Temptation or Test?

"Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." -James 1:12-15

So for the past few days I've been dealing with a temptation. Lets just say I've been chewing a lot of gum, and cramming my mouth to try to deal with it. I was telling a friend about it this morning, and normally when I talk to her God reveals things to me as I become open and real. I find myself going "oh!" and "dude, I get it!", "that's awesome!" As I have prepared to blog this today He has even further widened my understanding, and pointed out in me what I was doing to make the temptation that much worse. As our key verse above in James points out, temptation comes from evil desires inside of us, not from God. What makes the temptation grow into action is when you dwell on it. We can't entertain the thought at all. And please know, it's not a sin to be tempted, Jesus was tempted too, and because of that Hebrews 2:18 states that, "Since He himself has gone through suffering and temptation he is able to help us when we are being tempted." It is when the thought becomes action, and we reject the help, and the conviction within our hearts that we sin.
I write Proverb devotionals for a ministry in my church, and the particular one sent out today was based on Proverbs 1 where verse 10 and 15 spoke to me. I wrote that one of my fears is that I might go back to my old ways, but how these scriptures encourage to turn our backs, and get off their path. We can’t be friendly with sin and expect our life to remain unaffected. It’s brave and smart to RUN! In application I must renounce the thoughts of going back first and foremost, then turn and run to the cross! It is an, again, dying to self and flesh at the cross of Christ. Paul encourages us to do this in Galatians 5:24 saying that, "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives." God will test us to see if we are in fact doers of the Word, and not a hearer or motivational speaker. Because in the end hears only deceive themselves. It happens to all of us. I learned a while back that we can't blame everything on Satan, that sometimes we face things in our walk with Christ to grow us up. It's Sanctification. It's the Holy Spirit within us teaching us how to apply the Bible, and how to resist temptation, and thank the Lord pass the test!
St. Issac the Syrian said, "Without temptations, it is not possible to learn the wisdom of the Spirit. It is not possible that Divine love be strengthened in your soul. For in fulfilling the will of God, he has made war on the enemy of God and conquered him." If we give into temptation, we will give in when blows come against us. If we are NOT saying "Yes" to Jesus now, we will NOT say "Yes" later on down the road. We must develop a pattern of making decisions for Christ.
God has prepared a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13), we don't have to give in, it's an easy test, we just make it hard. Pass the test! Say YES to Jesus. Keep falling before the cross. Seek the heart of God. Stay on the path less traveled.
I encourage you to read the book of James. It's only 5 chapters. James wrote this book to expose the unethical practices and to teach right Christian behavior. By looking at our actions, or lack there of, God can tell us exactly what attitudes and desires need healing. His Word gives detailed "prescriptions" for curing wrong behavior patterns.