Preaching Daily - October 22

Today's Devotional Insight...

4 Times In Life You Should Expect To Face Temptation

Temptation is a mysterious thing. There must be method to the madness, there must be patterns of how and when we are tempted by specific sins. If there are, I’ve never quite been able to hack or solve the system. But at the very least we can observe this: There are some times in life when you should be especially wary, when temptation is especially likely. Here are four times you should expect to face temptation.

During Times of Prosperity
Prosperity and temptation often go hand-in-hand. You need to be careful, though—prosperity is not a curse and you do not need to dread it or be suspicious of it. Rather, you need to have an awareness that prosperity carries with it fuel that feeds temptation. Agur knew this and wrote in Proverbs, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’” Guard yourself in times of abundance and prepare yourself for the likelihood of an onslaught of temptation. Look especially for the temptation of ingratitude, denying that your prosperity is a gift of God’s grace; look for the temptation of greed, hoarding your wealth instead of being generous with it; look for the temptation of pride, believing that this abundance proves that God favors you over others. Always be aware that prosperity may be a kind of smokescreen that obscures the great temptation lurking behind it. Be wary of prosperity!

During Times of Spiritual Lukewarmness

There are inevitable times in life when your delight in God grows lukewarm. There are times when your heart longs for satisfaction in something—anything—other than God and his riches. In these times your worship can become marked by a lukewarm formality. Your time in prayer and God’s Word can become cold duty and you look with dread at the times of fellowship with other Christians. You may neglect the pursuit of communion with God, and instead treat your relationship with him as just another of life’s joyless duties. In these times you may be sure that Satan is close at hand to tempt you, to draw you even further from God and even deeper into lesser pleasures. Your heart is already marked by lukewarmness and he longs to chill it even more. Fight! Fight right now to restore the joy of your salvation.

(Read the full article here.)

Today’s Pastoral Resource...

Spice

SermonSpice exists to equip pastors, church leaders, and worship leaders with powerful visual media to spice up sermons, teachings, and worship experiences. Use this free download to spice up your service this weekend.