James 4:1-10 – Dealing with Temptation

Christians often struggle with temptation in a variety of ways. Those temptations can come from the world, the flesh, and the devil. We can see the world's ways and we know our own fleshly desires. But what about the devil? How do we know if we are being tempted by him? The truth is that we may never know. However, he is nonetheless involved in tempting people to sin against God. The Bible provides several examples of this.

The Bible tells us that the devil tempted Eve in the garden (Gen. 3). He convinced her that God didn't have her best interests in mind. The devil also tempted David to count how many soldiers were in his army (1 Chron. 21:1). He tempted David to be proud in the army he had built. Later, the devil tried to tempt Jesus to sin while he was in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11). He tempted Jesus three times but failed. The fact remains that the devil wants people to turn from trusting in God.

The New Testament describes the work of the devil in several places. He is an evil influence (Matt. 16:23; Acts 5:3), the one who removes the seed of the gospel from hearts (Luke 8:12), a murderer and the father of lies (John 8:44), one who uses devices against believers (2 Cor. 2:11), a false angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14), wily (Eph. 6:11), a hinderer of good (1 Thess. 2:18), proud (1 Tim. 3:6), and one who sets up snares (2 Tim. 2:26). All of these actions are designed to take advantage and destroy us.

Being that he is a powerful foe, how could anyone resist such temptations? We will find the answer in James 4:1-10.