Teaching my daughter about temptation

Meeting with Joelle once a week in the wee hours of the morning has been a tremendous blessing to me.  Going through these lessons has caused me to realize that there is so much I have yet to teach her.

In our last lesson, we learned about temptation.  Here is a day in, day out struggle that we all have.  After teaching her about this I was struck with the magnitude of responsibility I have to equip her for everyday life.

The thing that I wanted to impress upon her heart the most is how vital it is for her to know the truths of God's word.  To know the truth from a lie.  Because there are so many lies that we are tempted to believe.  When a person is being tempted, even if it is something so commonplace as getting angry with a sibling, they are being tempted to believe a lie.  The only way that we can be victorious is to know the truth and obey it.

I urged her to consider the temptations that she faces on a daily basis.  This is her battleground.  The things that happen here in our home are not "small" things.  They are a big deal to God and I want her to understand that they are temptations that she will either give in to or resist.

The Bible equips us in James 4:7 with a plan for victory...

1.  submit to God
2.  resist the devil

I love how clear this is.  To submit yourself to God is to place yourself under his authority.  To yield yourself to living life his way and not yours.  How important is it then, for us to learn the difference between his ways and ours?  The Bible makes it very clear for us.

I also taught her about resistance.  First, I asked her to hold up her hand and to allow me to push her hand with mine (non-resistance).  Then, I told her to make the effort to push against my hand and not allow me to push hers (resistance).  She really enjoyed this illustration.  And I think it shows that we cannot just passively allow ourselves to be overtaken by temptation to sin.

As we are submitting to God and the truths of his word, temptations will come.  We will feel the pressure of them.  My encouragement to Joelle was to remember the truths of God's word in those difficult moments.  That is her mode of resistance when the lies threaten to overtake her.  And not only remembering them, but acting on them.

Teaching her has challenged me to question how equipped I am to resist the enemy of my soul.  What temptations in my life do I need to put up more resistance to?  How much more do I need to remember the promises of God when I am weak and want to give in?