Have you ever noticed the day you decide to limit your spending, your favorite store advertises a sale. As soon as you start your diet, you’re invited to a party. As soon as you commit to waking up early, you can’t sleep.

Temptation comes after the commitment is made.

AND OF COURSE IT DOES.

Think about it. Your commitment is a commitment to living better. Never forget you have an enemy in this world who desperately wants to keep you from living your best life. He doesn’t give a flying flip about your weight, but he sure cares about your confidence. He doesn’t care about your finances, but he’s targeting your peace. Your marriage is of no concern to him, but your impact together is on his radar.

Jesus warned us in John 10:10 that the devil wasn’t just here for the big stuff, he’s here as a thief to take every single thing he can get. If he can take your peace, he wants it. If he can steal your joy, it’s game on. If he can destroy your happiness, he’s down for the challenge. If he can stall your progress, he’s all in.

Without your peace, without your joy, without your happiness, and without some progress you’re sidelined, and the sidelines is exactly where the evil one wants you. He knows if you’re ever really on the field of life showing up with all God has placed within you, then he doesn’t stand a chance. Through Christ Jesus you are more than a conqueror, but maybe you’ve never gotten to that part because you’re still sidelined. You don’t know what’s in you because you haven’t ever used it.

What keeps you sidelined?

Oh many things … doubt, fear, laziness, busyness. But there’s one thing in particular God put on my heart to share, and that is TEMPTATION. Custom made temptation just for you to keep you sidelined, distracted, pre-occupied. Where has the enemy crafted a temptation just in your favorite color, perfectly sized for you, and it’s got you giving up on all that’s truly possible in your life?

He plays dirty. He will hit you right in your weakness and destroy the best things in your life. His temptations are so good you don’t even recognize the devil’s fingerprints on them.

What if we could start recognizing temptations for what they are, call them out, and never stumble as we walk on by towards our God appointed destiny? YES Lord, show us how to do that.

Where are my married girls at? Isn’t it funny how God created opposites to attract? Your husband is likely very different than you, and it’s that way by design. You compliment and balance one another … but you can also annoy the crap out of each other and be exhausting as he pulls his way and you push yours. A strong, unified marriage is a ministry. It is a beacon of light showing other struggling couples the hope of what is possible.

So of course that marriage has a bullseye on it. All good comes under attack. Here comes temptation. RECOGNIZE IT. CALL IT OUT. WALK ON.

Suddenly on the day when you’re most frustrated with your annoying husband, there’s a guy who speaks the same love language as you. Oh he’s dreamy and maybe he even has a boat! In all the movies the dreamy guy has a boat, right? Suddenly you’re drawn to this stranger who seems to fan a flame within you that has long gone out.

STOP RIGHT THERE. That temptation is from the devil and his target is your marriage. He’s not here to make you feel more alive, he’s here to kill your most prized relationship.

You know why that other guy seems so perfectly designed for you? BECAUSE HE WAS … but not by God. This one was designed by the enemy as a temptation to lure you away from the goodness God has given you. And you, well he’s attracted to you because your weakness is being used by the enemy to draw him in as well. You’re his temptation, perfectly sized to ruin the goodness in his life.

And once you see it for what it is, the appeal is gone and you have the strength to walk on.

Destruction doesn’t agree with you.
Chaos doesn’t agree with you.
Darkness doesn’t agree with you.

The enemy’s temptations are like a sprinkled doughnut. It may look great. It may smell great. But honey, it doesn’t agree with you! You’re going to to feel sick 3 minutes after eating that doughnut.

My friend has a deep love for doughnuts. They are her weakness. She began telling herself that doughnuts have salmonella. No one wants salmonella. Seriously, get food poisoning and you will NEVER eat that food again. If doughnuts have salmonella, they clearly don’t agree with you and you would never eat them again.

Everything the enemy is offering you is LAYERED in SALMONELLA SISTER. It’s not good for you. It doesn’t agree with you. It will make you so freaking sick! It will have you sidelined in life, and remember that’s exactly what he wants!

Maybe the enemy has recognized goodness in your work, so he’s gone on attack there. Temptation walks through the door in the form of distraction and dissatisfaction. You’re where you’re supposed to be, doing the good work God had planned for you, but now you’re searching for greener grass and no longer watering your own. You chase those pastures and once you get there you realize you gotta water that grass too.

What lured you away? Temptation. Temptation that had your name all over it because it was designed in the pits of hell just for you. Designed to lure you away from the good you’re doing where you are and delay your progress on the way to your destiny.

And it doesn’t agree with you. It doesn’t agree with the life God has planned for you. It doesn’t agree with your greatest potential. It doesn’t agree with your God-inspired dreams and goals. It just looks good right now.

Remember, salmonella. It looks good, but it really doesn’t agree with you. This will sideline you, take you out of the game, leave you feeling like a loser on the bench … and that’s NOT God’s plan for you!

Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6: 9-13. The final verse of the prayer he says “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” The Message translation says it like this “Keep us safe from ourselves and the devil.”

Understanding temptation and the sneaky ways it shows up in our lives to distract us, derail us, discourage us, and destroy us, maybe this is something we should be praying daily. Lord, help us to see the temptations for what they are. Keep us safe from ourselves and the devil.

Every ounce of goodness in your life is up for grabs when the enemy is on the prowl … and you better believe he is on the prowl sister.

May you start seeing temptations and no longer fall prey to them. Remember your commitments and keep doing the next right thing. Your commitments lead you to better living. One choice at a time your life gets better and you get closer to becoming who God created you to be. Temptations will always be part of that journey, but remember, they’re like a bad doughnut … it doesn’t agree with you.