Recently I have realized a new source of power in my fight against temptation and sin. After meditating on various scriptures about the victory I am promised through the Spirit of God that is at work in my life, I have been approaching temptation with a fresh and profoundly empowering perspective. In his word God has told me that he has not given me a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). He has told me that since I belong to Christ, I have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24), and that since I have been crucified with Jesus, my body of sin has been done away with (Romans 6:6). God has told me that if I belong to Christ, which I know I do, my body is dead because of sin, yet my spirit is alive because of righteousness (Romans 8:10).

 

In light of all that God has told me to be true, I have been combating each temptation to sin with an assurance of victory and confidence. I approach each temptation from the very beginning with the conviction of certain victory because I know the Spirit of God that is at work within me has the power to bring it about. The one who is within me is greater than the one who is in the world! You don’t have to give into sin! The enemy wants you to believe you are weak and incapable of fighting temptation, when the opposite is true. You have a power at work within you that is so strong it was able to raise the dead back to life! Your sinful nature has been put to death, you can claim the victory of Christ over and against any and every temptation that is thrown your way. You can live in the power of the risen Lord. You can. With God’s truth in you, you really can.