You Don't Have To Be Ashamed Of Your Temptations | Guided Prayers

When temptation gets the better of us, our first instinct is to look for someone to blame.

The situation, the other person, even God.

We hide, we explain, we point anywhere but at the desire underneath it.

In James 1, 13 through 15, he traces it honestly back to the source.

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 walks the whole chain backward.

Sin doesn't start with the act, it starts with a desire we keep feeding in the dark.

And there's freedom in that because if the root is a desire, it's something God can actually meet and heal the moment we stop hiding it and bring it into the light.

Let's begin by thanking God that we can bring anything to him without being ashamed.

Thank him that he is completely pure, that there is no darkness in him to hide from.

And thank him that in Jesus you are already made right with him, so you can be honest about what's still being healed.

Now, let the Holy Spirit search your heart for a moment.

Ask him to bring up the desire underneath the temptation that keeps tripping you up, what you actually reach for in a weak moment.

Name it to God out loud or in the quiet, instead of hiding it.

And ask him to go to the root and turn that desire back toward himself.

Nothing left to blame, nothing left to hide.

Quietly tell him, I'm not hiding this anymore.

Meet me at the root and heal it.

We give you what we've been hiding, and we trust you to cover us with forgiveness and grace.

Amen.