How to Overcome Weakness and Temptations, Ep 2-21
Welcome back! I am your host Dawn Simmons and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are going to be discussing how to overcome our weaknesses and temptations. We are going to talk about our position in the Lord and go through some examples of how the Lord will respond in our weaknesses on our behalf.
Before we begin, we have to understand that not all weaknesses are the works of satan. Not all temptations are a source of the demonic. There are also times when our weaknesses are opened up, and it’ll feel like a wound torn open, and through those weaknesses God is going to then come beside us, encourage us and build us up in Him by having us walk through our weaknesses with Him. We need to understand and believe that first before we start talking about the temptations the enemy brings. We don’t always assume that everything that hits our weakness is from the enemy. Once we acknowledge that, then we can move on address what the enemy is attempting to do to us.
Let’s start with defining weakness and temptation.
The definition of weakness is the state or condition of lacking strength.
The definition of temptation is the desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise.
The demons we see when dealing with our weaknesses and temptations are endless because it is such a personal matter. For some it will be doubt, fear, for others lust, gluttony the list goes on. Our discussion here isn’t about the specific demon but rather the process behind how they work and how we need to respond. Our response is what defines our beliefs. Our beliefs are what define us ultimately. Let me explain.
There are times when we will be tempted in areas that aren’t actually our weakness, but the enemy thinks we can be swayed to make the wrong choice because of our circumstances. In those moments we can be manipulated to come into agreement with the enemy and that is a lie and not who we are or in alignment with the Lord’s plan in our lives. Let me give you an example. This past week I got a call, about 9:30 at night from a friend of mine. I happen to be a huge animal lover, in my life I have had over a couple of hundred animals easily between pets, fosters, and they are all types: lizards, snakes, turtles, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pig, hamster, fish, and of course all the parrots I have now. So if you ever call me about an animal, I am going to listen. So this particular call from my friend was about their cat, Pumpkin. I didn’t ask Pumpkin’s permission to use her name, but I think she will still be able to maintain her anonymity. Anyhow, Pumpkin has some little kittens to take care of but on this particular night, Pumpkin, who is an indoor cat, was nowhere to be found. We have coyotes that come into our neighborhoods at night here so you always have to be careful around here even with larger dogs. I had one night I was walking with 2 dogs and we came up on a pack of 5 coyotes and it was pretty terrifying. Anyway, back to the Pumpkin predicament. Now you can understand, the family was pretty anxious and they asked for prayer. So we put a prayer game plan together and agreed to keep in touch. Our pets can create a huge weakness for all of us. For everyone I know, their pet is their family. So this prayer plan was a good plan, but it did involve faith on the part of the family that what we were asking of God, He would fulfill. No matter how the situation looked, their faith in Him had to remain solid. In our prayer plan, we were asking God to have Pumpkin return that night. I like to be specific in my prayer requests so we asked for it to happen that night in part because of the kittens. I checked in with them at 10:15, nothing yet. I’ll be honest with you guys, I was asking the Lord to show up BIG on this one. I even went so far to say, Lord, if something has happened to that cat, then I need that cat to raise up from the dead and get back to that house tonight. Sounds silly, but if Pumpkin were yours that’s what you would want so I asked. This was a time when kids were learning the importance of faith so asking for the unusual to me is reasonable. So where is the temptation or the weakness in this? Well, the faith needed was where a weakness could have been exploited by the enemy to get any one of the family members to be discouraged and say “she’s gone, she’s never coming back”. If the family had been weak in those moments and come into alignment with the enemy in any declaration other than what they are asking the Lord for, Pumpkin’s story could have a sad ending. Our words matter. Would you like to know how Pumpkin’s story ended? Well about midnight the family ended their search of the neighborhood and headed home. They were sad to give up the search but they had to go back home to take care of the kittens. Within minutes of their return, Pumpkin appeared in their backyard and of course the family was elated.
We are not defined by our weaknesses. We are more defined by our response in the moment of weakness and how we respond and react based on what we believe. We have to understand we have a “standing” in the Lord. What do I mean by that? When I was in law school one of the first concepts we learned was legal “standing”.
“In simple terms, the courts use the term “standing” to ask, “Does this party have a 'dog in this fight? '” Standing limits or allows participation in lawsuits by asking whether the person(s) bringing a lawsuit, or defending one, (you will often hear of groups adding in a legal positioning in cases that affect a class of people) but that person or group has enough cause to “stand” before the court and advocate, since not anyone can go to court for any reason.”
As a believer, our “standing” is in the Lord. Our ability to “stand” before the Lord and contend for someone or something in our prayers is given to us by our accepting Jesus as our savior. Without that “standing” we will have a hard time defending ourselves against enemy attacks because we won’t have the power and authority of Jesus. Our “standing” is our strength and our shield as the Psalmist says in Psalms 28:7. Pumpkin’s family knew their “standing” and they did not waiver.
Let’s talk about “standing” a little more. Our “standing” is our Truth. Our “standing” will not change once we have it. It will never fluctuate. Our feelings, on the other hand, will fluctuate and we cannot allow our feelings and emotions to rule our lives. The enemy will prey on our weaknesses, so we need to prevent the enemy from having an influence in your feelings or emotions. If we feel our emotions wavering, we need to rebuke and our response is to declare our standing. There will be times, however, when the Lord sees a situation coming, and will intercede for us because of our standing. I’ll explain that a little more in a minute but first I want to hit a few points.
Demons are witnesses to our lives in the same way as angels. Police psychics or mediums can help solve crimes because demons were present when these horrible events took place, they know what happened and they simply tell the medium. It’s not rocket science. It is wrong to communicate with demons that way, but rocket science it is not.
Knowing that demons are witnesses to our lives. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” They are like those coyotes I referenced earlier. Let me tell you about that night. I was out on a walk, it was evening about 8:30, a Saturday night actually and it was already dark. The strip of road I was on was outside of my neighborhood and the streetlight in that stretch of the road was out. The next streetlight was over a quarter a mile away. One of my dogs was a little guy, maybe 12 pounds, his name was Blackie. One of the kids named him because well, he was black. Not terribly creative but he didn’t seem to mind. The other dog was a border collie mix, so mediumish size, maybe 45-50 pounds at the most. His name was Shadow because he followed me everywhere and he was black. The neighborhood where we lived was very safe so I only had a cell phone on me. It was pitch black in this area and on one side of me was a number of baseball fields and the other side was wild lands. The coyotes lived in the wild lands, there were several acres of it. They usually, I hate to say it, but they usually were well fed from the wild rabbits. I had never walked here at this time before and never did it again. I did notice a few times as we were walking along, Blackie stopped and looked behind. Shadow was just focused on going straight ahead, not stopping. As we walked, all of a sudden, there was something white about 20 feet away in the middle of the street walking with its head down and turned toward me. I have seen coyotes since I was a kid and they are usually about the same size as Shadow, but this one was HUGE, it looked like a wolf. They are also usually tan, but this thing was bright white, like he was glowing, a pearly translucent fog was surrounding him. It was crazy to see. Then I realized there were 4 more and they were circling me and the circle was getting smaller. I called home, but no one answered. 4 people were home and not one person answered. I was about ½ mile from my house if I went backward. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I did pick up Blackie and at that point Shadow was doing his best menacing behavior, but we were not going to be able to withstand 5 of them on our own.
That’s how an attack can be from demons who see us in a weak moment. The temptation method the coyotes used was entice me to do something unwise out of fear and while being distracted. By having the white one in front of me, I would be distracted and too fearful with that one and not notice when one or two of the others come at me from behind or the side. They will snatch a dog out of your hands by the way, so Blackie was far from safe because I was holding him. I am only 5’1” so all they had to do was jump. I would love to tell you I took authority over those coyotes and held them back with my hand like Moses did the Red Sea, but my story is a little less dramatic. We decided our best move was to get to the light ahead and so we became as menacing as we could, loud and aggressive so we could keep moving and try to confuse them to think twice about getting closer. Not exactly my most heroic moment, but it worked and someone finally answered the phone and they all came to pick us up. The Holy Spirit made that coyote glow or I would not have seen it until it was too late and Blackie would have been no more and most likely the same with Shadow. Shadow however lived to a ripe old age of 19 and Blackie passed in my arms about 8 years later. What I want to point out is that I had no idea those coyotes were there, but the Holy Spirit did and the Holy Spirit was there to reveal the danger in a glowing white way I could not miss so I didn’t have to withstand an attack. I had “standing”. I was at a weak point, but the Holy Spirit was there before I even knew I was in danger.
When Jesus spent his time in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, Satan did his best to tempt Jesus by preying on his human weakness and vulnerabilities. You can read about this in Matthew 4. Jesus knew his “standing” in His Father and withstood everything the enemy attempted by responding with the Word. If I had not eaten for 40 days, I hope I would be that able minded, but I also know that because of my “standing” the Lord will help me in those moments. No matter how weak we are, how much the temptation, we can withstand through our “standing” in Him and for Him and through Him. Luke puts it so eloquently in Acts 17:38, “For in Him we live, and move, and have our being;” When I get to heaven I want to spend some time with Luke. I think he is overlooked. I overlooked him myself for years because he wasn’t one of the original ones, no one knows for certain where he was during the time when Jesus was here but he certainly devoted his life to being an attentive onlooker, scribe and servant for the Lord. When you see that what Luke did was entirely for our benefit, you can’t help but respect and admire him.
So what do I want you to take away from this. I want you to be able to face any temptation, any weakness with the strength of your “standing”. When you know, truly know you have that “standing” and that is what will carry you through anything in your life, you will stand a little taller, walk a little surer, I don’t know if that’s a word, but it is today. The enemy knows you have “standing”, so you should too. Standing works in the courts of this world and it certainly works in the courts of heaven. The accuser, our enemy, doesn’t want you to understand this concept. If you don’t understand it or chose to deny it, then how can you get to a place where Jesus is your intercessor, where the Holy Spirit is your comforter, where you can know the truth and say in all certainty what Paul reveals to us in Romans 8:31, “what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
The next time you are weak, stand tall and let your response reflect your “standing.”
I hope this has been helpful to you. If you know anyone who can benefit from this, please share this podcast.
As always, let’s recap the Top Show Points:
· Not all weaknesses are the works of satan. Not all temptations are a source of the demonic. There are also times when our weaknesses are opened up, through it God will encourage us and build us up. We don’t always assume that everything that hits our weakness is from the enemy.
· The definition of weakness is the state or condition of lacking strength.
· The definition of temptation is the desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise.
· We are not defined by our weaknesses. We are more defined by our response in the moment of weakness and how we respond and react based on what we believe.
· Our discussion here isn’t about the specific demon but rather the process behind how they work and how we need to respond. Our response is what defines our beliefs.
· There are times when we will be tempted in areas that aren’t actually our weakness, but the enemy thinks we can be swayed to make the wrong choice because of our circumstances.
· The story of Pumpkin and her triumphant return
· The courts use the term “standing.” Standing limits or allows participation in lawsuits by asking whether the person(s) bringing a lawsuit, or defending one, has enough cause to “stand” before the court and advocate
· As a believer, our “standing” is in the Lord. Our ability to “stand” before the Lord and contend for someone or something in our prayers is given to us by our accepting Jesus as our savior.
· Our “standing” is our truth, don’t let your emotions dictate our responses
· Demons are witnesses to our lives in the same way as angels. They know our history and our weaknesses.
· 1 Peter 5:8, gave example of 5 coyotes circling me while I was walking my dogs
Demons attack us in our wilderness, example of the coyotes trying to distract me with the one coyote in front so the others could come snatch Blackie from behind
· Jesus withstood temptations from satan in the wilderness, Matthew 4
· Acts 17:28
· “Standing” gives us confidence to face anything coming at us
· Romans 8:31
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, it will be helpful in gaining wisdom and understanding and it is required for the gift of spiritual discernment
· If you want to learn more about how to Hear God's Voice, take a look at my book, Loving Conversations: How to Pray and Hear God's Voice. There is also a Study Guide available and two new devotionals coming out based on the Loving Conversations Book. One devotional is for women and one is for men.
I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, it will be helpful in gaining wisdom and understanding and it is required for the gift of spiritual discernment
· If you want to learn more about how to Hear God's Voice, take a look at my book, Loving Conversations: How to Pray and Hear God's Voice. There is also a Study Guide available and two new devotionals coming out based on the Loving Conversations Book. One devotional is for women and one is for men.
I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!
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