Luk. 22:40 ... "When He arrived at the place, He said to them, 'Pray that you may not enter into temptation.'"
Temptation is the inducement to commit sin. The origin and progress of temptation is explained as follows: "Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death," (Jas. 1:14-15). This tells us that temptation begins with lust and climaxes in sin, which results in death. We can, therefore, think of it as a road which starts at LUST and ends at DEATH ... for the soul that chooses to travel it. Lust is the desire for something God has forbidden us to do or to have. To be "enticed" is to be offered an opportunity to fulfill the desire with encouragement to go for it. Sin occurs when a person responds to the enticement and acts to fulfill the desire. Death primarily means separation. Physical death is separation of the soul from the body. Spiritual death is separation of the soul from God for all eternity, and therefore from His grace and goodness.
Yielding to temptation by sinning brings nothing better than a brief season of pleasure, (Heb. 11: 25). It is a pathetic, wretched reward in comparison to its real outcome, eternal death. Therefore, one should avoid temptation at all costs. The Bible tells us various ways to do this, one of the most often mentioned is TO FLEE. Thus are we urged in II Tim. 2:22 to "flee youthful lusts" and in I Cor. 10:14 to "flee immorality." After referring to "many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge men (i.e., people) into ruin and destruction," Christians are exhorted to "flee from these things," (I Tim. 6:9, 11). There is no point in going up against temptation when it is possible to avoid it, because those who play with fire will eventually get burned. The most effective defense against temptation is obviously to diminish the desire for whatever is forbidden, since temptation is only possible when a person wants what God disallows.
It is important to realize, however, that confronting temptation is a very challenging and arduous task. It is not easy to curb a forbidden desire that is growing within you. In fact, you might not even recognize its nature or power until it is far advanced. And once it is there, struggling to be fulfilled, Satan comes upon the scene to lend the strength of his persuasion. Just nine verses previous to the lead text above, Jesus said to Peter, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat." Satan is never far from anyone, ready to sift him like wheat and entice him to fulfill the forbidden urges. This is why Jesus said to "pray that you may not enter into temptation." Active prayer enhances all the other defense mechanisms against temptation that are offered in Scripture.
When you begin to realize you are entertaining the urge to do something forbidden by God, take the matter to Him immediately in prayer! Through His Spirit He will help you overcome that desire and put out its flame. When you are enticed to satisfy a lust, pray to God about it quickly and fully! He has the power to hold Satan away from you so that you cannot be coerced to fall. The Bible teaches us to watch alertly for the approach of temptation. All too often, however, our attention span is so short, and our spiritual vision so myopic, we do not see temptation until it is already ensnaring us. But DAILY prayer (sincere and not ritual!) will increase your attention span and extend the range of your vision, thus enabling you to take evasive action while the temptation is yet at a distance. We are also assured that "with the temptation (God) will provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it," (I Cor. 10:13). But can we take that escape route, if we don't see it? Just be assured that God will make it evident to you, and then you will see how to escape.
