by Ed Ostrom

Created on: May 01, 2009

The Holy Spirit inspired the feathered quill of the Apostle Paul to declare in 1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you maybe able to bear it."

Temptation is common to us all. We all face it on an ongoing basis in our daily lives. But God is faithful and will help us deal with it, and will supply a way of escape for us. I believe that the Bible lays down for us a four step plan that can help us to find the way of escape when we are tempted and tried. Those four fold steps include:

capturing of our thoughts
evaluating what we are thinking and doing
Confessing our failures and short comings
Resisting the Evil one.

In order to find a way of escape from the power of temptation in our lives we need to first of all begin capturing our thoughts. The mind is the first place that Satan and his henchmen attack. Proverbs 23:7 says "For as he thinks in his heart.", so is he." Satan knows that the best way to get anyone to pay heed to him is to get him thinking negative thoughts, or angry thoughts, or jealous thoughts. Anything Satan can do to get our minds off Christ and His purposes helps him to tempt Christ followers and win the battle over them.

That is why 2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 counsels "For thought we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God , bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." The Apostle Paul alludes here to warfare in the mind .He is suggesting that arrogant rebellious ideas and attitudes and pride set themselves up against God and His purposes and Word. The pride of man's heart becomes opposed to the knowledge of God. The suggestion here to the Christ follower is that we bring every thought captive to Jesus Christ. We are to turn every disobedient thought into obedience to Christ Jesus.

Martin Luther is reported to have said, "You can not stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop it from building a nest in your hair." We can not stop negative thoughts from developing in our minds but we do not have to entertain them, nor do we have to coddle and nurse them. when they come we can turn them by faith over to the lord and allow Him to

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