W7D6: A Way Out

"The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." 1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT

The desires in our hearts were placed there when God created us. Desires in themselves are neither good nor bad. They become good if we use them to draw closer to God, and conversely, they become bad if we allow them to draw us away from God. It is in our thoughts that our desires are shaped and come to life through our actions. We have been given the gift of free will to think what we choose to think and believe what we want to believe. Make no mistake we are created to act on our desires out of faith, regardless of who or what we believe in.

Our thoughts drive our desires. They wait for doors to open so they can get us to act on those desires. When opportunities and desires meet, we either step into God’s life giving will or step into the death trap of sin. Opportunities, like desires, are neither good nor bad, they are what we make them. Sometimes we make the most out of opportunities, sometimes we miss them and sometimes we completely mess them up. 

Our thoughts like to tell us that there are no opportunities for us. That is because our enemy wants us to be blind to them and make poor choices so we miss them or mess them up. Make no mistake, there are opportunities in every minute of every day. What we choose to focus our thoughts on is what we will see. As an image bearer of God we have the power to rule, change and create opportunities. When we follow our sinful desires we become trapped in our thoughts and a life that we don’t want.

Scripture says we will be tempted, but it also says that God gives us a way to escape so we can endure it. Our thoughts and desires are like a lead cow, the cow that all the others follow. When a herd is placed in a corral, the old lead cow will circle and run the fence looking for a gap, a hole, a way out. No matter how tight the fence, that cow will find a way out. When the cow finds the way out, it will go through the fence along with the rest of the cows. To keep them in the pen, the cowboys will put hay, grain or a salt lick in the middle of the pen. They call those distractions “candy.” The cows go straight to the “candy” and will lose their desire to look for a way out, even when the candy is gone. 

Our thoughts are like that. God gives us a way out and we are to work, run the fence to find the way of escape He has for us. Satan knows our warped desires, the “candy" we like, and he will use it to trap us.

Do you have negative thoughts that keep you trapped? What thoughts trap you and how do they keep you from enjoying life through its ups and downs?

Meditate on “He will show you a way out"