There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
—1 Corinthians 10:13

We all have them—weak spots in our lives where we're especially vulnerable to temptation. What's yours? Perhaps you're a pathologic critic with a deeply engrained "I can't" mentality that the enemy easily exploits. Maybe you've been convinced that you can never get rid of your eating problem, so why try? The devil will send all kinds of packages to take the Word from you, because the Word is your destiny, and the devil will do his utmost to keep your destiny from being fulfilled.

If the devil can defeat the dream and destiny God has placed in you ... if he can defeat the revelation of the Word inside you ... then he can keep the harvest of that dream from happening (Mark 4). Doubt and confusion are the enemy's first weapons of temptation. The second thing the devil will bring your way is a circumstance that will discourage you and leave you saying, "It isn't fair. It isn't right. God isn't faithful." If you don't fight against these, you will stop speaking the Word, meditating on the Word, and acting on the Word.

Watch out for the slippery slope of ambivalence or disobedience. The enemy doesn't come at you with a temptation to deny Christ or to renounce God. The enemy comes with the temptation to move away from a close, intimate "knowing" of God just a little bit here, a little bit there—one decision, one commitment, and one choice at a time. Bind yourself to Christ Jesus in a way that no person and no circumstance and no force can "undo" you.

God's Word is sharper than any double-edged sword, powerful to divide the soul from the spirit (Hebrews 4:12). It will keep your thoughts in check when your flesh wants to chase a temptation that would harm you. It will protect you when your eyes see something that would put you in harm's way.

When you are faced with temptation, the devil will begin to talk to your soul realm. Your spirit will not listen to him, but you are the chauffeur of your mind. God will not do for you what you can do for yourself, but the Word of God can prevent you from falling short if you fill your mind with manna from heaven, the bread of life, the Bible. Your flesh will feed off the fat of the world, but your soul and spirit are united when you put a verse on it. Conquer your battles with the Bible.

Related Texts: Psalm 119:9–11; Matthew 4:1–4, 11; James 1:2–3, 12–15; 4:7; Revelation 12:10–11