our temptations

some of you may not know this, but my husband and i have had an ongoing war about our garage and how awful it is for years. we both have brought into the arguments about why it isn't done and why it should be done in every fight. yesterday, i posted about what satan does to tempt us. well i had dream last night about our garage. in the dream i could feel the anger i had about it and when i got up this morning i was mad. my poor, unsuspecting husband was about to have wrath brought upon from a dream i had regarding our garage.

there is scripture where paul says "it's all rubbish," and i had to realize that in my fight with anger satan wanted to take an inch even in my dream. the greatest deceit that satan ever played on the world was to make them believe he didn't exist. i don't have to tell you that evil does exist even in our blessed lives. while reading an article i read a posting that a woman put about evil that i had never heard regarding GOD. she said "i don't understand why GOD allows such evil to happen, unless it is to show us that evil does exist, that satan does exist, and we should not forget that."

one of the biggest temptations out there is to spend. i don't care who you are there is always something to buy that we want, and most of us end up buying it. i have a problem with buying books. i love to buy books, and i have no idea how i am going read them all. my grandparents grew up in the depression and went through world war II. they were used to making sacrifices that most us don't even have an idea about. it shaped them on how they saw money the rest of their lives. they did it the right way. they didn't spend more than they could and they saved for what they needed. they saved all the time. i don't even think they had loans, and i know they didn't have a credit card until they had to get one to rent a car. my family laughs about it now how my grandma could save anything and re-use it. i miss my grandma.

here is where the temptation is going to play out. our current financial problems pretty much means that we as a nation are going to have to start thinking like the depression era generation. if you don't need it, can't afford it, or haven't saved for it don't buy it. we are all in the same boat now. this is a hard one, because all of us have been trained to just spend, or buy what we want. if you're in debt then it looks like cutting back is a pretty good idea. you could turn a blind eye and stay asleep, assume that it is all going to work out, but are you willing to take that chance knowing what you are already feeling it in your pocket book. job security is not out there any longer in my opinion.

people are under a lot of stress and they are doing things that just really don't make sense anymore. our emotions are to the boiling point. some of us are in great despair right now and it scares me to be honest. we are being tempted to do things that we would normally not do, or react in a way that is not in our nature. 2010 was by far one of the worst years of my life. too many things happened that i just could not handle. i lost myself to the boiling point and that's why i've pulled back.

one of my struggles with my faith is that i have felt over the years that i had to give my heart to everyone and everything to prove that i was a christian. well, in my journey with so many wise friends they have corrected me regarding this. while yes i do have to be kind, i don't have to do the rest of it at all. i don't have to give my heart away to everyone and i don't have to feel ashamed about that. this has been a tough one for me. i see it as a temptation. satan wants me to feel guilty and use CHRIST'S words against me. he plays on that emotion.

temptation is a hard one to figure out. if you know it's wrong and you can feel it your gut then it's wrong. if you are suffering right now because of mistakes you have made, don't repeat them - move forward and learn from it. if you feel like you can't get out the cycle then ask for help. no one can change your circumstance for you, only you can do that. your temptations are completely your own, so try and fight them.

during CHRIST's prayer before HIS death HE came upon the disciples while they were sleeping and HE said "could not keep watch for one hour? keep watching and keep praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." mark 14;37-38