James 1:14-15

I had a great talk with my friend this morning at Starbucks after a prayer meeting at our church. He is incredibly wise in the things of God. We were talking about temptation, and as you all know God works in great ways.

I was talking to him about how the devil tempts me relentlessly. And he brought to me a verse. James 1:14 "But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. "

Did you get that? "tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust." It's your heart that is generating temptation. And yes, the Devil takes advantage of that, but the problem to be fixed is not the Devil, it is your heart. Because as it says it is your lust that generates temptation. The temptation is not created by the Devil, but by something within you.

When you have a pure heart the Devil has nothing to work off. So what you need to do, is shut yourself from the world, block it out, and most importantly: fill that time with the word of GOD!

The Bible is the ultimate tool. God works through it in truly miraculous ways. Take advantage of that!

Reevaluate what you put in your life if you ever want to get anywhere or do anything in God.

If you do not change the position of your heart though, the scripture goes on to say "Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." -verse 15

You have to change where your love is. If you are being tempted due to your own lust, you love your lust. That needs to be changed, and I'm speaking personally too, I'm working through this currently, and the only way I can succeed is through the words of God. I thank Him continually. I pray and fast to Him, I read His word and keep it hidden in my heart as Mary did. There is no other way to obtain peace.

"You have to die to yourself, Rise with the King, Believe He will set you free, Fly With the King." -Trust Him by SBG Rebirth

If you want this, you have to remove yourself from anything that familiarizes yourself with your past sin, you have to scrape yourself bare until no longer you have any definition from your personality or the physical characteristics that the world stamps on you. You have to peel it off until all that defines Jesse as Jesse, or Brina as Brina, or Nathan as Nathan and so on is your relationship with God.

So that people see Jesse, and all that they can see to define me because I am associated with nothing else is my relationship with God. And then, you can build from there.

But you cannot start building before then. You have to be unashamed. If you are shameful of your past of your or your lack of physical character at this stage, you truly have not got to the bare minimum.

Shame, Pride, Jealousy, they're such ominous words that, we say, "How do we defeat something that we can not truly explain or understand in vivid definition. How can we scale a mountain that we cannot see the top of? By not associating yourself with it. By kicking it out of your heart. AND REPLACING IT WITH THE WORD OF THE LIVING GOD. I cannot tell you enough how important that is. If you're wanting to hear from God, open His word! Has He not had men write down His exact words for you? Has He not ordained that book as His Living Word? Do you understand those two words? They mean that what was heard and written down centuries ago is still true and prominent today! The things He said then are still true now. For God's word does not die. It is LIVING! You have to get that!

Not only do you have to read His word, but you must embrace it! You must come in to contact with the truths of God and then live them, right down to the last aspect. The power of God's word is unimaginable. They are truly words of power. But you cannot understand them or do not remember them, or will not embrace them they have lost all that power. You must read, and reread, you must understand His word, and if you cannot on your own, you must find someone who does. And once you have an understanding of the word, you must remember it. I love Awanas! I never really participated, but what they do is sacred. When you have all the scripture stored in your miraculous brain use it! You have to apply the word of God in combat with the principalities of this world. That is why the Bible is called a sword. It's word are crippling to the Devil!

That was quite long, but I really want this for all of you. You NEED to embrace his word. And get rid of your crap! Your luggage, your stuff, whatever it is, TV, friends, music, if it is keeping you from God get rid of it, no matter how hard it is to do so. Until then you will not hear the words of God because you will be in love with something other than him. That is why removing the things of this world from your daily input is vital, if it takes away from God GET RID OF IT! If you don't do that you are nothing. So seriously, suck it up, I've tried to be nice, but sometimes you have to say it as it, and this goes for me to quite often. GET RID OF YOUR CRAP! Seriously! It's not worth it! I don't know what your crap is, but I know you do, and you're thinking of it right now. Just remove it, and fill it with the Word. I've been repeating that because no matter how many times I say it, you don't get it! Fill your time with the Bible, with prayer, and with fasting. You will literally have no social life! And that's okay! But if you want it enough, if you want to receive breakthrough, you will get desperate, and you will get drastic. And let me tell you, it is worth it.