Lead Me Not into Temptation July 10, 2024
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This line from the model prayer[1] Jesus taught us something the Apostle James also points out, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God;’ for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.”[2]
Or, as it says in the Message, “Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, ‘God is trying to trip me up.’ God is impervious to evil and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust.”[3]
It’s us and only us who choose to sin, to turn our backs on the good and embrace evil. “Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.”[4]
Just like everyone else who’s wandered this earth since the fall of man I struggle with temptation. It matters little that I know these struggles come from my own lust. I still have a battle on my hands. And just like everyone else I can stand strong against most temptations, but I do have those sins which so easily ensnare me in their web of momentary pleasure and future guilt.[5] These are the things I struggle with. Anyone who’s honest with themselves will admit they have the same situation.
Recently after a service I had a man asked for counsel about this very thing. All I could do is all I can ever do; share my witness.
When I’m faced with the temptation to fall into my pet sins, which I face on a daily basis, I admit I’m not strong enough to resist the temptation. These sins have years, decades even of practice in enticing me to wander from God’s path of obedience. My own lusts have their spiritual hands on all the right levers to pull me away. How can I resist? Who’ll save me from myself?[6]
Christ has come to set us free and when He sets us free we’re free indeed.[7] I know that’s what the word says. But how do I get in on all this freedom when I’ve spent so much of my life as a willing slave to these sins?
The first step is to admit my inability to resist the sin. And to realize that these thorns in my flesh[8] are there to protect me from pride and to shape me into what the Lord intends me to be. It’s the act of surrender, of admitting my inability to resist that makes a way. You see when I get to the end of my rope if I give up my struggle and ask Jesus to use His strength to resist the temptation for me, I can walk unscathed through the fires of my lust. When I’m weak[9] then I’m strong because Christ’s strength is perfected in weakness.[10]
We’ll never be tempted by more than we can endure and in every temptation there’s a way of escape.[11] This is one of the many promises we can hang on to when we face our pet sins across the gulf of temptation. Think of how the Lord himself resisted temptation in the wilderness.[12] He used the Word of God to rebuke Satan.
In the same way we need to have the Word of God in us if we want to have the strength to admit our weakness so we can find His strength.
Walking with God can sound and feel like walking backwards to anyone steeped in the wisdom of the world. For the wisdom of God is foolishness to the wise of this world.[13] Just as the weakness of a sinner becomes the strength of the saint as hand in hand with the Man who stilled the sea, we give it all to Jesus so He can give it back to us.
Those who seek to keep their lives lose them and those who give their lives away keep them for all eternity.[14]
So how do we resist temptation? We trust Jesus to do it for us since every sin was paid for at the cross. Accept Him as your Lord and Savior. Believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead. And you will be saved.[15] That isn’t pie in the sky. That isn’t a hollow promise for the great by-and-by. That is a constant reality for the here and now.
When those pesky old sins reach up and try to drag us down remember we aren’t out here all alone. Once we’ve given ourselves to God in and through Jesus it’s no longer just us facing these struggles it’s Christ within us the hope of Glory.[16]
[1] Matthew 6:5-15
[2] James 1:13-15
[3] James 1:13-15
[4] James 1:13-15
[5] Hebrews 12:1-2
[6] Romans 7:20-26
[7] John 8:36
[8] II Corinthians 12:7-10
[9] Ibid.
[10] II Corinthians 12:9
[11] I Corinthians 10:13
[12] Matthew 4:1-11
[13] I Corinthians 1:20-25
[14] Luke 17:33
[15] Romans 10:9
[16] Colossians 1:27
Season Three Episode Twenty July 9, 2024
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In Episode Twenty / Season Three of I Took a Right Turn: We share one some old-time gospel songs: I’ll Fly Away, Glory Glory Hallelujah, and I Went to the Enemy’s Camp. We also play one of our homegrown songs: I Got the Bok and the Blood and the Blessed Hope. In our Bible study this week we look at our journey through temptation to victory in Jesus through a study of Matthew 6:7-13. Robert reads another essay from his series of books on Christian living, (Faith, Hope, and Love) reading Essay # 13 from the book, Hope: “Lead Me Not Into Temptation.”
The text of this essay will be posted the day after the release of this episode at www.itookarighturn.com and www.drrobertowens.com A ll of Robert’s more than thirty books are available through Amazon. We also invite everyone to visit our online art store, The Pair a Docs Shop where we offer our original paintings, prints and merchandise.
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens July 8, 2024
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Think you know it all, think again.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens July 7, 2024
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Sometimes the things we think we know, we don’t know. Then again sometimes things we think we don’t know, we do know. Knowing how to know the difference is really knowing something.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens July 6, 2024
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Keeping rules doesn’t lead to living by faith, only to more and more rules.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens July 5, 2024
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Trying to do things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for us.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at
It’s a Battlefield Brother July 3, 2024
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We’re in a spiritual war every day whether we recognize it or not, and if we ignore the Bible’s exhortation to fight the good fight, we’ll inevitably become a casualty.[1]
As soon as Jesus was resurrected, after triumphing over Satan[2] and taking the keys to death and Hell[3] away from him He had the legal right to completely reclaim the earth Adam had given over to Satan.[4] But He didn’t do it.
Have you ever asked yourself why didn’t Jesus set everything right when He was here? Maybe you haven’t asked this question specifically, but have you wondered, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” or “Why do evil people seem to prosper?” or the classic, “Why did fill in the blank have to get cancer, get hurt, die, etc. ?” If you’ve asked any one of these questions or any one of the million variations you’ve asked, “Why didn’t Jesus set everything right when He was here?”
Here’s the short answer; He didn’t do it because if He had there would’ve been no opportunity for us to make the faith choice to join Him in His work of ruling all things. As a matter of fact, if He’d taken it all back more than two thousand years ago we never would’ve been born let alone have the opportunity to be born again.[5]
As we fight our battle against the darkness in this world we have to realize we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.[6] And since this is the case, we need to use the weapons that God provides not the weapons we can devise.[7] For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare aren’t carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
And all this depends on what we decide to do with our salvation. Are we going to be secret agent Christians hiding our light under a bushel so we can go along to get along?[8] Or, are we going to be bold warriors for Christ doing our best to share what isn’t just good news but is in fact the best news ever?
Once we’ve made the quality decision to spend our lives, the lives God has given us, sharing the light which is the light of the world with those lost in the darkness, we’ll find ourselves standing in a hurricane of resistance. The assaults of the enemy, the assaults of the world, of our families, our friends, the government, the culture will try their best to knock us down and knock us out. But we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us[9] and no matter how strong the headwind against us we must do our best to stand our ground.
And having done all to stand we need to stand therefore, having truth as a belt around our waist, putting on a bulletproof vest made of righteousness, stepping into shoes designed to deliver the gospel of peace, and above all, taking the shield of faith with which we’ll be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.[10] If we forget any of this armor, we can’t expect the enemy to play fair and not attack us in that area. We can’t say, “Don’t hit me there I’m not prepared.”
Yes, in the world we will have tribulations, but we can be assured Christ has overcome the world.[11]
Years ago, I wrote a song that expressed all this in a slightly more artistic form:
When we see the darkness all around us
We don’t wring our hands and cry about sin
We just light one candle it will burn by faith
Then we ask the Holy Ghost in.
It’s a battlefield brother
It’s a battlefield sister
It’s a battlefield not a recreation hall.
There’s nothing that the enemy can do or say
That could make me give up on God
And when I’m tested, I know I’m never tested
More than what I’ve got to handle the job.
It’s a battlefield brother
It’s a battlefield sister
It’s a battlefield not a recreation hall
God knew we can’t reach high enough
So He sent Jesus down to us.
And He knew we can’t be right enough
So He gave us His righteousness.
It’s a battlefield brother
It’s a battlefield sister
It’s a battlefield not a recreation hall
[1] I Timothy 6:12
[2] Colossians 2:15
[3] Revelation 1:18
[4] Word of Fath, Accessed 1-5-19, https://www.wordoffaith.cc/devotional/a-word-you-can-live-by/2018/satan-has-authority-on-the-earth-but-not-over-you
[5] John 3:3
[6] Ephesians 6:12
[7] II Corinthians 10:3-5
[8] Matthew 5:14
[9] Philippians 4:13
[10][10] Ephesians 6:14-16
[11] John 16:33
Season Three Episode Nineteen July 2, 2024
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In Episode Nineteen / Season Three of I Took a Right Turn : We share one an old-time gospel song: I’m a Soldier in the Army of the Lord, a song that is great to use when facing hard times: Hallelujah Anyhow, and one of our homegrown songs: It’s a Battlefield Brother. In our Bible study this week we look at the armor of the Lord and the weapons He has given us for our protection through a study of Ephesians 6:10-12 and 13-18. Robert reads another essay from his series of books on Christian living, (Faith, Hope, and Love) reading Essay # 12 from the book, Hope: “It’s a Battlefield Brother.”
The text of this essay will be posted the day after the release of this episode at www.itookarighturn.com and www.drrobertowens.com All of Robert’s more than thirty books are available through Amazon. We also invite everyone to visit our online art store, The Pair a Docs Shop where we offer our original paintings, prints and merchandise.
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens July 1, 2024
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If we try to get to heaven by our own efforts, we are doomed.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon
Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future 