Excellent Life Keys

 *EXCELLENT LIFE KEYS* 🔑🗝️

Sat/12th/March/2022

*Francis Reign* (Ap & Coach) 

_"Raising excellent agents of change and transformation, well equipped with Truth and Wisdom."_

*UNDERSTANDING THE ACTS AND WORDS OF JESUS CHRIST (53)*

_"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"_ (Matt 6:13). The NLT version expresses it this way, _"Do not let us yield to temptations but rescue us from the evil one."_ Does this mean that God leads people into temptation? The answer is yes. And no. The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by satan (Mat 4:1). God led the nation of Israel to the point where they had the Red Sea on one side and the mightiest army in the world on the other (Exodus 14). It depends on the word you want to use, tempt or test. God does allow us to be placed in situations where we are tested (or tempted). James deals with this complexity in the first chapter of his letter - we should rejoice that our faith is tested because it builds the character of Christ within us. At the same time, James makes it clear that God doesn't tempt us with evil. James tells us that our own desires, the sinful nature, pulls us away from the good path. Satan and the World (the systems built by people with a sinful nature) also tempts us. 

We have to be careful with the narrative, however, not to use it as absolute doctrine. The phrase _"lead us not into temptation"_ is followed by a necessary request, _"but deliver us from evil."_ Taking into account the express teaching from James and Corinthians, and the narrative from Scripture, God will lead us away from situations where we will be tempted or tested outside of His will, beyond the grace He has given us. He knows everything. He sees the end from the beginning when we don't, so we must trust Him in every detail. And when we come across testing or temptation (and it is guaranteed we will be tempted or tested, that we will have trouble and challenges in this world, John 16:33), we must trust His strength and look for the escape He has promised. Yes, God leads us to temptations or times of testing. But also no, because He's not really leading us to those times but through them, using those situations to prove His power and strengthen our character. 

*EXCELLENCE KEY* 🗝️

_"God uses times of testing or temptation to prove His power and strengthen our character."_ 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Excellence is within you. Bring it out >>*

#1420 ELK.