“13
For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it
comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is
not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is
beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to
human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word
and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be
tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and
strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He
will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to a landing
place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear
up under it patiently.”
There is
nothing you go through that does not have a way of escape!! The Way of escape
is Jesus!! He has ALREADY given you freedom over two thousand years
ago!! Now, it is up to YOU to accept
Jesus as YOUR personal Lord and
Savior, so you can begin to walk in total freedom!! There is NO freedom, NO
peace, No comfort, No real wealth without Him. John
1:3 says: “All things were made and came into existence
through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into
being” (AMP – biblegateway.com).
Therefore, EVERYTHING
that the devil meant for evil, God is turning it around for your good! God does
not tempt you; you are tempted because of your own evil desires. This is what James
1:13-15 says - (AMP – biblegateway.com):
13 Let no one say
when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being
tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one. 14
But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by
his own evil desire (lust, passions). 15 Then the evil desire, when
it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings
forth death.
If God cannot
be tempted by evil, and He is in us in the fullness, we should not be able to
be tempted by evil either!!! The devil is not going to be able to tempt us,
with what is not in our hearts; what we already want to do (the passions and
lusts that are not already there). The devil cannot read our minds, but he has
familiar spirits that watch our behavior from birth and these spirits report to
other spirits, they network, working together to try and cause our down fall.
When we accept
Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, those spirits really get to work, trying
to convince us, through suggestion-they put thoughts in our head, that we want
this or that. But if WE connect our heart to God’s heart, and want what
He wants, EVERYTHING else will line up in our lives because our will is
in agreement with God’s will; we will not be going against God in our hearts-we
wanting one thing, when God wants so much more and better for us!!
Get rid of
those desires in your heart (lusting after a man, woman, especially if they are
someone else’s spouse-that is adultery, etc.) that will kill (sin causes
death-you will NEVER be able to
satisfy the lust of the flesh-if you get that person you are lusting after, it
will not last because lust will never be satisfied- there is ALWAYS someone better looking than the
person you thought you had to have-and the cycle will never end, until you turn
your life totally over to Jesus) and desire God and the things of God; this is
what’s going to give you abundant life-the life Jesus has ALREADY
provided and given to you!! All you have to do to receive abundant life is to
accept Jesus as YOUR personal Lord and Savior!! It is a gift!! You do
not have to work for it!! We are saved by grace through faith (in the finished work of Christ)!! This
is what Ephesians
2:8-9 says:
8 For it is by
free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and
made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this
[salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your
own striving], but it is the gift of God; 9 Not because of works
[not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man should boast. [It is
not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in
it or take glory to himself.]
Jesus completed
the work for you; don’t allow the enemy to tell you anything differently!!
Don’t allow him to use what is in you against you-because he will and his
purpose is to destroy you!! Let me give you an example using myself of how the
enemy works to destroy you; especially after you accept Christ: I use to
be an alcoholic, so when I first accepted Christ, I kept backsliding because
the desire to drink was so strong in me. Where did that desire come from? The
enemy used what was already in me, what I was used to doing before I accepted
Christ, to keep me in bondage to it. The enemy knew my pattern-my weakness;
when I would get upset, I would drink.
Therefore, what
would the devil do? The devil would cause all kind of chaos in my life, knowing
it would push me to the bottle-and it worked. Then I would feel guilty and cry
before God, asking Him to forgive me; not knowing God had already forgiven me,
over two thousand years ago, when Jesus died on the cross for me. God knew I
would backslide over and over and over, so He made provisions for me to come
back to Him from the backsliding, through the death of Jesus. God told me after
one of my backsliding moments, that the steps of a good man is ordered by Him
and though he (the good man) falls, he is not utterly cast down (Psalm 37:23-24). Why would God call ME, a backsliding drunkard (that is how
I saw myself then) “a good man?” God called me, how He saw me; He saw me
as a good man because of the finished work of His dear Son Jesus!! God saw me as
the righteousness of Himself, through Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21) – Jesus became sin for me and for
you and ALL mankind!! Jesus came and
fulfilled the law which had condemned us to death (Romans Chapter 8, Hebrews 8:6-13, Romans 6:14-16; Jesus conqueror death, hell (took the
keys of death and hell – [Revelation 1:18]) and the grave, when He died and was
resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:55).
God is teaching
me now more than ever, who He is through His messages!! These messages are
causing me to abandon myself and seek more after God; I want to know Him more
and I want my will, to line up with His will for my life!! The desires in my
heart of what I want to do is fading and all I want to do is please Him more,
to love Him more; not seek after vain, empty things that only cause me death!!
I aim to live the abundant life Jesus died so I could live!! I am not talking
about a big house on the hill or fancy car or a lot of money in the bank, etc.
(although ALL that and more will be
mine but right now, I am not desiring them, I am desiring God)!! More of Him!
More of His presence!! That is what I am seeking after – God!! The full
manifested glory of God in my life; then ALL
those other things will automatically come! My love for God is increasing
because I am learning about His grace and who I am in Him in a deeper way; this
revelation of God’s Word is causing me to abandon my thoughts, ways, actions,
behaviors, old passions/desires of my heart and everything that is not of God,
and run to Him!!
The Word let me
know, that if we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteous, all
those other things
(the ones which are tied to our hearts that cause us to
worry sometimes), will be added to us; as long as what we want, line up with
God’s will for us [1
John 5:14-15] (Matthew 6:25-34).
NOTE: The righteousness
that Jesus ALREADY provided for us-there is NO OTHER RIGHTEOUSNESS BUT HIS-we
are not righteous without being IN Him and He IN us-we are members of His body,
of His flesh and His bones [Ephesians 5:30]. We have been crucified with Christ,
nevertheless, we live but it really is not us living, but Christ living in us [Galatians 2:20]. As the first Adam said about his bride
Eve, Jesus is saying the same thing about us, His bride, “this is now bone of
my bones and flesh of my flesh” [Genesis 2:23]),
14 And this is
the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him:
[we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will
(in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us.
15 And if (since)
we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know
[with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present
possessions] the requests made of Him.
I did not know
what God was saying then, when He told me what Psalm 37:23-24 said, so I kept going through that cycle of
back sliding, until one day I begin to cry out to God for deliverance from a
sincere heart; for God to deliver me from drinking. Yes, I had been praying
before but THAT time, but the other
times I prayed, I really did not want to stop drinking - I only prayed because
I knew I should not be a Christian and drink alcohol. However, when my heart
and my mouth lined up together in prayer, God instantly delivered me from
drinking. I did not say a long prayer, and cry and carry on like I had in the
past; I just said something like, "God if you up there, deliver me from
drinking"-I had made a conscious decision to choose God, over alcohol!! I
did not realize unto days later that I was delivered! It was something
different-it hit me that I had not had a drink in about a week (I was use to
drinking EVERY day-night and day).
But God!!!!
Now, the devil cannot tempt me with alcohol, it is not one of my desires so he
knows he would be wasting his time to try because that is not a desire of my heart
anymore; I cannot stand to smell alcohol or be around it-unless God has me
ministering to an alcoholic, then it does not bother me-that is a soul God
loves and wants to deliver as He did me. God has made many ways in my life
because of the One Way in my life; who is Jesus Christ!!! NOTHING is
impossible with God!! He can and will do the impossible in YOUR life, if you release your heart’s
desires to Him and agree with His will for your life!!!
If you are
having a lot of temptations, search your heart and see what you desire!! What
are the passions and lust of YOUR
heart? The devil CANNOT bring out of
you what is not already in you!!! He will only tempt you with what is your
heart’s desire! The devil just talks (with thoughts, wrong people speaking into
your life, suggestions, etc.) you into acting out what is in you-he uses your
past against you. Whatever you had a problem with in the past and have not been
fully delivered from (you will know if you are fully delivered-you no longer
have a desire for that thing), the devil will keep bringing that thing or those
things to you, telling you to do them until you either act on them or rebuke
him by pulling down those strongholds in your mind and bring EVERY
thought captive under the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)!!!
I beech you
today to keep crying out to God until your mouth and heart are in agreement and
God will deliver you from every evil desire of your heart!!!! But YOU got to release them to Him; He is
not going to take it from you!!! YOU must show God that you want Him and
love Him enough to let those evil desires GO!!!! You must show Him that
He means more to you than anything or anybody on this planet!!!!! And you do
this by searching your heart for things that are not of God and releasing them
to God putting them on His altar and leaving them there!! Be honest with
yourself; God already know what is in you!! Then you go after God like you never
have before!! You seek God until you find Him; until He fills you with desires
for Him and Him alone!! He said He would give us the desires of our heart so
let us make a deeper relationship with God the desire of our heart instead of a
new house, car, clothes, money, man, woman, and all other material thing!!
YOU
have to put forth effort to be delivered; take responsibility for YOUR OWN
DELIVERANCE!! STOP EXPECTING GOD TO DO EVERYTHING FOR YOU!!
Throughout the
Bible you will see statements that let us know if we do this then God will
do that. God is not going to do EVERYTHING
for us! We must do what we can and leave what we cannot do to God; but we must
actively participate in our deliverance. I mean we cannot continue in sin and
say, like I have heard people say, “I am waiting for God to stop me from
drinking and smoking.” No, YOU must
decide to release those things to God!! God is not going to go against YOUR will; you are choosing to drink
and smoke or whatever-you enjoy it because it gives you pleasure-it satisfies
that desire, that passion in your heart to do it.
You must get
tired of what you are doing or what you are going through before you can get
delivered from it; otherwise, you will be like I was, on a
roller coastal ride, up and down, one day you want to live for God
and the next you want those desires in your heart, until you decide, enough is
enough-I do not want THIS anymore!!!
You must get sick and tired of being sick and tired; then your change will
come!!
Therefore,
decide today, right now as you read this post, that you will release ALL
your evil desires to God and choose Him as your heart desire!!! Then you can
say what Jesus said, Who is our example, in John
14:30: 30 ...And he (the evil prince of this
world) has no claim on Me. [He has nothing in common with Me; there is nothing
in Me that belongs to him, and he has no power over Me]” (AMP –
biblegateway.com).
The prince of
this world (accuser) will not be able to bring out those evil desires; you will
have nothing in common with him!! Those old desires will be gone. Your desire
for God will take the place of those evil desires. Choose this day, do you want
evil desires to lead you or do you want God to lead you? The choice is YOURS!!! However, choose wisely!! You
will have to live with that choice throughout eternality!!
In
closing, this is my prayer for you: “I pray that God will shine the light of
His truth upon the dark places in your hearts; that God will give you His wisdom,
knowledge and understanding, so you can see what’s in you (the desires, the
passions, the lust of your heart that are in you) and you can release ALL to
Him. And I pray that God will heal you everywhere you need to be healed, in the
Name of Jesus. I declare and decree freedom over your life, over your families’
life, and over your ministries, this day, in the Name of Jesus, Amen!!”
May God bless
you all!!!
Dr. Dorothy E.
Hooks
