Principles & Practice of Health Evangelism
Chapter 14-C
Therapeutic Behavior Change
Part C: Perseverance
Textbook pages 150-163
Temptation
Temptation shows up in many ways. For the smoker trying to quit there is a craving for cigarettes. For the alcoholic it is a craving for the numbing nothingness that alcohol brings to the battered brain. For the sedentary it is the urge to stay in bed and not hit the jogging trail. For the obese it is the urge to snack or take second helpings. For those with anger issues it is an urge to yell at a stupid employee, family member, or a careless driver on the road. For the sex addict it is the drawing of the eyes to pornography on the internet or in magazines. To the lazy it is a lineup of entertaining TV programs for the evening. For the spiritually indolent it may be missing church or Sabbath school, prayer meeting or the omission of daily devotions.
These are all temptations, barriers between you and success. Temptations are often resisted for a few hours, days, weeks or even years but then at some point of weakness you give in and experience failure once again. Here you also need God’s help.
What does God do about temptations? Well, if you didn’t ask God for help, God isn’t going to do anything about your temptations. If you did ask God for help, you are about to succeed where you only experienced failure before.
Temptations come in varying intensities. There are small brief temptations that come when you are busy. Something crosses your mind, but because you are so busy, you barely give the temptation a passing thought. I believe some temptations will be with you all your life. God does not prevent you from being tempted. In fact, God allows you to be tempted. Satan tempts you to bring out the worst in you, but God allows temptation to bring out the best in you.
Being a child of God does not exempt you from temptation but being a child of God puts resources at your disposal you can use to resist temptation. When you ask God for help in overcoming some destructive behavior, you can expect frequent and intense temptations that you can successfully meet and overcome with God’s help.
Fortunately, over time, temptations about a specific problem tend to become less intense and less frequent, but even after several months or years of successful living, temptations can return in strength. This is not a sign that God has abandoned you. It is a sign that Satan hasn’t given up on you and is determined to break you down if he can. When Satan finds he is unable to overcome you in one area he shifts his efforts to some other area of weakness in your life in the hopes of breaking you down one way or another.
For example, when a person stops smoking, in addition to temptations to return to smoking, there is a tendency on the part of many to want to eat more. Food tastes better when you are not smoking. The hand-to-mouth motions of eating are like the actions of smoking. I have seen people put on 30 or 40 pounds after quitting smoking. It is good to stop smoking but it is bad to become a glutton as a consequence. Here, one bad habit replaced another. This is how Satan works. Temptations in one area may decrease, only to be replaced by a whole new set of temptations in some other area of life.
So, where and when does God help you when you are fighting temptation? God doesn’t very often remove a temptation altogether. But God does keep you from yielding to temptation and falling back into your old ways. In some rare cases God will eliminate all temptation about a certain problem.
In one of my stop smoking clinics I had a man who quit smoking with God’s help. I saw him several months later. He said that God had eliminated the desire for tobacco. He didn’t have a single craving at any time since he committed the problem to God. It was a wonderful deliverance. God can do this for anyone, and God may do this for you, but this type of deliverance is unusual.
God often lets people be tempted and get pretty close to failure before stepping in. There is a certain intensity of temptation where you have always failed before. You know where this point is and you know when you are getting close to it.
If God doesn’t seem to be doing much about your temptation, do not despair. God will not let you fail. There is a point where God always steps in and gives you success. If relief doesn’t come early in the temptation, at least it will come before you reach the point of failure.
God will not let you fail. Just when you feel you have reached the point of failure, God will enable you to say “No” to your temptation. At just the point where you have always failed before you will now have success. This is where God’s help shows up every time. Instead of experiencing repeated failures as you did in the past you will now experience repeated victories.
Why does God sometimes wait until you reach the point of failure before stepping in? There are several reasons why God may allow this to be your experience. All these reasons for temptation need to be understood.
First, God wants to demonstrate your honesty and sincerity before the universe before He steps in to help you. For this reason, your temptations may be strong on occasion. You may become very uncomfortable. It is good to keep in mind that every effort you make in your own behalf is a measure of your honesty and sincerity.
To be sure, every effort you make in your own behalf is totally inadequate to keep you from falling back into bad behaviors. You remember that your best effort has never been able to deliver you in the past, but your best effort is a measure of the intensity of your desire to receive God’s help. God honors that and will not let you fail.
In the Lord’s Prayer we are admonished to pray about temptations and to ask for deliverance from them.
Jesus reminded his disciples that by prayer they would be able to avoid or overcome temptation.
Another safeguard against temptation is contained in the parable of the sower in Luke 8. This describes those who have heard the good news but who are overcome by temptation. These start out well, but because they remain superficial in their experience and do not advance in their relationship with God, they are unprepared for severe temptations.
Temptations have a purpose. If we maintain our hold on God and with His help endure temptations, we will be approved by God and will receive the crown of life. This may be the experience of those who learn to trust God at a health evangelism program.
It is my reasoning that the next text applies to all those who are trying to overcome temptation. Some would argue that a secular people do not have the opportunity or right to apply this text to their lives because they have not been born of God. My point is that being born of God occurs at the point where you avail yourself of God’s help. Being born of God is associated with altar calls at evangelistic meetings, but it must be applied as well to the person who, for the first time, claims God’s special help for a problem area in the life no matter where they are.
In referring to the temptation of Peter, Mrs. White indicates that in the Christian life the Lord does not save us from trial but does save us from defeat.
Once you have entered the struggle to overcome a bad habit, there will be many situations that will come up to divert you from the problem you are trying to overcome. You will be successful as you keep our mind on Christ.
Many who avail themselves of God’s help will eventually fail to overcome their bad habits. This is not God’s fault or the fault of your health evangelism program.
You can overcome some temptations by yourself on certain occasions, but you cannot have long term success without Gods help. God expects you to recognize your weakness yet make determined efforts to correct your faults and errors.
Satan may tempt you, but Satan cannot make you give in to temptation. Christ repulsed all temptation and will give you strength to meet all temptations as well.
These are all temptations, barriers between you and success. Temptations are often resisted for a few hours, days, weeks or even years but then at some point of weakness you give in and experience failure once again. Here you also need God’s help.
What does God do about temptations? Well, if you didn’t ask God for help, God isn’t going to do anything about your temptations. If you did ask God for help, you are about to succeed where you only experienced failure before.
Temptations come in varying intensities. There are small brief temptations that come when you are busy. Something crosses your mind, but because you are so busy, you barely give the temptation a passing thought. I believe some temptations will be with you all your life. God does not prevent you from being tempted. In fact, God allows you to be tempted. Satan tempts you to bring out the worst in you, but God allows temptation to bring out the best in you.
Being a child of God does not exempt you from temptation but being a child of God puts resources at your disposal you can use to resist temptation. When you ask God for help in overcoming some destructive behavior, you can expect frequent and intense temptations that you can successfully meet and overcome with God’s help.
Fortunately, over time, temptations about a specific problem tend to become less intense and less frequent, but even after several months or years of successful living, temptations can return in strength. This is not a sign that God has abandoned you. It is a sign that Satan hasn’t given up on you and is determined to break you down if he can. When Satan finds he is unable to overcome you in one area he shifts his efforts to some other area of weakness in your life in the hopes of breaking you down one way or another.
For example, when a person stops smoking, in addition to temptations to return to smoking, there is a tendency on the part of many to want to eat more. Food tastes better when you are not smoking. The hand-to-mouth motions of eating are like the actions of smoking. I have seen people put on 30 or 40 pounds after quitting smoking. It is good to stop smoking but it is bad to become a glutton as a consequence. Here, one bad habit replaced another. This is how Satan works. Temptations in one area may decrease, only to be replaced by a whole new set of temptations in some other area of life.
So, where and when does God help you when you are fighting temptation? God doesn’t very often remove a temptation altogether. But God does keep you from yielding to temptation and falling back into your old ways. In some rare cases God will eliminate all temptation about a certain problem.
In one of my stop smoking clinics I had a man who quit smoking with God’s help. I saw him several months later. He said that God had eliminated the desire for tobacco. He didn’t have a single craving at any time since he committed the problem to God. It was a wonderful deliverance. God can do this for anyone, and God may do this for you, but this type of deliverance is unusual.
God often lets people be tempted and get pretty close to failure before stepping in. There is a certain intensity of temptation where you have always failed before. You know where this point is and you know when you are getting close to it.
If God doesn’t seem to be doing much about your temptation, do not despair. God will not let you fail. There is a point where God always steps in and gives you success. If relief doesn’t come early in the temptation, at least it will come before you reach the point of failure.
God will not let you fail. Just when you feel you have reached the point of failure, God will enable you to say “No” to your temptation. At just the point where you have always failed before you will now have success. This is where God’s help shows up every time. Instead of experiencing repeated failures as you did in the past you will now experience repeated victories.
Why does God sometimes wait until you reach the point of failure before stepping in? There are several reasons why God may allow this to be your experience. All these reasons for temptation need to be understood.
First, God wants to demonstrate your honesty and sincerity before the universe before He steps in to help you. For this reason, your temptations may be strong on occasion. You may become very uncomfortable. It is good to keep in mind that every effort you make in your own behalf is a measure of your honesty and sincerity.
To be sure, every effort you make in your own behalf is totally inadequate to keep you from falling back into bad behaviors. You remember that your best effort has never been able to deliver you in the past, but your best effort is a measure of the intensity of your desire to receive God’s help. God honors that and will not let you fail.
- “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” 1 Corinthians 10:13. (NKJV)
In the Lord’s Prayer we are admonished to pray about temptations and to ask for deliverance from them.
- “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” Matthew 6:13 (NKJV)
Jesus reminded his disciples that by prayer they would be able to avoid or overcome temptation.
- “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.” Matthew 26:41 (NKJV)
Another safeguard against temptation is contained in the parable of the sower in Luke 8. This describes those who have heard the good news but who are overcome by temptation. These start out well, but because they remain superficial in their experience and do not advance in their relationship with God, they are unprepared for severe temptations.
- “But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away” Luke 8:13 (NKJV)
Temptations have a purpose. If we maintain our hold on God and with His help endure temptations, we will be approved by God and will receive the crown of life. This may be the experience of those who learn to trust God at a health evangelism program.
- “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” James 1:12 (NKJV)
It is my reasoning that the next text applies to all those who are trying to overcome temptation. Some would argue that a secular people do not have the opportunity or right to apply this text to their lives because they have not been born of God. My point is that being born of God occurs at the point where you avail yourself of God’s help. Being born of God is associated with altar calls at evangelistic meetings, but it must be applied as well to the person who, for the first time, claims God’s special help for a problem area in the life no matter where they are.
- “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith” 1 John 5:4 (NKJV)
In referring to the temptation of Peter, Mrs. White indicates that in the Christian life the Lord does not save us from trial but does save us from defeat.
- “It was necessary for Peter to learn his own defects of character, and his need of the power and grace of Christ. The Lord could not save him from trial, but He could have saved him from defeat . . . he would have received divine help so that Satan could not have gained the victory.” Christ’s Object Lessons 155
Once you have entered the struggle to overcome a bad habit, there will be many situations that will come up to divert you from the problem you are trying to overcome. You will be successful as you keep our mind on Christ.
- “You have Satan to contend with, and he will seek by every possible device to attract your mind from Christ. But we must meet all obstacles placed in our way, and overcome them one at a time. If we overcome the first difficulty, we shall be stronger to meet the next, and at every effort will become better able to make advancement. By looking to Jesus, we may be over comers. The Youth's Instructor, 01-05-1893.
Many who avail themselves of God’s help will eventually fail to overcome their bad habits. This is not God’s fault or the fault of your health evangelism program.
- “Those who work for the fallen will be disappointed in many who give promise of reform. Many will make but a superficial change in their habits and practices. They are moved by impulse, and for a time may seem to have reformed; but there is no real change of heart. They cherish the same self-love, have the same hungering for foolish pleasures, the same desire for self-indulgence. They have not a knowledge of the work of character building, and they cannot be relied upon as men of principle. They have debased their mental and spiritual powers by the gratification of appetite and passion, and this makes them weak. They are fickle and changeable. Their impulses tend toward sensuality. These persons are often a source of danger to others. Being looked upon as reformed men and women, they are trusted with responsibilities and are placed where their influence corrupts the innocent.” The Ministry of Healing 177
You can overcome some temptations by yourself on certain occasions, but you cannot have long term success without Gods help. God expects you to recognize your weakness yet make determined efforts to correct your faults and errors.
- “In order to receive God's help, man must realize his weakness and deficiency; he must apply his own mind to the great change to be wrought in himself; he must be aroused to earnest and persevering prayer and effort. Wrong habits and customs must be shaken off; and it is only by determined endeavor to correct these errors and to conform to right principles that the victory can be gained. Many never attain to the position that they might occupy, because they wait for God to do for them that which He has given them power to do for themselves. All who are fitted for usefulness must be trained by the severest mental and moral discipline, and God will assist them by uniting divine power with human effort.” Patriarchs and Prophets 248
Satan may tempt you, but Satan cannot make you give in to temptation. Christ repulsed all temptation and will give you strength to meet all temptations as well.
- “Satan assailed Christ with his fiercest and most subtle temptations, but he was repulsed in every conflict. Those battles were fought in our behalf; those victories make it possible for us to conquer. Christ will give strength to all who seek it. No man without his own consent can be overcome by Satan. The tempter has no power to control the will or to force the soul to sin. He may distress, but he cannot contaminate. He can cause agony, but not defilement. The fact that Christ has conquered should inspire His followers with courage to fight manfully the battle against sin and Satan.” The Great Controversy 510
Keeping it up
(Maintenance) Success comes a day at a time. Success today may be followed by failure tomorrow, but this need not be. Success today is proof that we can be successful tomorrow. The formula that worked today will also work tomorrow. At times you fail because you fail to maintain your connection with God. You start out well but do not keep it up.
I had a lady in my office practice who had successfully lost 40 pounds with God’s help. She was so happy. She had previously never lost more than 5 pounds on any diet. She was praying to God every day and God was giving her success.
One day, she came into my office and was a bit concerned. She said, “If I do not pray to God at breakfast, I overeat at breakfast. If I do not pray at noon, I overeat at lunch time. If I do not pray at dinner time, I overeat in the evening. If I do not pray to God all the time this just doesn’t work!” She was upset and brought her fist down forcefully on my desk.
We discussed the nature of God’s help. God is willing to help us as long as we maintain a relationship with Him. If we lose our contact with God, we will rather immediately revert back to our old behaviors. God desires to maintain a long-term relationship with us. As long as we maintain our connection with Him, He is actively working on our behalf. I explained that God admonishes us to “pray without ceasing.”
This lady immediately saw the significance of what I was saying. She realized that she was complaining about having to maintain a continuous connection with God. She brightened and said she would never again complain about having to keep in touch with God. I am pleased to report that she kept her weight off until the time of her death sometime later.
It is wearisome at times to keep focused on your problem and to constantly be in prayer to God. It is easy to be diverted from your important goals. With time however, you become accustomed to being in God’s presence and learn to always depend on Him for all things. Jesus admonishes you to take His yolk upon you:
In order for you to always succeed you must continue to keep the Lord always before you.
We should plan on obtaining a new victory every day.
Keeping up with successful living results from abiding in Christ and thorough continual communication with Him.
If you have learned to abide in Christ, you will identify new problems in your life that need to be corrected. You can overcome each one through the strength that Christ provides. This will result in a string of uninterrupted victories.
Those situations which seem sure to trip you up will disappear as you make a consistent effort to do the will of God.
There was another lady who was visiting with me after a Smoking Cessation Clinic. She was smoking in the parking lot just before she left for the evening. She had heard what I had said about how God helped smokers quit. She remarked to me, “I quit smoking with God’s help.”
I was surprised because she was smoking as she told me this. I asked her, “What happened?” She said that after about six months she decided she could stay off cigarettes by herself. She felt she didn’t need God’s help with smoking anymore. Well, obviously she had failed, because she was smoking as she was talking with me.
I next asked her, “What do you plan to do about your smoking?” Her response was, “I will just keep trying.” Notice the “I.” She was determined to quit on her own and was not meeting with any success. It is my belief that she will never be able to quit smoking on her own. She needs to find God again. She needs to start working with God once again. She knows just where she left Him, and she knows exactly what help is available.
I had a lady in my office practice who had successfully lost 40 pounds with God’s help. She was so happy. She had previously never lost more than 5 pounds on any diet. She was praying to God every day and God was giving her success.
One day, she came into my office and was a bit concerned. She said, “If I do not pray to God at breakfast, I overeat at breakfast. If I do not pray at noon, I overeat at lunch time. If I do not pray at dinner time, I overeat in the evening. If I do not pray to God all the time this just doesn’t work!” She was upset and brought her fist down forcefully on my desk.
We discussed the nature of God’s help. God is willing to help us as long as we maintain a relationship with Him. If we lose our contact with God, we will rather immediately revert back to our old behaviors. God desires to maintain a long-term relationship with us. As long as we maintain our connection with Him, He is actively working on our behalf. I explained that God admonishes us to “pray without ceasing.”
- “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NKJV)
This lady immediately saw the significance of what I was saying. She realized that she was complaining about having to maintain a continuous connection with God. She brightened and said she would never again complain about having to keep in touch with God. I am pleased to report that she kept her weight off until the time of her death sometime later.
It is wearisome at times to keep focused on your problem and to constantly be in prayer to God. It is easy to be diverted from your important goals. With time however, you become accustomed to being in God’s presence and learn to always depend on Him for all things. Jesus admonishes you to take His yolk upon you:
- “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” Matthew 11:29 (NKJV)
In order for you to always succeed you must continue to keep the Lord always before you.
- “The reason why so many are left to themselves in places of temptation is that they do not set the Lord always before them. When we permit our communion with God to be broken, our defense is departed from us. Not all your good purposes and good intentions will enable you to withstand evil. You must be men and women of prayer. Your petitions must not be faint, occasional, and fitful, but earnest, persevering, and constant. It is not always necessary to bow upon your knees in order to pray. Cultivate the habit of talking with the Saviour when you are alone, when you are walking, and when you are busy with your daily labor. Let the heart be continually uplifted in silent petition for help. The Ministry of Healing 510-511
We should plan on obtaining a new victory every day.
- “God is our strength. We must look to Him for wisdom and guidance, and keeping in view His glory, the good of the church, and the salvation of our own souls, we must overcome our besetting sins. We should individually seek to obtain new victory every day. We must learn to stand alone and depend wholly upon God. The sooner we learn this the better. Let each one find out where he fails, and then faithfully watch that his sins do not overcome him, but that he gets the victory over them. Then can we have confidence toward God, and great trouble will be saved the church.” Early Writings of Ellen G. White 105
Keeping up with successful living results from abiding in Christ and thorough continual communication with Him.
- “This union with Christ, once formed, must be maintained. Christ said, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me." This is no casual touch, no off-and-on connection. The branch becomes a part of the living vine. The communication of life, strength, and fruitfulness from the root to the branches is unobstructed and constant. Separated from the vine, the branch cannot live. No more, said Jesus, can you live apart from Me. The life you have received from Me can be preserved only by continual communion. Without Me you cannot overcome one sin, or resist one temptation. The Desire of Ages 676
If you have learned to abide in Christ, you will identify new problems in your life that need to be corrected. You can overcome each one through the strength that Christ provides. This will result in a string of uninterrupted victories.
- “Christ rejoiced that He could do more for His followers than they could ask or think. He spoke with assurance, knowing that an almighty decree had been given before the world was made. He knew that truth, armed with the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, would conquer in the contest with evil; and that the bloodstained banner would wave triumphantly over His followers. He knew that the life of His trusting disciples would be like His, a series of uninterrupted victories, not seen to be such here, but recognized as such in the great hereafter. The Desire of Ages 679
Those situations which seem sure to trip you up will disappear as you make a consistent effort to do the will of God.
- “Those who would walk in the path of obedience to God's commandments will encounter many hindrances. There are strong and subtle influences that bind them to the ways of the world; but the power of the Lord can break these chains. He will remove these obstacles from before the feet of his faithful, humble children, or give them strength and courage to conquer every difficulty, if they earnestly beseech his help. All hindrances will vanish before an earnest desire and persistent effort to do the will of God. Light from Heaven will illuminate the pathway of those who, no matter what trials and perplexities they may encounter, go forward in the way of obedience, looking to Jesus for help and guidance. The Signs of the Times, 07-22-1886
There was another lady who was visiting with me after a Smoking Cessation Clinic. She was smoking in the parking lot just before she left for the evening. She had heard what I had said about how God helped smokers quit. She remarked to me, “I quit smoking with God’s help.”
I was surprised because she was smoking as she told me this. I asked her, “What happened?” She said that after about six months she decided she could stay off cigarettes by herself. She felt she didn’t need God’s help with smoking anymore. Well, obviously she had failed, because she was smoking as she was talking with me.
I next asked her, “What do you plan to do about your smoking?” Her response was, “I will just keep trying.” Notice the “I.” She was determined to quit on her own and was not meeting with any success. It is my belief that she will never be able to quit smoking on her own. She needs to find God again. She needs to start working with God once again. She knows just where she left Him, and she knows exactly what help is available.
Thankfulness
Another key to long-lasting success is being thankful for the success you have experienced up to this point. If you go an hour without smoking, that represents success, and you should thank God. If you go a whole day without smoking, it is time to thank God again.
If you have asked God to help you overcome an addiction or habit and you now have had the problem under control for a few days, how do you know that God is in fact helping you? You may not feel very different from what you did before you changed. The proof that God is helping you is that you are not doing what you used to do. You are living a successful life.
At this point some people want to think that they are the ones that are responsible for their own success. This is a mistake that leads to failure. The best way to avoid this mistake is to always be thankful to God for all the success you have.
After an hour without a cigarette, thank God for success. After a day without snacking or overeating, thank God for success. After a day without drugs, pornography, or alcohol; thank God for success. The more you thank God for what He is doing for you the more convinced you will be that it is He who is helping you and not you by yourself.
Scripture advises us to be thankful for what God has accomplished for us.
You should thank God that you are not left alone in the struggle to change your behavior.
In summary, with our cooperation God’s power provides everything we need to successfully overcome all inherited and cultivated habits and addictions. This needs to be the key message in all health evangelism programs.
If you have asked God to help you overcome an addiction or habit and you now have had the problem under control for a few days, how do you know that God is in fact helping you? You may not feel very different from what you did before you changed. The proof that God is helping you is that you are not doing what you used to do. You are living a successful life.
At this point some people want to think that they are the ones that are responsible for their own success. This is a mistake that leads to failure. The best way to avoid this mistake is to always be thankful to God for all the success you have.
After an hour without a cigarette, thank God for success. After a day without snacking or overeating, thank God for success. After a day without drugs, pornography, or alcohol; thank God for success. The more you thank God for what He is doing for you the more convinced you will be that it is He who is helping you and not you by yourself.
Scripture advises us to be thankful for what God has accomplished for us.
- “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 (NKJV)
- “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” 2 Corinthians 2:14-15. (NKJV)
- “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV)
- “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” Colossians 3:17 (NKJV)
- "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NKJV)
You should thank God that you are not left alone in the struggle to change your behavior.
- “To every Christian comes the word that was addressed to Peter, "Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." Luke 22:31. Thank God we are not left alone. This is our safety. Satan can never touch with eternal disaster one whom Christ has prepared for temptation by His previous intercession; for grace is provided in Christ for every soul, and a way of escape has been made, so that no one need fall under the power of the enemy. Our High Calling 311
In summary, with our cooperation God’s power provides everything we need to successfully overcome all inherited and cultivated habits and addictions. This needs to be the key message in all health evangelism programs.