Adam and Eve did not handle temptations. Let’s look at how Eve handled them, then let’s look at how a fictional “Eva” would have handled them.
Eve assumed everything would be okay. Eva assumed she needed to pray consistently to prepare for temptations. All throughout the day, at least once every ten minutes, Eva prayed:
“Father, keep me from temptation.”
She made it one of her top three priorities in life to “Make doing that a habit.”
Second, satan came slithering over, and he heard nothing coming from Eve’s mouth. Her mind was on auto drive. She was open to suggestions. He explained to her how great the apple would be. She ate it. Disaster, destruction, the end of the era.
Third, Eva’s habit is drinking. At the end of her work day she knew she had to go to a location right next to her old favorite club. As she drove closer and closer, she started praying her prayer over and over again.
Then, as the workday ended, the man she had her eye on came over to her.
“Do you want to go next door and get a drink,” he asked.
She prayed again, “Father, keep me from temptation,” continuing her habit.
“I would love to get a drink, but I need to stay clear of anything hard right now. I am open to coffee, or a soft drink. Can we go to the place down the street?”
“That would be great,” he said.
Fourth, we need to “know” when temptation is about to rise up. We need to pray our prayers fanatically in those times.
Fifth, fast forward to the next day. Eva’s date did not go well. As she was driving home, she was frustrated and depressed. Thoughts of going to the club were swirling in her mind. She began to pray her prayer, but the thoughts continued. She then began quoting her to quitting verses. She quoted them over, and over, and over again. After ten minutes of quoting key scriptures, it was like the Holy Spirit was right there with her. She now knew… she had the option to slip up, and she definitely had the option to say no!!!! Well… she wanted to say no, so she said no. She did not go.
Sixth, we need to have key verses about our habit memorized. When temptation overwhelms, we need to stamp it out with scriptures. Consider searching, “Verses __________.” Fill in the blank with your habit. In my searches, I look for Open Bible which often has the top 100 verses for our habits.
Seventh, when I get to heaven, I would love it if Eva would find me and say, “I searched “Verses drinking” so often on my phone, that it started auto filling the whole search even when I just put in the V.
Eighth, what if you were driving and were overwhelmed with temptation? What do you think God would think of you if you pulled your car into a parking lot to search for key scriptures when overwhelmed?
I think that God would send His Holy Spirit to give you a full option to say “No.”
Finally, consider working on these habits as often as possible. The more you work on them, the more you will think about “New habits” instead of the old one.
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