Lust of the flesh: What your body does naturally meaning when your hungry or thirsty these are things your body does naturally. Which can contribute to why it seems so hard when you try and fast, your going against what your body does naturally.
Lust of the Eyes: Things looking better than what they are. Speaking to guys, when your walking down the street and you see a cute girl and you, smile and start thinking, my bros are going to be so jealous when they find out that's who I am talking to. Ladies your not exempt from this, walking down the street and a guy who is "thick." The point is your liking what you see and not thinking of the implications of you being in contact with this person, or what it will do to your heart.
Pride of life: Something that may make you feel better, that builds you, or you think builds you. What this means is something that could make us feel that we are higher than God. One of the things I had to work with Jesus on was anger, I had this idea in my head that because I worked out and lifted, I felt like I could not be touched I was on a completely different level, having this higher than God persona.
An example of the three types of lust takes place in Genesis 3:6-7
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Lust of the flesh- "Woman Saw that the Fruit of the tree was good for Food" The Woman (Eve) was in the Garden, and could eat anything she wanted, but she was already in the garden and God said she could eat anything, EXCEPT the fruit from this specific tree.
Lust of the eyes- "Pleasing to the eye" What looks good, she was in the garden a place that God said they could eat anything. Because something is pleasing, or looks good we act upon it. We do this more than we realize when we have money and look for stuff, such as; clothes, shoes, drugs, sex and much more. Looking to find comfort but we leave feeling empty, trying to find peace but we keep trying to find the replacement and to feel comfort for the things of the world.
The pride of life- Gaining wisdom, they both gained wisdom however they did not take into account the consequences of them taking and eating the fruit. Their disobedience brought sin into the world, and separated us from God. Which means that a sacrifice, the spilling of blood was the only thing being able to cover us from sins... (more on this in a later blog post)
The pride of life- Gaining wisdom, they both gained wisdom however they did not take into account the consequences of them taking and eating the fruit. Their disobedience brought sin into the world, and separated us from God. Which means that a sacrifice, the spilling of blood was the only thing being able to cover us from sins... (more on this in a later blog post)
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 1John 2:15
Jesus being tempted, Jesus fighting temptation Matthew 4 when Jesus was being tempted by Satan.
Lust of the flesh- Matthew 4:3-4
The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of
God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It
is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes
from the mouth of God.
Lust of the eyes- Matthew 4:5-7
Then the devil took him to the holy
city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If
you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’[c]”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[d]”
Pride of life- Matthew 4: 8-10
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.
Jesus was tempted by the enemy, by Satan, just after he spent 40 days fasting in the desert. Which is interesting, because when you fast your not eating, your trying to ignore bodily function and rely on God alone, and trying to grow closer in your relationship with him. Which means as we grow and become more intimate and closer to God we will be able to withstand the temptation of the enemy. This shows us to things 1. that Jesus spent 40 days growing closer to God through fasting. I don't think Jesus was as his weakest, but at his strongest. 2. This shows us that Jesus having dealt with the temptation of the enemy shows us we can as well. I feel like Jesus has given us steps to battle with lust.
1. Staying rooted in Jesus
John 15:1-8
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
The closer you are to Jesus, the better able he will be able to make you fruitful, and when he prunes you, cuts the bad, and cuts the temptation out of your life, it allows you to grow more in Christ, and embrace him, similar to when your in a relationship you try to spend your time with that individual to learn and know more about them to learn about him.
2. Bringing it to light
Ephesians 5: 12-13
It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.
Bringing things to light and telling people about the problems, and the issues you are dealing with give the enemy less things he can use to tempt you. Which allows you to take the steps to overcome the issue. Bringing things to light allow you to look at the issue and see the temptations and issues clearly for what they are.
3.Asking for help
Hebrews 10: 24-25
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Sometimes what were dealing with can not be dealt with by ourselves and we need someone, an outside perspective a community to really sit and pray with us. To help not only come up and increase the steps we make with God but to walk along with us and to help us look at where we can grow in the journey with Jesus and to also keep us walking with him.
4. Asking why you are hanging on to this.
Idols in your life. things that you bow before, things that are keeping you from being, or coming into your relationship with God, this could be anything from Work, to your spouse or partner, to money. Sometimes we get caught up in the gifts God gives us, we forget that God gave them to us. For example God can bless us with a new job, and the money pays well, but you lean on yourself saying I got to where I am, instead of saying God gave me this, and allows me to do this. We could also realize that their is this idol (this thing keeping you from God) and we are still are doing the day to day following God, and say you give him control of say the things you watch but you don't relinquish that addiction to pornography, or alcohol to him.
This is where you need to ask yourself why do I still fall to this? if you do not know, ask God whatever it is he is big enough to handle it.
1John 2:15
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
4.1 Giving it to Jesus
Letting Jesus into your life, and letting Jesus have it.
Whenever you realize that this thing is interrupting your life and hurting you more than it is helping you, and it becomes painful and you can no longer carry it, and you think you give it to God yet your still falling to it, the problem lies with you not giving it to him, instead your thinking he isn't accepting it,
Difference between you saying it, and meaning it in your heart. Here what I mean, you know where you are at on your walk with Jesus, where your at in the moment and the struggle that you are dealing with. You can tell people you that you are doing the right things but you know in your heart where you are. You can ask him to take the things in your life away, but he doesn't look at the struggle he looks at where he can stretch you because of the things you are going through.
5. Then letting Jesus into that part of your life.
Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
Jesus is said to live in your heart, sometimes our heart is preoccupied with the things we think we can control, but it has control over you. When you make the decision to stop doing whatever it is, we can then ask Jesus to come into that part of our life. The reason we have to ask, he is not going to come in and take over, we have to allow him to take over and to truly submit to what he has for us.
Jesus is said to live in your heart, sometimes our heart is preoccupied with the things we think we can control, but it has control over you. When you make the decision to stop doing whatever it is, we can then ask Jesus to come into that part of our life. The reason we have to ask, he is not going to come in and take over, we have to allow him to take over and to truly submit to what he has for us.
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