Week 1 || Day 2

PURPOSE OF PRAYER: TO RESIST TEMPTATION & TO FIGHT THE ENEMY

Ooh, temptation! Now, temptation is tricky…because temptation isn’t sin, yet…but it’s easy to give in to temptation and sin is often the result. And sin done right is appealing to our carnal nature. It’s fun for a season. But its consequences are downplayed by our culture and other ungodly influences. Today we are choosing to stand with God against the temptations in our lives.  In our time today, we recognize that temptation is something every person will wrestle against throughout life. It can feel yucky and messy to struggle with temptation, but the reality is that because we live in a broken world, we won’t be able to turn off those pressures. However, through prayer we are able to overcome those temptations to sin. Today, we’re focusing on praying for God’s help to keep us from making poor decisions and giving in to temptations. We are also standing on the assurance that prayer can give us the strength to do what is right in God’s eyes. We lay down our own inability to resist temptation and we focus on God’s ability, asking for strength from the Holy Spirit. While temptation can feel powerful and persistent, persistent prayer is even more powerful.

Illustration:

“One of the largest freshwater turtles is the alligator snapping turtle. Found primarily in the southeastern United States, these massive turtles have been known to weigh close to 250 pounds. They are carnivorous, and while their diet is primarily fish, they have been known to eat almost anything else they can find in the water—even in a few cases small alligators! The alligator snapping turtle relies on a uniquely deceitful method of foraging for fish.

The turtle will lie completely still on the floor of a lake or river with its mouth wide open. At the end of the turtle’s tongue is a small, pink, worm-shaped appendage. The turtle wiggles the end of its tongue so that it looks like a worm moving through the water. When a fish comes to eat the worm, the turtle’s jaws rapidly close, trapping the fish so that it cannot escape.

Similarly to the snapping turtle’s lure, temptation comes in the guise of something desirable, but it always carries destruction with it in the end. If we could see the end result rather than the tempting part, it would be far easier to resist. But Satan knows this, so he cleverly disguises what is deadly in the guise of something pleasurable.” (https://ministry127.com/resources/illustration/the-deceitfulness-of-sin)

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Kids SEEK, too!

* Note to caretakers: Adults can often be fooled into thinking kids aren’t tempted.  This couldn’t be further from the truth! Feel free to share the illustration below and then ask if they may want to share a way they’ve been tempted. Have they been tempted to disobey? Have they been tempted to hurt someone when they were mad? Do your best to let them enter the conversation. Helping to teach kids about temptation while  they are young gives them more tools to recognize those temptations as they grow.  Oh, and don’t be tempted into skipping this topic because you don’t think it’s important. (See what we did there?)

Kids’ Illustration:

Alex was in class. "Put away your all of your books and take out a sheet of paper and a pencil," the teacher directed. "We are going to take our spelling test." Alex had a sick feeling deep down in his belly. He knew that they were going to have a spelling test today, but instead of studying he had stayed up playing video games last night. He was not ready for this test! The teacher called out the first word and Alex looked around the room frantically. Then he realized he had a clear view of Olivia’s paper. "It won't hurt anything if I peek at Olivia’s paper… just this once," Alex thought to himself. “I won’t do it again. Next time I’ll study. Nobody will ever know."

Every single one of us have faced temptations like these, haven't we? Did you know that Jesus faced temptations, too? The Bible teaches us that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, do you know what he did? He answered him with Scripture!

The Bible is a great place to look when we are tempted. Praying about our situation, especially when we use God’s Words, has so much more power than our temptation does!

Kids’ Activities for Today’s Prayer Focus:

• VIDEO ON TEMPTATION (There are great questions to review with a parent underneath the video).

• WORD SEARCH (THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS)

• COLORING PAGE (THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS)

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Bible:

  “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”  (1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV)

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”  (Matthew 6:13 ESV)

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”  (James 1:13-15 ESV).

“‘Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”.’” (Matthew 26:41)

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16 ESV)

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Quote for Today:

“The Gospel teaches that only by God’s grace can we truly overcome the temptations of the world, the wickedness of our own hearts, and the power of the Devil.”  -Albert Mohler, Fighting the Enemy Through Prayer.

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Points to Ponder:

• What areas are you tempted in today? (Pride?/Lust?/Lies?Greed?) What areas are you consistently tempted in? Take a moment to invite God into those specific temptations and ask for His help in overcoming them.

• Do not feel as if you are alone in your temptations. That is a lie from the enemy, who desires to isolate us from God and from other believers.

• We are not able to resist temptation by our own power.  Instead, we must turn our attention away from our own strength, and focus on the strength of God.

• We must recognize that we have been given a heart of dependence; dependence on God and His grace and dependence on Jesus to save us.

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CLOSING PRAYER: Father God, we thank you that you do not leave us alone in our temptation. We recognize our dependence on you. We thank you that you have given us your Holy Spirit to help us and your Word to use as a weapon against the enemy. Today we lay down the things that are tempting us and we ask that you would give your strength to us so that we may overcome those temptations. We bind any tricks and schemes of the enemy and we command Satan to go, in Jesus’ name. We invite your Holy Spirit into the areas of our lives that we often try to keep secret and we ask that your Word and Presence would cleanse those areas. It’s in Jesus’ mighty name we pray. Amen.

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