daily devotional

For Victory over Temptation

Read 1 Corinthians 10:13; Matthew 4:1-11; 1 Peter 1:13-16, 5:8-9; 2 Peter 2:9

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Thank You, Father, for Your penetrating truth preserved through the centuries. Thank You for the careful concern of men like the Apostles Peter and Paul who knew both sides of life on planet Earth: what it was like to live in this old world and what it was like to walk with the Saviour, Your Son. Thank You for Peter's admonishment to prepare our minds for action, to keep sober in spirit, to fix our hope on Your grace, and not to conform our lives to the former lusts...but...to be holy as You are. Thank You for Paul's confidence that You won't allow temptation to push us into an inescapable corner.

Lord, because You don't save us and then suddenly take us home to heaven but leave us here on earth, hear us as we ask You to bring to our attention those things that will assist us in staying clean in a corrupt world. Give us an intense distaste for things that displease You. At the same time, give us a renewed pleasure in things that uphold Your honour and magnify Your truth. As You do this, we will have what we crave: victory over temptation.

We ask this in the name of Him who consistently and victoriously withstood the relentless blast of the Devil's temptations, Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Excerpted from The Prayers of Charles R. Swindoll, Volume 1, Copyright 2010 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.