Hebrews 2:14-18

What makes temptation so tempting or addictions so addicting? Why is it so easy to give in to what we know is worry or what we know is not God's will for us... and yet struggle to do whatever it is God wants us to do? Could it be the pain and suffering associated with the struggle? Could it be a doubt that God could or would truly help?

I know in the temptations of my past that were easily given into... an addiction gripping you around the throat is what it feels like at times. It was physically painful to not give in... but what added to that pain was the guilt and conviction. I simply doubted God. I doubted that God know exactly how I felt and figured that he did not quite understand the pain it caused me. That provided justification for giving in... that it would cause me pain not to do it. God did not want me to be in pain or unhappy, did he? Please, do not allow Satan to feed you that lie the same way he fed it to me... and I believed it even though I could identify it as a lie.

We are called children of God. Our faith is more precious to God than gold... gold purified through fire... gold refined through heat and made pure through the burning of fire. Such is our faith purified. Our faith is the gold needing to be refined. Trials and temptations can cause the burning pain and heat of the fire. The only way to be refined is to be put through the test and to overcome and persevere... in Christ alone. Believe it or not, he does know the suffering and the pain of temptation. He simply chose not to give in and allow that pain to overcome him. He was God, humbly made man. Christ does understand and has felt the pain. He who understands can alone give us the strength to overcome anything.
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"Because God's children are human beings -- made of flesh and blood -- the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.

We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested."

~*Hebrews 2:14-18 (NLT)*~