Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. James 5:16 (MSG)
Temptation and Prayer – Sermon on the Mount Series – Part 2
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7 | PART 8 | PART 9 | PART 10 | PART 11 | PART 12 | PART 13 | PART 14
“You heard,” Jesus continued, “that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you: everyone who gazes at a woman in order to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye trips you up, tear it out and throw it away.
Yes: it’s better for you to have one part of your body destroyed than for the whole body to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand trips you up, cut it off and throw it away. Yes: it’s better for you to have one part of your body destroyed than for your whole body to go into Gehenna.”
Matt 5:27-30 (N.T. Wright’s “The Kingdom New Testament Translation”).
PRACTICE: DRASTICALLY REMOVE TEMPTATION.
“Tear out your eye” hardly seems like practical advice. And despite those who claim to be Biblical literalists, you don’t see many men who have blinded themselves in Bible studies. Yet don’t miss Jesus’ liberating command to get in on Kingdom living: DO SOMETHING DRASTIC to remove temptation.
Here’s a little helpful practice we teach: when tempted to objectify a sister or brother, pray for them. It’s impossible to do both at the same time. We need not look further than the pornification of culture or the sex trafficking industry to know there is hell to pay for unchecked lust.
Who can you confess with so that you might be healed? (Js.5:16) What sister or brother could you ask to hold you accountable weekly to discipline your intentions with grace?
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, in the desert you rejected temptation that you might do the will of your Father. Teach us to do the same that we might do your will. Amen.
Contributed and Written by: Jarrod McKenna
Facebook.com/jarrodandmates
Twitter: @jarrodmckenna
Instagram: @jarrodmckenna
You can watch the “Love Makes a Way Documentary,” by copying this link into your web browser: pktfuel.com/LMAW
Go to Part 3 – Truth Telling »
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