Quote from Forum Archives on March 26, 2003, 3:55 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

On Monday, as we looked at Phil Ware's Weekly Verses, we were
reminded that life is a spiritual battle, and that God Himself
provides us with all the defenses we need, plus the one method
of offense - His Word, the Bible.

Today, Neil Anderson goes into some depth on this topic as he
continues his series about Plan A versus Plan B, when we choose
God's plan for our lives instead of some other plan.

My friends in Christ, I've had my share of trying to choose Plan
B instead of Plan A. In my case, Plan B stands for Plan Brian.
So many times, I thought I knew it all, and could handle matters
on my own. Well, I'm no idiot, but that was delusional thinking
on my part.

If you also think that you've got life figured out, and you have
a solid plan for what you intend to do, think again. God may
indeed allow you to make various choices, and they may even
appear to be good choices. But until you decide to put God first
in every aspect of your life, let me tell you, my friends,
something will be missing. You'll never be completely satisfied
or at peace, even if you have a great job, great friends, and
everything seems to be going well. I know, I was there, too.

Since you have subscribed or asked me to send you these messages,
chances are, you're at least open to this kind of stuff. So take
Neil's words seriously, and the encouragement I'm sending to you.
Seek God first in everything. Doing so may even involve certain
sacrifices. It will, however, yield eternal rewards in areas
that cannot be reached in any other way, and the resultant
blessings will last forever.

Your Brother in Christ,
Brian

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NEIL ANDERSON'S DAILY IN CHRIST
from Freedom in Christ Ministries

March 26

AT THE THRESHOLD OF TEMPTATION

The grace of God has appeared . . . instructing us to deny
ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly,
righteously and godly in the present age (Titus 2:11, 12).

Yielding to temptation is another step toward a stronghold being
established in your mind. Whenever you are stimulated to conform
to Plan B instead of God's Plan A for your life, you are
experiencing temptation. The essence of all temptation is the
invitation to live independently of God and fulfill legitimate
needs in the world, the flesh or the devil instead of in Christ.
That's the great contest. And Satan knows just which buttons to
push to tempt you away from dependency on Christ.

The moment you are tempted to get your need met in the world
instead of in Christ, you are at the threshold of a decision. If
you don't immediately choose to take that thought "captive to
the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5), you will begin to
consider it as an option. And if you begin to mull it over in
your mind, immediately your emotions will be affected and the
likelihood of yielding to that temptation is increased.

The Scriptures teach us that God has provided a way of escape
from every temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13). But the escape is
right at the threshold of the temptation. If you don't control
the temptation at the threshold, you run the risk of allowing
the temptation to control you. Rare is the Christian who can
turn around after directing his will toward Plan B.

For example, a man sees a pornographic picture and is tempted
toward lust. He has the opportunity to respond by saying
something like, "My relationship with sin has ended. I choose to
take this thought captive to the obedience of Christ. I'm not
going to look at it or think about it." And he separates himself
from the picture immediately and escapes the lust.

But if he hesitates at the threshold, stares at the picture, and
begins to fantasize about it, he will trigger an emotional
landslide producing a physical response which will be difficult
to stop. He must capture the tempting thought in the threshold
or it will probably capture him.

Dear God, I want to be obedient to Your perfect plan for my life
today. I don't want to give in to Plan B thinking. Strengthen my
will to obey.

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=====
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/

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