I’m married to an amazingly godly and kind man. But like any human, Zack might occasionally say something or do something that I don’t view as particularly “sweet and thoughtful.”
Instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt, my natural tendency is to assume the worst. Instead of lovingly asking him about it, I often cater to my sinful frustration.
This happened recently.
I felt the temptation of anger come on me. Instead of resisting it, I allowed my emotions to overtake me. I allowed my feelings to rule my thinking. Once again I found myself giving into temptation.
Several hours went by of me pouting and grumbling in my heart.
Thankfully — by God’s grace — the Holy Spirit convicted me with a strong force. I instantly felt a wave of guilt rush over me as I realized how wrong my heart and actions had been toward Zack. I wasn’t showing Zack the love and grace of Christ. I wasn’t being a respectful wife. I wasn’t denying my sinful flesh.
I finally confessed my sin to God, then humbled myself and approached Zack. I heard his side of the story and quickly realized how wrong my assumptions had been. I had misinterpreted his actions. He was being perfectly loving all along.
I was so grateful when he quickly gave me forgiveness.
Temptations come in all shapes and sizes and are constantly bombarding each one of us.
My temptations may look different than yours, but we all face them. You may face the temptation toward anger, the temptation toward sexual sin, toward lying, toward bitterness, jealousy, discontentment, etc. Whatever it is for you, it’s hard to resist right?
Because of our sinful flesh, we will battle against temptation until the day we die.
There is good news though.
We don’t have to battle them alone.
God knows how hard the struggle is for us, so He has promised to help us out. He offers us a lot of hope throughout the pages of the Bible. Personally, I have found the following 4 verses to be extremely helpful in conquering temptation. This list has helped me a lot and I hope it will be helpful to you. Just apply these verses to your specific struggles.
4 verses to help Christian girls conquer temptation:
1 Corinthians 10:13
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
What an amazing promise God gave us! He promises to be faithful to us during our temptation. He will not allow us to be tempted with something we can’t bear. Praise the Lord! He also promises to give us a way out of every temptation. This is a huge comfort to me. Don’t you think so? We just need to be faithful to look for it.
Hebrews 2:18
“For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
This verse is such a great reminder that God understands what it feels like to be tempted. He can relate to us. He knows what it’s like to be tempted and to overcome temptation. He is ready to help us overcome any temptation we face.
James 4:7
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Although the devil has a lot of power, He cannot have total power over Christians. With God’s strength we can resist all of the devil’s temptations; no matter how juicy they are. If we resist (withstand, fend off, fight against) the devil, he WILL flee from us. What an awesome promise!
Galatians 5:16
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
This verse shows us exactly why we give in to temptation! The reason we give in is because we would rather satisfy our flesh than obey God. That’s the bottom line. The best antidote to combating this is to walk in the Spirit.
We need to live every moment dependent on God. Praying constantly, reading the Bible daily, and pursuing humility. The more our focus is on God, the more we will desire to please Him rather than our flesh.
I hope these 4 verses are helpful to you.
They are to me! Beating temptation isn’t easy, but we can do it with God’s strength. We can resist sin by the power of God within us. We just need to humble ourselves and seek God’s constant help.
I’d love to hear from you below!
- What type of temptations seem to “get you every time?” And More importantly, what are you doing to battle against those temptations?
- What additional verses do you find helpful in this fight?
