Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Keep watching and praying that you not enter into temptation, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Mark 14:38. After My Son advised you to do that, He prayed that the cup might pass Him by without His drinking it, but for My Will to be done. Matthew 26:42. Because you give into temptation, He had to drink the cup of wrath that was due to you. I took it out of your hand and gave it to Him, so that you will never have to drink it. Isaiah 51:22.
But sin causes evil consequences, its wages are death. I warned Adam that transgression would mean death, but he did not take heed.
David was and is a man after My own heart. What a heart he had for Me! I helped him wherever he went, 2 Samuel 8:6, 14. I showed amazing favor to David. I gave him victory, riches, honor and authority. I entrusted him to lead and govern My people Israel. But there came a day, when he let down his guard in an idle evening looking where he should not look and what My servant James warned you of many years later happened. “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my brethren.” James 1:13-16. And this is what happened to David. Lust unchecked gave birth to sin (adultery) and when sin is accomplished, it brings death (the murder of her husband Uriah, and the death of the baby conceived in sin). It began with the enticement of the eyes. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life are not from Me but from the world. 1 John 2:16. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so you can prove My Will in your life, that which is good, acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2.
After David thought he had covered his sin of adultery by the engineered death of Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, My prophet Nathan went to him and opened his eyes to his sin. What did I say to My servant David? “It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me.” 2 Samuel 12:7-10.
I spoke of all the treasures I had showered on him and told him if he had let Me know that was too little, I would have given him more of the same.
I called not obeying My Word as despising Me by doing evil in My sight.
And I told him the sword would never depart from his house because he had despised Me. “If you are willing and obey, you will eat the best of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” Isaiah 1:18-19. Do you remember what Adam’s rebellion caused to revolve around the entrance to the Garden? A sword.
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And I told Nathan to tell David, “The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.” 2 Samuel 12:13. When someone known to be a follower of Mine sins, it gives occasion for My enemies to speak ill of Me. You know this. It gives My church a bad name with unbelievers when believers sin just like the unbelievers do. My servant Paul knew this well and he counseled you to abstain from every appearance of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22. And they are waiting to see if I will correct the sinner. I will draw things up before your eyes. And when you pay attention, as David did to Nathan, I know you have set your heart to never sin again. If only Adam had repented, I could have said to him what I told David, “The LORD also has taken away your sin, you shall not die.” “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” 1 John 1:9-10.
But the consequences you set in motion when you sin are often disastrous. Look at Adam, his sin had such far-reaching consequences. And even though David tried to keep his sin a private matter, that is, his sin of immorality, it came out and poisoned his family. His son Ammon conceived lust and impure plans for his half-sister, Tamar, which ended up in her brother, Absalom, murdering Ammon in revenge. And then Absalom rebelled against his father David and tried to take the throne from him as well as his life. And then David’s first baby with Bathsheba died but the next one did not, he became a delight to Me. His name was Solomon. However, there were repercussions in Solomon’s life from David’s sin, Solomon went after women, even foreign women with other gods, and that caused him to turn to his heart away from Me to idols. And he would not repent. He despised My Word. And it divided the kingdom and resulted ultimately in its destruction and downfall to Babylon.
But you have something neither David nor Solomon had. You have the Cross. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, I made you alive together with Jesus, having forgiven YOU ALL your transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against you, which was hostile to you; and I have as taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14. For I rescued you from the domain of darkness, and transferred you to the kingdom of My beloved Son, in whom you have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. I have qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Colossians 1:12-14.
I can make all things new in your life when you turn your eyes onto Jesus and believe that I justify the ungodly. I make you a new creation in Christ when you receive Him as your Lord. Old things are gone and new have come. And each morning My mercies are new. It is not saved once and you are suddenly one who never slips into the flesh again. You are new in the spirit man but the redemption of your body has not come about yet, that is still to come. You are still in a corruptible body of flesh. But your spirit can control your flesh. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. You need to strengthen yourself by renewing your mind to My Word until the fruit of self control manifests in your life. But WATCH (guard your heart with all diligence) and PRAY that you not enter into temptation. If you know your flesh has tendencies to anger, to alcohol addiction, to lying, to stealing or embezzling, then you must stay away from people or situations that entice you into sin. Insulate yourself from sin. How? By staying in My hand, which is also known as abiding in the vine. And you do it by filling your heart with My Word. If a cup is full of milk but you keep pouring in water eventually there is nothing but water, and the more water you pour in and the faster the quicker the change takes place.
Do you see? The more Word in you the more you are purged, cleansed and transformed into My image again. You become holy, sanctified and a vessel of honor filled with My Holy Spirit and power.
Live in peace with one another. Forgive as I have forgiven you in Christ. Let go of gossip and malicious speech. Watch yourself. Be on the lookout for areas that you are being sloppy and slothful about. Be sober and alert, keep watching with all prayer and petition, for your opponent the devil is prowling about stealthily looking for your weaknesses so he can take you captive to do his will and devour your dreams and success. Do not swallow his bait. Watch and pray that you may not even enter into temptation so that lust and evil have nowhere to plant and grow in your soul. Humbly receive My implanted Word which has the power to save your souls from the evil one’s tactics and schemes. And if you see others that are getting caught in Satan’s wiles, in all love and heartfelt compassion admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Never repay with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. If you keep your eyes on the best interests (and I mean the ultimate best interests, not the fleeting pleasures of sin) of all, things will work out. That is what My servant Joseph, the son of Jacob, did with his brothers who wronged him and all the ones who had oppressed him for his first thirteen years in Egypt. But because of his steadfast faithfulness to Me and keeping himself pure by walking with Me, all worked out in everyone’s best interest and no one ended up destroyed.
My Will for you in Christ Jesus is that you have no anxiety about anything but cast all your care on Me in seeing how I have taken care of all you have done in Christ. He is the sacrifice that took away all your sins. And I deliver you from all your transgressions. I am your deliverer. There is cause to rejoice, not to hide in shame, regret and blame. So, rejoice always; pray without ceasing; and in everything give thanks. Do not quench the Spirit; and you can do this in so many selfish ways—depression, grief, malice, anger, offense, complaining, grumbling, gossiping, pointing the finger at others, resentment, immorality, and I could go on but you get the idea. Watch out for those things and catch the little foxes before they gnaw away your bones and your life. Do not despise prophetic utterances, but examine everything carefully to see if it lines up with My Word. Hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every appearance or form of evil.
If you set your heart right to do these things, then I, the God of Shalom (peace), MYSELF, will sanctify you entirely; and preserve your spirit and soul and body complete, without blame at the coming of your Lord Jesus Christ (for you will all go before the judgment seat of Christ). I am faithful and I have called you and I will also bring it to pass. If you let Me, I will complete the good work I have begun in you, even if you have taken a few detours. My gifts and My call are irrevocable. For the believer it is never over.
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. And pray the same for others too. Especially those you know have addictions and weaknesses that they have given in to. Everyone needs a deliverer. And you have one. I gave My Son for you to deliver you. Will I not give you everything with Him that you need for life and godliness? And the good news is, I have already given it to you in Him. Just ask and you shall receive and is called prayer. Call on Me, and I will rescue you. I AM your Deliverer. Never forget that no matter how you got into your mess.
Keep yourself narrow to enter the narrow gate. My Son told you to enter through the narrow gate. There is the wide gate of unrestrained speech and emotions, where you just let it all hang out and hang on, so to speak. Sin will encumber you. But the narrow gate is the one you enter by restrained speech and self-denial as far as anger and rude speech go. My servant James put it this way, “If anyone things himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, that man’s religion is worthless.” James 1:26. Keep yourself unstained by the world. For from the world come the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. 1 John 2:16. If you do not watch what you are thinking on, looking at and looking down on in others you will slip into the ways of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. Luke 21:36.Be on guard and stand your ground on redemption ground. I will deliver to you any place where the soles of your feet tread when you are of that mindset and are taking territory from the devil for My Kingdom. Do not grow weary in doing good.
I love you. Prepare your minds for action, be sober, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ your Lord, with all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a good protection from depression and anxiety. Selah.