I love sitting by the fire
… Hot pizza oozing with five yummy cheeses was twenty minutes from my door. The people working in our barn deserved a feast. I on the other hand, shouldn’t eat pizza.
I mean I could eat the whole thing, by myself! Really, I could! That’s the problem.
Quickly, I knew I had to make a plan to stay out of trouble.
I whipped up a healthy organic salad and toasted a piece of sprouted grain bread and ate it- fast. The smell of fresh, hot pizza filled the kitchen- but I wasn’t tempted. No sir-ee. My plan had worked. I didn’t eat one slice!
After lunch, I was gloating over my victory and the Lord whispered to my heart, “If only you could be as quick to make a plan to stay out of trouble when other sin crouches at your door!”
Ouch!
You’re right, Lord!
I don’t know about you, but I do that which I know I shouldn’t and don’t do what I should! AH!!
Speaking of making a plan to stay out of trouble- Joseph is the man with the plan (read it in Genesis 39). He’s handsome, young, and in charge of Potiphar’s entire estate, except for his wife. But when Potiphar is not around, his wife tempts Joseph to go to bed with her! What does this man of God do?? He doesn’t yield to the temptation and He makes a plan to keep out of trouble.
1. He makes sure he isn’t in the house alone with her, ever!
She got so mad at him that she lied to her husband and told him that Joseph had attempted to make her go to bed with him! Because of her lie- Joseph was sent to prison!!
Oh my goodness, what a story.
In the end Joseph gets out of prison and is put in charge of ALL OF EGYPT!
What a testimony to us all! Oh that all men (and women) would be as strong as Joseph and make a plan to keep out of trouble by not going online and looking at things they shouldn’t or by yielding to other temptations that lead to sexual sin!
If we don’t make a plan to keep out of trouble, the sin that crouches at our door will be too hard to resist!
While I was contemplating all of this… one of the guys working in the barn came in to get warm by the fire. He was once a drug addict. I asked him, “What’s your plan to keep out of trouble when temptation knocks on your door?”
He said, “First I have to stay in the presence of the Lord, all the time. Secondly, I can never allow myself to become idle or complacent. Thirdly, when temptation comes, I call a recovered addict who has walked a similar journey- who is also saved by the blood of Jesus… and they talk me out of the ridiculous thoughts of yielding to sin that so easily enslaves.
He left, I stared at my fire and prayed. I asked the Lord to reveal to me the sin which so easily enslaves me. Then, I wrote down a few plans on how to stay out of trouble.
1. Next time sin is crouching at your door, make sure that your plan is in place.
Make a plan to keep out of trouble!
There were extra slices of pizza left after lunch. Someone asked if they could take them to church, I said- “Please do!” I need no temptation knocking on my door!
Genesis 4:7 tells us, “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
Winner of Gingerbread kit is Sarah who posted on 11/25/2014 at 12:16 PM! Email me your address!