Why We Continue to Fail

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” 
1 Corinthians 10:13

A basic definition of sin is “meeting our desires or needs in our own way with, no regard for God’s laws.” We sin when we meet our own needs based upon our standards, not God’s. We’ll never learn how to handle temptation until we face the issue of why we continue to fail the testing of our obedience.

One major reason we repeatedly fail to conquer temptation’s appeal is that there is an area of our life which we refuse to yield to the control of the Holy Spirit. Have I presented that problem area of my life to the Lord and wholeheartedly taken my hands off of it, saying, “God I’m out of control in this area of my life. I can’t control it. I genuinely yield this area of my life to you”?

Satan tries to divert our attention from yielding control to Christ by throwing up before us one of his scare tactics: “If you give this up to God, what will you have left? It will be lost forever, and you’ll never enjoy it again!” What Satan fears most of all is that when you yield control of any area of your life to Christ, you have the perfect will of God active in your life. That scares the enemy!

Following the Savior leads to life and victory over Satan, self, and sin! Our bent toward meeting our own needs in our own way puts us at cross-purposes with God.