James 1;12-18 (KJV)
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Do not err, my beloved brethren.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
In the book 'The Imitation of Christ', Thomas A. Kempis writes, "The man who only avoids the outward occasions of evil, but fails to uproot it in himself, will gain little advantage. Indeed, temptations will return upon him the sooner, and he will find himself in a worse state than before. Little by little and by patient endurance you will overcome them by God's help, better than by your own violence and importunity. Seek regular advice in temptation, and never deal harshly with those who are tempted, but give them such encouragement as you would value yourself."
So, do you find yourself sitting still some days, gripping the chair you may be seated in, doing your best to convince yourself that your legs do not work, destroying the many thoughts that would enter into your mind, and repeating over and over the one scripture that you partially remember, all in an effort to keep yourself from doing what it is you know you are to not be doing? Yeah, its a very long question because you know you love to give the very long answer for why you ended up doing it. Hey, this not an indictment, no. This is a Brova standing next to you, holding your hand, because my active conversation with you is assisting me with not making that certain phone call this morning, to set up that mid evening redevouz, so I can fulfill the lustful desire that doesn't seem to want to dislodge itself from me.
This is one of them moments where the outside, passer-by, gets to view the antics of the people in the storefront window as they do their thing, when setting up the display. Oh Yes! We love to put on display the very best show! Never allowing those to circle around that mudpuddle of ours labeled, 'The Struggle'. We are some notorious creatures with our slight-of-hand trickery. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
We enjoy, probably even fall in love with, how those around us will walk up to us and give some of the best spiritual compliments, all the while when Tuesday (we figure its far enough away from Sunday) rolls around we are "Back on Our Grind!!!"
Today's encouragement is actually the chopped and screwed version of those scriptures. How? Because what you are getting to witness is how Yer Brova, on some days, has to speak to the flesh. I DID wake up this morning with a "feeling". LOL I so enjoy being a solidly identifiable child of God. It makes me HAVE TO relearn new words that are sanitized, yet still allows the Lord to work within the life of those that would read or hear me speak them. "Feeling"!!! And, it is that feeling which I could not allow to rule me. What was necessary about making it today's encouragement for you, revealing that I am going through a bout of lustful temptation, is so that you; My Brother and Sister, will be able to have some type of tangible example for yourself: when you may find yourself at the entryway of tempation. Stick to the scriptures first and foremost. Then allow for this one fellow traveller's story to give a sort of highlight to how you may avoid the temptation.
The word is very clear. This has stages, and when you cross the first stage of it, you WILL fall all the way down through all the other stages. That is why it is said to us at the onset the man that endureth (to actively keep yourself in place; to not move: hold yourself still) IS Blessed, and WILL receive the crown of life. I, for one, am not about to throw away all of what my Father; God has for me behind some probably wearing a weave, only thinking about herself, more than likely to cause me headache, wouldn't cause she couldn't cook for me, can't hold down intelligent conversation on any subject, piece of coochie!!!!! Hallelujah! I got it out !!!!
My ability to crack myself up is what helps with searching out that patience needed to access the endurance, which will snap the line pulling me towards the lust that I awakened with this morning. These are the times, Brothers and Sisters, when we are given opportunity to see these scriptures come to life. Also, this a time when we are allowed to see it from the front side; Victory, instead of from the backside; reassurance of comfort, love, and acceptance after the fall. Oh how good is our God!!!! He is so WORTHY!!!! Look at how he moves!!! He has taken me, his tool, to get to you. My morning pings and pangs are said to be written out in this blog and then, there you are reading them, whether it be day or night, but this is Christ Jesus alerting you to the fact that you do not have to "fall down" today. Stay right there, in that space you are in, to resist that temptation. To patiently endure that situation you know you are to not be in. To keep your hand off that cell phone and not call that person.
WOW!!!!! I so Love my Lord!!!! I also hope that you, my Brother and Sister, understand that when you DO sit and wait on the Lord, he WILL show up with what is exactly needed for you to have VICTORY!!!!! Now, let me see what's for breakfast.
Holla,
Yer Brova Catalyst
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