The devil won’t walk around with a scowl on his face, asking you in a husk voice to do evil. He’s in the gentle voice of your friend asking you to try smoking. He can even be in the loving voice of your parents, asking you to lie to your teacher.
As a young Christian, this is one of the most, if not the most common question that we have asked ourselves: “how do I overcome this temptation?”.
The first step to overcoming temptation is understanding what temptation is.
According to the Chambers dictionary,
Temptation is the state of being enticed or being persuaded to sin, to test your faith in God.
Proverbs 24:10 says: If thou faint in the day of adversity, Thy strength is small. This means falling into temptation indicates you don’t have a deep conviction in God because overcoming temptations as a Christian is one of the things that make you stronger in God.
Before we look at how to overcome temptations, we must first learn the three ways in which we get tempted.
Three Ways that Christians are Tempted
Lust of the flesh
This is when you are interested in satisfying the will of the flesh over the will of God. Examples of sins caused by the lust of the flesh are gluttony, drunkenness and sloth.
Lust of the eyes
Another way you can be tempted is when you look lustfully or covetously at something you want to have. Often, this leads to materialism and a strong desire for earthly belongings.
The pride of life
This is caring more about your earthly possessions giving one a false sense of self-sufficiency (remember the rich man who couldn’t let go of his possessions and follow Jesus – 1 John 2:15-16) or being boastful.
These are things that the devil uses to lure us to sin (sometimes it’s not the devil that tempts us, we also tempt ourselves).
For example, when your love for money comes, he tempts you to steal. When you look at someone lustfully, he tempts you to fornicate or commit adultery even masturbate.
And when he finds out that you are not heeding his will, he finds another way to lure you into sin. After all, according to Peter, he walks as a roaring lion seeking whom to devour (imagine his resilience!).
Be alert and be of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour- 1 Peter 5:8
Also, we need to understand that temptation itself is not a sin, but succumbing to temptation is a sin.
There were times in my life as a teen when I always came out for altar calls because I always fell into temptation frequently. But when I understood God by following these four steps below in overcoming temptations, it changed my life.
1. Give your life to Christ
Giving your life to Christ is the first step a believer should take to overcome temptations. You must repent of your sins and believe in the gospel, for this is the only way to be saved. I want to encourage you to take a moment to think of your sins and feel remorse for them.
After you do that, you can say this short prayer of repentance and confession:
Lord Jesus, I come to you as a sinner and I confess my sins before you, wash me clean. I know you died and rose from the dead to save me. I now commit my life into your hands, come and be my Lord and personal Saviour and place your Holy spirit in my heart to lead me to do your will. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins, in Jesus' name, Amen.
Understand this, temptation does not magically disappear after giving your life to Christ, but following him gives you the power to overcome.
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 may be able to bear it.” - 1 Corinthians 10:13
2. Understand your sinful desires
A friend of mine saw a Tiktok video where the young man said that the devil is not a creator, but rather an influencer. This means that the devil cannot create sin, but can only influence what you already desire to lead you into sin.
Human beings are different, and so are our wants. What you wish for and desire may be completely different from what I wish for and desire. This also applies to temptation, what may be a temptation for one person may not be for another person. This is because we all struggle with different things and these struggles are sometimes influenced by our situations, upbringing, past experiences and so on.
The devil is well aware of this fact. So, he always brings temptations that are tailored specifically for you.
For instance, someone who likes to be noticed by others may be tempted to dress indecently to attract lustful attention from the opposite sex.
Again, a person who is afraid of rejection can succumb to the peer pressure of drinking, smoking, fornication and the likes just to fit in.
Similarly, the devil will not tempt Jimmy with drinking and smoking if Jimmy isn’t into that type of thing, that is, Jimmy doesn’t fancy smoking cigarettes and getting drunk. However, if Jimmy is someone who likes women, he is more likely to be tempted into things like fornication, pornography, or even masturbation.
After giving your life to Christ, you need to do a deep self-evaluation of your passions and desires to see whether they are godly or not. If it is the latter, you need to be wary of them and seek ways to avoid them, which leads me to my next point.
3. Avoid tempting environments
We may not fully control our environments, but there are certain situations that can lead to temptations that we can avoid.
This step can only be done after the previous step because you need to know your potential temptations in order to avoid them. This will help you identify what the devil can use to tempt you, and thus help you steer clear
For example, if you know you struggle with lust whether as a boy or girl, avoid being alone with someone of the opposite sex, especially one you are attracted to.
Also, if you have problems with gluttony or drunkenness, avoid going to places where you know your objects of lust are readily available. Don’t go to bars, clubs or even fast food where you can be compelled to give into your sinful craving.
Additionally, if you struggle with sloth, make a to-do list of things you ought to accomplish that day in the morning. That way you won’t have an excuse to be lazy or unproductive.
Finally, fill your time with good work and your mind with wholesome thoughts and activities because as they say: “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.”
4. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you
My parents named me Victor which means “overcomer”, which was weird because I didn’t overcome any temptations then, I even began to wonder whether it was ironic.
But now I understood that I was trying to overcome this temptation by my own will and strength, forgetting that I gave my life to Jesus.
You can’t use your strength to overcome temptations, it is only the Holy Spirit that can guide you to do that. Remember he is always present to help all you have to do is ask.
When asking, please be open and honest about your struggles. There’s no need to hide your struggles from God who is always willing and able to help you overcome them. He will give you the supernatural strength you need to overcome the sinful desires of the flesh.
5. Seek an encounter with Jesus
I listened to a message from Apostle Joshua Selman where he said “always seek to have an encounter with Jesus because it creates a deep conviction in you and strengthens your relationship with him.”
Just like the Samaritan woman that had an encounter with Jesus in which he told her everything she did without knowing her, we too should seek an encounter with Christ. The result was that she held a citywide crusade bringing her entire city to Jesus (her encounter with Jesus created an encounter with the people of Samaria! John 4:39).
6. Pray daily
"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak"- Mathew 26:41
Pray daily, don’t forget to pray, don’t be too proud to pray, and don’t be ashamed of praying.
If you can’t pray for long don’t worry start by praying for 5mins every day consistently and increase the time as you go on, you can also play gospel worship songs while doing it.
7. Read your bible daily
While attending one of the Scripture union fellowships in my school back then, I heard the preacher say these words “Bible before breakfast and Scripture before sleep“, in other words always read your bible.
The importance of reading your Bible can be likened to having a manual for a calculator you bought, but you don’t fully understand its functions.
You have the calculator but you can’t fully operate it, just like you have God in your life, you know he can save you from sin but you don’t understand the arsenals you have against overcoming temptations from the enemy or God’s purpose for your life and His promises to you for following Him.
To make the bible reading easier, you can read at least two chapters a day or follow a bible reading plan which is commonly found on the last pages of our bibles.
Before reading your bible make sure to ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your understanding to be able to understand the words you read.
Rounding off
Temptations are common to every man and especially to Christians. Don’t feel alone or discouraged when you go through temptations for when you succeed in overcoming them, you become stronger in your faith and walk with God.
I pray this helps you to overcome those temptations you face when it comes. No matter how violent it appears, let your first thought be to pray or listen to a good worship song.
If you found this post helpful, share it with a friend who might need it, and also make sure you practice the steps, not just by reading them.
My happiness would be to see you overcome temptations and grow in Christ.
You can also drop your comments on how you too have overcome temptations in your life.
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