trial or test for the people of Ukraine, Russia and the World? Or The economic hardship, bad leadership, terrorism, sickness and diseases, lack, joblessness and hopelessness in your country, which of these can you classify as temptations, trail and tests for you and your nation?
I look forward to hearing from you on answers to the questions and reason why you answered so!
If you have been blessed by todays content, share wide to others who are going through some form of temptations, trial and testing so they can be blessed too!
Shalom!
Ambassador Oreojo Monday Ogbe
Gods Eagle Ministries
Https://www.otakada.org
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