Overcoming Temptations

edited December 1969 in Faith Issues
What are the best ways to overcome our temptations for sin?
What can we do to avoid these temptations?
Do we all have to live like the saints to overcome our temptations?
I have also heard that at a certain level of holiness in the saints lives, it was outside their capacity to sin. They physically could not sin after they have consecrated their lives to serve the Lord.

Please pray for me and my extreme weakness!!!

Comments

  • The best way to overcome temptations is to run away from the source of temptation. Figure out what exactly is the source that is causing you to be tempted and stay away from it. You have to remember, the saints where humans, the only difference between them and us is the level of spirituality and their dependence on God. The thing about saints and them not being able to sin, they could sin, but because they tasted how sweet God really is, no temptation or fleshly desire could take them away from Gods Grace and sweet love.
  • I would say the ultimate way to avoid temptation is to be humble. Humility is a virtue that will protect you from temptation.

    Running away from sin is humility. The reason why this is humility is that if I were to run away or escape from a situation that could in anyway tempt me, I am basically saying that I am not perfect, and AM capable of sinning. I don't trust my good intentions that I do not wish to sin, but rather I know myself as weak and corruptible.

    It is so easy, as Christians, to end up as being self righteous - because, we are raised to fear God. However, generally speaking, we are not really raised to see ourselves as having the capacity or potential to sin.


  • [quote author=QT_PA_2T link=topic=7677.msg100558#msg100558 date=1235706231]
    I would say the ultimate way to avoid temptation is to be humble. Humility is a virtue that will protect you from temptation.

    Running away from sin is humility. The reason why this is humility is that if I were to run away or escape from a situation that could in anyway tempt me, I am basically saying that I am not perfect, and AM capable of sinning. I don't trust my good intentions that I do not wish to sin, but rather I know myself as weak and corruptible.

    It is so easy, as Christians, to end up as being self righteous - because, we are raised to fear God. However, generally speaking, we are not really raised to see ourselves as having the capacity or potential to sin.





    I agree with you 100% great post Qt, Here is a quote by St. Isaac the Syrian to bring home what Qt has said:

    “I want to speak about humility, but I am afraid, as one who wants to speak about God. This is because humility is the garment that the Divinity wore when He appeared among us. For this reason, when the devils see a humble person they are afraid, because they see in him the image of their Creator who has subdued them.” St. Isaac of Syria
  • Thanks JY,

    A lot of Christians, probably including myself, at one point in time, may have seen clearly that Christ was humble. Christ was humble, and He did wear the garment of humility. But the problem is that we may not see it in the correct light.

    I used to see Christ's humility as Him being humble about His position or status: the Only Begotten Son of God. He didnt show off nor boast about it. But Christ doesnt want us to be born in mangers and to walk around the wilderness on sandals, he wants us to have the humility that He had when He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. He did not enter into discussion with Satan. He cut the conversation short, and did not do anything to prove Himself, His status, nor His power in answering Satan. This to me, is the humility we should wear. Mistakingly, we get the idea that humility is being shy about what we can do or hiding our talents, or not boasting... this is not the humility that will lead you escape from sin, but rather such an attitude will only lead you into sin unwittingly.

    Therefore, in summary - I believe that the humility that Christ wants us to learn from is for us to realise and accept our corruptible nature; our potential to fall into sin and be tempted. Otherwise, he wouldn't have fasted for us to show us.


    A small rule of thumb is: We are fasting against Sin - our nature that can commit sin and be corruptible.

    I know it sounds obvious, but it isn't really.
  • Egyboy, all of us are weak and all of us struggle. my personal favorite weapon is the Jesus prayer. i use it like a mantra and its lovely because i can repeat it in my head all day long like some sort of song, it is most effective. also i memorize hymns that help me do battle. and yes as a previous post said humility. it is one of the most difficult, in my eyes, things to accomplish. egy your not alone in your struggles my friend. God Bless!
  • [quote author=Ioannes link=topic=7677.msg100841#msg100841 date=1236463624]
    Egyboy, all of us are weak and all of us struggle. my personal favorite weapon is the Jesus prayer. i use it like a mantra and its lovely because i can repeat it in my head all day long like some sort of song, it is most effective. also i memorize hymns that help me do battle. and yes as a previous post said humility. it is one of the most difficult, in my eyes, things to accomplish. egy your not alone in your struggles my friend. God Bless!


    actually i do that too! whenever i catch myself about to sin or thinking about something evil, I just pray the Jesus Prayer a few times over in my head and it works of course by the grace and mercy of God!

    please pray for me and my weakness!!!!
    really i need as many prayers as i can get!!
  •     Good to see the various points expressed here. I think this is an issue that we all struggle with in various forms from time to time. The easy part is to say "do this, don't do that". Which is why we are told that the desire to sin and the opportunity to sin should be kept as far apart as possible. While it may not always be possible to stay in isolation and literally walk away from sin, it helps to continually pray for God's guidance at every step.

    The hard part however, is to remain humble even after "overcoming" by God's grace whatever we struggled with. Having struggled with our problems, when we reach the rope's end, when all hope is lost and we realize there's no one but God to turn to - that's when we begin to make progress. We begin in all humility and earnestness but then after a time of exposure to the ways of the world, we go back to our old ways - like the proverbial "dog going back to its vomit". Either our resolve tends to wane and intensity in prayer dissipates and we slide.....till we strike into hard ground. Or what's worse, we become boastful in "our ability to overcome" and relegate God to the background.

         I like the analogy about the well-built ship. For a ship to fulfill its intended role, it has to be well constructed, but it cannot remain high and dry in the docks. It has to get into the water, but the water must not get into it. Likewise, we must go out into the world but the ways of the world must not enter to defile us.

         Remaining in communion with God many times during the day helps keep us on track. Using the structured and specific prayers given to us by the saints helps us focus on what needs repair.

    God bless,
    P
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