Temptation is something we must all learn to handle or it will handle us.  This past Sunday (January 24) we studied James 1:14-15 and saw that before we can be tempted, we must first be “carried away” from a place of safety.  Staying in that place of safety could be called the preventive approach to handling temptation, and like all approaches to life, temptation is the cheapest and least painful approach to any problem.  It’s also the life skill the believer is best suited for and, unfortunately, the one we frequently ignore.

             Every believer has been given the word of God and the ability to understand it. He has also been given the Holy Spirit by whom he can know his own vulnerabilities and possess the ability and desire to combat them.

             I talked to a young man who was struggling with pornography on the internet but overcame the struggle by a preventive strategy.  It began by his being honest with himself about what the Scripture said about looking on a woman with lust and admitting to himself and to God that he was not in God’s will about this matter.  He then talked it over with some of his best friends who also were struggling.  After months of fighting (often unsuccessfully) they came up with a preventive strategy.  They each installed blocks on each other’s computers so only the installers could remove the blocks.  Therefore, each person’s personal computer could not access the forbidden fruit on the internet.  He said it was a tremendous relief to know that even if he had the desire, he lacked the means. Over time, the desire became less intense and less regular. 

             If you are a born-again believer, you have the Holy Spirit, and by His power you have the creative capacity to come up with your own preventive strategies.  Several years ago when the scourge of video poker was about, another young man I know who couldn’t stay away from it had greatly reduced – but not stopped – his habit by shear willpower.  He now only played when he needed gasoline, which he always purchased at a convenience store.  While he was there he played some video poker.  He said although it was not nearly the financial burden it had been, it felt to him like a seed that was always there in his life and could sprout at any minute, and he didn’t like the feeling.  Under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, he developed a strategy by which he would never buy gasoline alone (sounds crazy, huh!).  Now when he bought gas, he always took his wife and children.  If he was going to be on a trip out of town, he would make sure he filled the tank in town.  He really worked at this.  He also made sure he only went with his wife and/or children to gas stations where there was no video poker.  He said that over time, his desire diminished and the desire to be with his wife or children on these short trips became so pleasurable that it began to replace the phony, damaging pleasure of playing video poker. 

             Prevention is the best strategy.  It is something you can do. What are you struggling with and what can you do to prevent it?