Overcoming Temptation

Think about a time in your life when you experienced true grief. We experience grief when we lose a cherished loved one.  We experience grief when we know we've badly hurt someone we love.  Or maybe grief comes from the loss of a dream.  Sometimes we grieve when we know we've been unable to reach someone whom we desperately want to help turn their life around.  There are many reasons we feel grief in our lives.

I want you to think about how it felt when you faced that grief in your life, the broken-hearted, gut wrenching sorrow in which your soul cried for release from the pain.

Do you know that when we sin we grieve the Holy Spirit?  The Bible says in Ephesians 4:30: "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

There are times when I'm really tempted to sin in which the Lord reminds me that if I do so, I will grieve his Holy Spirit.  At those times, if I really stop and think about how I felt during times of great distress and grief in my life, I realize that I don't want to cause the Holy Spirit of God to experience grief because of my actions.  Let us not resist the Lord's prompting to turn away from the temptation which so easily besets us.

Prayer: Merciful God, Abba Father, may I be ever mindful that when I'm tempted to sin, to do so would grieve your Holy Spirit.  Give me the strength to resist the lure of evil.  Help me to choose to do what is right in your sight and bring honor and glory to your name.