This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Who are you O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone and amid shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”
Zechariah 4:5-7
My question today is ~
How do you respond to temptation?
We were never designed or intended to conquer life issues by ourselves and yet we strive to do so daily. The arm of the flesh simply strengths flesh. Discipline is profitable and has the ability to modify our behaviour with the establishment of some good habits, but God has called us to transformation where we live from a heart that desires godliness which profits us in all things.
Will worship is defined from Colossians 2:20 ~
“Do not handle, Do not taste. Do not touch (referring to things that all perish as they are used) according to human precepts and teachings. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion (KJV: will-worship and humility and neglecting of the body) but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
As we consider Zechariah’s instruction from the angel of the Lord, let us remember that while some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we are to remember the name of the Lord our God.
Hebrews 4:16 exhorts, as we consider Jesus, touched with our weaknesses, tempted as we are yet without sin…..
“Come boldly to the throne of Grace where we are able to find mercy and receive grace to help in the time of need.”
We find in these two scriptures today, our ‘how to’ to handle each temptation we face.
James identifies the process of temptations; they gain entrance through our ungodly desires, embraced, they birth sin, sin brings forth death. Temptations are not sin. Sin is the result of yielding to the temptation. There was no sin in the garden until Adam and Eve ate what was forbidden.
Jesus highlighted to us that temptations are in this world. We will never escape them here on this earth, yet, He does remind us that he overcame the world and we find IN HIM, both legally and vitally, the same overcoming grace.
So Zechariah reminds us we do not overcome by the power of our own hand, might or strength, but by the Spirit of God and it is with shouts of grace mountains are destroyed.
It is His throne of Grace that we must come to; where sin abounds, grace does much more abound, but, we must come to His throne. I need Him! I need His power and His might to strengthen me to overcome and move away from the temptation.
We receive mercy and we find grace to help. He remembers our frame. He knows the desires of the flesh. He is touched with what we are thinking and feeling. It is in the coming to Him that we acknowledge our need for God.
I find grace in this place of acknowledging need for His help.
Paul wrote from 2 Corinthians 12: 8. “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me, But he said to me “ My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
As Paul wrote Timothy, “ be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”
We don’t have to meet the temptations alone, but we do have to find our help in Him.
He comes by His Spirit and strengthens us in our inner man and we are able to stand and resist the snares, the lies, the traps, set before us!
He makes a way for us to escape at His throne of grace.