How do you rid yourself of temptation?

Right salvation not perfection. Do you not agree that Jesus was the being that was perfect in the flesh. I don't know about you but I'm not perfect but very much saved and listening to all he has to say

The only reason we die is because of sin. Salvation is to be salvaged we are salvageable because of his sacrifice if perfection were achievable he wouldn't have had to die we just would have had to try harder

Shadowprophet said:

I want to be clean, I want to be without sin.. I like the feeling I get right after prayer, It's like a clean pure feeling, But it does not last, Sooner or later temptation happens..

My sins and desires offend me, And even though I try to resist, it's not so simple, The flesh is wicked and it desires what it does. Is there a way to make temptation go away and never come back. I dislike my temptations, I want them to stop completely, forever..There is no need to go into detail. And lest I be judged, No man is without sin. But, I am offended by my wickedness, it pulls at me like a chain coming straight from hell. To know the love of God, And then to feel the pull of Satan,, It's unfair, God deserves better then me, And I want to do better. But the devil knows my weakness.. And I am weak. How can someone make temptation stop? It's like a sickness that does not go away..

A never ending battle, And I just want peace,...Please note, I am not insane, I am just very spiritual,, I promise, My sins are not that different from any other male,, most likely..

But its not fair that Satan gets to try, over and over and over again,, it's like I am a stone and he is a stone cutter.. He picks at me until I am weak. And I fall to temptation..

It's not fair... I want it to stop...

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Temptation isn't going to stop. God is 100% alive and you have access to Him. The only thing that may stop is your decision to talk with Him. Matthew 28:18

AllanV said:

Water baptism is the first step in salvation.

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That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe on your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. For it is in your heart you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth you confess and are saved
Rom10:9&10
My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. John 10:27

You lay the emphasis on what man must do to retain his salvation, not what God does to keep him secure.
No ceremonial act will save anyone, it is in the heart you are justified

Temptations are real, alive and forever. We will not be without them.

Fighting them is not easy. This is where i am struggling too.

Shadow Prophet,

This is not something I would teach or rather argue to defend, but it is something that I would share as a word that God ministered to my own heart.

The Apostle John listed the three areas in which man sins.

1Jn 2:16 "... the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life..."

Bearing in my that the word "lust" in this passage also means "desire." I interpret this passage as so.

The first way man may sin is by satisfying his physiological needs for food, oxygen, climate...

While it is not a sin in and of itself to eat, it was part of Jesus' mission to get men to live on a higher more real set of universal laws. What drove Jesus' frustration with the disciples when they got caught in the middle of the storm crossing the sea was there stubbornness to recieve the revelation and responsibility of those higher universal laws. So it is not a sin to eat but it is a sin to confine man's existence to this world's laws (such as eating) at the expense of heavens laws.

No mater how irrational and unreasonable it may seem to us we do have a calling and responsibility to live beyond this world's ecosystem. It's not enough to live morally upright lives within this world. We are expected to walk out our faith. That is to act on the subtle clues that the Holy Spirit personally draws to our attention ie. walking on water, multiply fish, command the weather etc...

Failing to do these things is the result of denying God's power in our lives and denying God's power is a sin of omission just as any sin of commission.

I'll have to finish my explanation of 1 John 2 another time but let me just close by tying it together with overcoming sin. Abundant living can only be realized in as much as the Spirit of God dwells in us. And he can only dwell in us as much as our old nature is first evicted.

We accomplish this by answering our calling to the baptism of death. Recognizing the three areas that sin is at work in us and continually renouncing them is the process by which we put our natural man to death and declare our allegiance to the Spirit of God. And where the Spirit reigns there is liberty from sin.

stuart lawrence said:

That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe on your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. For it is in your heart you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth you confess and are saved
Rom10:9&10
My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. John 10:27

You lay the emphasis on what man must do to retain his salvation, not what God does to keep him secure.
No ceremonial act will save anyone, it is in the heart you are justified

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It is not retaining but completing salvation. Completed escape from the kingdom of Satan. Who would gain by hiding the truth?
When a person is water baptized he then is baptized in the spirit by a blessing administered by someone already anointed. This is a deposit and seed that needs continual careful maintenance.
Satan is deceptive and his influence sits within the personality in the form of fixtures on it. These fixtures are a demonic influence. Why are there so many versions of Christianity even though the same book is read.
The pastor of a church can preach one thing and the attendees have a different view entirely.
What is going on in their minds, because Satan's influence is as close as that.

rockytopva said:

The best way to fight temptation is to make no time for it.

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James 4:7
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Submission is the key.

Matthewmatthew said:

Right salvation not perfection. Do you not agree that Jesus was the being that was perfect in the flesh. I don't know about you but I'm not perfect but very much saved and listening to all he has to say

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There is a lot of commentary about salvation leading to perfection. Jesus is perfect and His nature can be found. The Holy Spirit leads the direction the mind must take to the fullness of God.
The natural mind has fixtures and these are deceptive and hold all the usual mind with its thoughts in place.
Some time must be dedicated and all your own work must cease.

AllanV said:

It is not retaining but completing salvation. Completed escape from the kingdom of Satan. Who would gain by hiding the truth?
When a person is water baptized he then is baptized in the spirit by a blessing administered by someone already anointed. This is a deposit and seed that needs continual careful maintenance.
Satan is deceptive and his influence sits within the personality in the form of fixtures on it. These fixtures are a demonic influence. Why are there so many versions of Christianity even though the same book is read.
The pastor of a church can preach one thing and the attendees have a different view entirely.
What is going on in their minds, because Satan's influence is as close as that.

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The evil one is sitting waiting for us to fail! Waiting to throw temptations our way!

antletems said:

Temptations are real, alive and forever. We will not be without them.

Fighting them is not easy. This is where i am struggling too.

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James 4:7
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
How does one submit their self to God. What is the self but the usual normal personality that is flawed some what.
Where is God because isn't God an energizing Spirit.
I contend that with the help of the Holy Spirit the mind can be renewed and access then given to a Holy Place by sacrifice and the blood of Jesus and His divine nature is revealed. God's energizing power will then fill up the Love in that nature.

antletems said:

The evil one is sitting waiting for us to fail! Waiting to throw temptations our way!

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Everyone, every human acknowledges what they struggle with but if a person is balanced they just accept their plight, and get on with life. So called Christians do not appear any different except they become involved with an intellectual exercise of understanding from a book.
The book the Bible describes supernatural occurrences but the idea of actually being completely released from temptation is too much to contemplate.
When a person submits to God it must be completely because only Jesus was acceptable. The mind He thinks from must be found.

AllanV said:

It is not retaining but completing salvation. Completed escape from the kingdom of Satan. Who would gain by hiding the truth?
When a person is water baptized he then is baptized in the spirit by a blessing administered by someone already anointed. This is a deposit and seed that needs continual careful maintenance.
Satan is deceptive and his influence sits within the personality in the form of fixtures on it. These fixtures are a demonic influence. Why are there so many versions of Christianity even though the same book is read.
The pastor of a church can preach one thing and the attendees have a different view entirely.
What is going on in their minds, because Satan's influence is as close as that.

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Baptism in water is not necessary to be baptised in the spirit. As Cornelius experience proves

stuart lawrence said:

Baptism in water is not necessary to be baptised in the spirit. As Cornelius experience proves

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But they were baptized.

AllanV said:

But they were baptized.

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For sure. Cornelius and his household were baptised in water, after they had been baptised in the spirit. They heard the Gospel and in their hearts believed/accepted it, then they were baptised in the spirit

stuart lawrence said:

For sure. Cornelius and his household were baptised in water, after they had been baptised in the spirit. They heard the Gospel and in their hearts believed/accepted it, then they were baptised in the spirit

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I would have to check on scriptures but there was a visit by an angel who directed Cornelius where to go. He had come to attention because of his prayers and how he helped the poor. Had the Holy Spirit actually been received at that point?

AllanV said:

I would have to check on scriptures but there was a visit by an angel who directed Cornelius where to go. He had come to attention because of his prayers and how he helped the poor. Had the Holy Spirit actually been received at that point?

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Cornelius received the baptism of the holy spirit as the disciples did at Pentecost while peter was preaching the good news to him and his household because he believed I Jesus (acts11:15-17)

AllanV said:

There is a lot of commentary about salvation leading to perfection. Jesus is perfect and His nature can be found. The Holy Spirit leads the direction the mind must take to the fullness of God.
The natural mind has fixtures and these are deceptive and hold all the usual mind with its thoughts in place.
Some time must be dedicated and all your own work must cease.

Click to expand...

Biblical perfection is not sinless perfection:

Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world james1:27

If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us 1 john1:8

Shadowprophet said:

I want to be clean, I want to be without sin.. I like the feeling I get right after prayer, It's like a clean pure feeling, But it does not last, Sooner or later temptation happens..

My sins and desires offend me, And even though I try to resist, it's not so simple, The flesh is wicked and it desires what it does. Is there a way to make temptation go away and never come back. I dislike my temptations, I want them to stop completely, forever..There is no need to go into detail. And lest I be judged, No man is without sin. But, I am offended by my wickedness, it pulls at me like a chain coming straight from hell. To know the love of God, And then to feel the pull of Satan,, It's unfair, God deserves better then me, And I want to do better. But the devil knows my weakness.. And I am weak. How can someone make temptation stop? It's like a sickness that does not go away..

A never ending battle, And I just want peace,...Please note, I am not insane, I am just very spiritual,, I promise, My sins are not that different from any other male,, most likely..

But its not fair that Satan gets to try, over and over and over again,, it's like I am a stone and he is a stone cutter.. He picks at me until I am weak. And I fall to temptation..

It's not fair... I want it to stop...

Click to expand...

Blind post.

Your question caught my attention. Indeed, your situation is no different from that of any other human being. Yes, the enemy always tries to introduce temptation in whatever way he can.

One of the things I love most about the Orthodox Church is that we acknowledge this and there is help! There are very concrete things that you can do to fight against this. It is what we all embark upon and struggle with. And there can be degrees of victory; though I can warn you of two things - when one struggles harder against the enemy, he steps up his attack as well. And secondly, the closer one gets to God, the more one sees one's own sinfulness, so don't start out thinking you will ever reach a place where you are satisfied with yourself. If you manage that, delusion is the more likely cause rather than true holiness.

I'm not saying that you must become Orthodox (though the sacraments do greatly help us, as does the guidance of our priests and/or those who practice such things). But it is possible to read the writings of the desert Fathers and especially some of the more recent Saints and use some of their methods. St. Paisios and St. Porphyrios come immediately to mind. Other things I suggest are too easy to misunderstand if you don't have the context and I won't mention them specifically. They are better read after one has some understanding.

But the holy men of the Church teach all sorts of practical things. For example, to have a thought (temptation) is not a sin. When you begin to interact with it, sin slowly develops. It is a trap that draws you in. The trick is to learn to let the thought go just as it came, and pay no attention to it. Whatever you do, don't begin to argue with it. You will almost certainly lose, or at least sin to some degree. Fill your mind with holy thoughts instead. Focus your eyes on holy images. Learn a very short prayer - we often say some version of "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!" and repeat it. There are particular causes in human beings that make us vulnerable to particular sins, and ways to discipline and train ourselves to strengthen ourselves against them. These are just a few examples. I give them just to say that your exact question has been asked and answered for many, many centuries.

Btw, you might look for Fr. Thomas Hopko's podcast (Our Thoughts, Feelings, and Memories) at Ancient Faith Radio online. It is an excellent introduction.

And one last point - a direct answer to the question in the title. We cannot rid ourselves of temptation. The enemy will always try. But we can overcome our weaknesses and the mistakes we make, such that the kinds of temptations you are speaking of need not cause us to sin in action, or even in thought. But we ought not expect to reach the sinless perfection of Christ Himself while living in the flesh.

stuart lawrence said:

Biblical perfection is not sinless perfection:

Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world james1:27

If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us 1 john1:8

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It is possible to have the same mind that is in Christ and there is no sin hatched within that mind.

Philippians 2:5K (KJV)
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

The Holy Spirit leads into a transformation and renewal of the mind but the old mind must go.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

A friend visited and after some conversation he said if we prayed now the Holy Spirit may bless us.
He left the room and I prayed while he was gone. When he returned we began talking and the Spirit began to strongly appear but realizing what was happening he jumped up and said that he could not stay, he could not do this and had work tomorrow and then went to his car and drove off. He forgot his wallet and jacket and because he lived some distance away I had to chase him in my car.

I was visiting some people in a distant town and after much to and fro of discussion the husband played a reel to reel tape recorded in the early 1970's of a lady singing from Isiah. He put the tape on and then left the room. The Spirit entered me that strongly that it weakened me and I slipped out of the chair that was being sat on. A peacefulness and gentleness stayed for several hours.

Many things could be related and it is not boasting but a testimony. But even deeper is the renewal of the mind. It is active and dynamic not just empty words that are interpreted. Your interpretation represents only one of many and you have narrowed your viewpoint as well.

There are many scriptures indicating something better you are being selective in a negative way and you will not achieve much. Think in a positive manner and don't look back from where you have come from within the mind. All going well and if you pray for such the Spirit will lead into a blessing. A person must believe God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. This is forward movement.

John 6:5 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56"He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57"As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.…
Luke 14:26
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple.