December 9^th, 1960                                          "Resisting Temptation"                                              Late Mr. N. Daniel

Genesis 3:4

"Ye shall not surely die." Our first parents heard the voice of Satan. Why did the evil spirit come to them? Eve stood near the forbidden fruit. She observed the fruit. She liked the smell. She used her senses to judge whether the fruit was good to eat or not. When you are in front of a temptation, you must just leave it and go away. You must not stand there and argue about it. You may not stand the attraction. Satan paints on the temptation. The devil is watching when you come near temptation. If it is a group of bad friends, you must not go near them. Wherever you go, you must consider whether you can be a blessing to the people there. Eve was near the tree and Satan knew it. When the Bible tells you a certain thing is wrong, do not argue about it, whether it could not be right sometimes under some circumstances. Satan is watching your heart. Eve was arguing with one of the most brilliant minds of evil. What immense evil consequences came out of this woman’s disobedience! Once the Lord told me not to go past a particular house on my way to college. I immediately changed my route even though it meant a big detour. A class-mate of mine fell into sin in that house and his life was ruined. God says you must not even go by a house of sin.

When you go down in prayer, you will go to wrong places. When you go to wrong places you cannot happily fit into a group prayer. You become argumentative instead of acknowledging your sin. Do you know what temptations are waiting for you and how Satan is planning to destroy you? When you have no inclination for prayer it is a sure sign that you are going to destruction.

God’s great plans were being spoiled by a woman standing in a wrong place. Adam and Eve were having fellowship with God every day. Such a fellowship can become a common-place thing. When that happens it is dangerous. They could have waited till the evening and consulted God, but Satan’s method is to hurry. God taught me to ask His permission for every thing I did. Whenever I did so there was no defeat in my life. Adam and Eve lost the beautiful garden and the comfort of God’s presence.

Satan came to Jesus also. But by this time Jesus had grown spiritually for thirty years, and had spent forty days in prayer. Satan tried to use the word of God itself to defeat Him, but Jesus defeated Satan. 1 Timothy 4:1.

There are deceiving spirits. When there is a certain amount of victory in your life, the deceiving spirits come as counsellors--as angels of light. Behind them come darker spirits which will destroy you. I know some who did great things for God when I was a boy. But they went back into sin. Because of such people all the children of God are suspected and doubted.

Which company are you in? Which house are you in? With whom are you conversing? Youth is the best time to develop your spiritual life. You must permanently hate evil. Do not be weary of prayer. Your prayer-strength will be a support for many souls in the days to come.