Stop FeedingWhat You’re Praying to Defeat
Some battles are lost long before the temptation appears. Learn how sin grows, why David fell, and how to starve the struggle instead of supplying it.
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You pray for freedom on Sunday and feed the struggle on Monday
Many believers sincerely ask God to take a sin away, while quietly keeping every door open for it to come back. Scripture doesn’t only tell us to resist temptation. It tells us to stop supplying it.
Don’t even make room for it
Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.Romans 13:14 · NIV
Paul’s instruction goes further than “don’t do it.” Don’t think about how to make it possible. Don’t plan the route, keep the access or leave the door unlocked. Then he gives the positive side:
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.Galatians 5:16 · NIV
Sin has a life cycle
…each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.James 1:14–15 · NIV
Sin rarely starts with the act. It starts with a desire we keep feeding until it’s strong enough to drag us away.
What feeds it, what starves it
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.Proverbs 4:23 · NIV
Whatever you feed grows stronger.
David’s fall started before the rooftop
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war… But David remained in Jerusalem.2 Samuel 11:1 · NIV
One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing.2 Samuel 11:2 · NIV
David wasn’t where he was supposed to be. He had nothing to do and no one around him. The temptation found him there. The rooftop was the moment he fell, but the drift began when he stayed home.
Three ways to starve the struggle
- Name what feeds itA place, a time, an app, a mood. You can’t cut a supply line you won’t name.
- Cut the supply lineRomans 13:14 says don’t even plan for it. Remove the easy access before the weak moment comes.
- Feed the Spirit insteadWalk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16): Scripture, prayer, worship and honest community.
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.1 Corinthians 10:13 · NIV
What are you still feeding that you keep asking God to take away?
Be honest. He already knows, and He is for you. You are not fighting alone, and you are not fighting without a way out.
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Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.