Resentment is an ugly, deformed attitude. Helen Grace Lesheld wrote, “[resentment] grows. It distorts, reality. It keeps us chained to the past. Like bad air, it pollutes not just the bitter person, but those who come in contact with the person.” all of our relationships in ways we cannot predict.” Hebrews 12:15 says, “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled:” Nowhere is resentment described more enduring than that of a weed in the garden of our lives. No smart person, plants weeds in their garden, but they seem to grow up and take over if we do not keep it weeded. Resentment chokes out the pleasures and joys of life, and will color all our relationships. It will spread into your marriage, friendships, even your relationship with God. When we opt to cling to resentment, it is as if we have placed ourselves under an evil spell. Only the godly remedy of forgiveness will remove that spell. It may begin with a minor grudge, but if it is nurtured it will grow into a powerful enemy. The first step to overcoming this … READ MORE

In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus encourages us to pray that we would not be “led into temptation, but that God would deliver us from the evil one.” This is an important prayer, but what steps do we need to take to overcome temptation in our lives? Let me suggest a path:1. Recognize the possibility of Temptation. Matthew 24:43 reminds us that forewarned is forearmed. We must never all into the trap of false security that “I will never be tempted.”2. Request Help in Time of Temptation. The Lord told the disciples in Matthew 16:41 to watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. We should ask God to make us sensitive to that moment of awareness, and then choose to take the way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13)3. Resist the Devil and He will Flee from you (James 4:7). To do this we must know the Word of God be willing to be obedient to it. Even if obedience is hard.4. Retreat from certain kinds of temptations. (1 Cor. 10:14; 6:18; 1 Tim. 6:10-11). Wise believers recognize that there are degrees of difference in the perils we face. There is a time to resist and a time to retreat.5. … READ MORE

Are you like me, and hate tests? I love the time of learning in a classroom. Hearing new information, and implementing those principles in my life to make me a better man, and a wiser servant of the Lord. But I hate the tests that are associated with learning. I just want to learn. I have often said that I would just like to audit life. Get all the learning without any of the tests.In our Spiritual development Temptation becomes the tests to find out how we are learning. Don’t you wish you could go through life without it? I don’t know about you, but I long for the day, when everything I do, and everywhere I go can be without the temptation to sin. Sometimes I feel like there is no one who totally understands the struggle that I have with temptation. However, I must understand that I struggle with temptation because of my inner struggle with my flesh, just like everyone else. But there is good news!According to 1 Corinthians 10:13: “There is no temptation that comes upon us but such as is common to man!” These words of reassurance, means that whatever we are going through we … READ MORE