HOW TO KEEP THE BLESSING Part 6

The wisdom of the fathers

HOW TO KEEP THE BLESSING? ? ? ?Part 6

Do not wonder at temptations, nor be discouraged by them. Jesus was tempted, but he did not sin. So may we be, if we do not yield and do not get discouraged. An old writer says: "All discouragement is from the devil." We must fly from it as we would from sin, recognizing Satan's agency in all temptation.?

Says Hannah W. Smith: "A dear lady came to me under great darkness, simply from not understanding this. She had been living very happily in the life of faith for some time; but suddenly a very peculiar form of temptation had assailed her which horrified her. She found that the moment she began to pray dreadful thoughts of all kinds would rush into her mind. She began by thinking she could not possibly have entered into the rest of faith, and ended by concluding she had never even been born again. Her soul was in an agony of distress. I told her that these doubtful thoughts were altogether the suggestions of Satan, and that she could not help them any more than she could help hearing if a wicked man should pour out his blasphemies in her presence. I urged her to recognize and treat them as from Satan, but to turn at once to Jesus and commit them to him. She grasped the truth, and the next time these thoughts came, she said to Satan, 'I have found you out now. It is you who are suggesting these dreadful thoughts to me, and I hate them and will have nothing to do with them. The Lord is my helper; take them to him.' Immediately the baffled enemy fled in confusion and her soul was perfectly delivered "

"Temptation is not sin unless it be accompanied with the consent of your will. We must learn to discriminate between Satan's suggestions and our choices, and declare: 'I do not accept; I do not consent; I am not responsible; I will not sin; I reckon myself still dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ.'?

Watch. We are in a world of sin and temptation surrounded by unseen foes, powerful spiritual enemies. Well did Jesus say: "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." "Eye gate and ear gate are liable to an attack at almost any time. Eve fell at these two gates. David fell at eye gate. Peter failed through inward cowardice. Demas loved this present evil world. Look well to the heart, for out of it are the issues of life. Then there is that tongue of yours and those lips! Watch"?

(from "Holiness and Power" by Aaron Merritt Hills)