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"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 Cor. 10:13 NIV).
Last Saturday, in The Way of Escape, Part 1, we saw that we need to seek and accept the way out of temptation that God provides to us. We have to want that way of escape. And when the temptations are so strong, and we feel too weak to seek and accept that way out, we need to go to the Lord and claim the promise! We need to let Him carry us out!
This prayer works so effectively with my personal attacks. But what about the attacks of the devil that others are going through? You know what I mean. We so often are interceding for others -- for their salvation, for their deliverance, for their ability to be strong and overcome temptation. What if they find themselves in the same situation I so often find myself in? What if they find themselves so enthralled in temptation that they can't even remember to seek the way out? What if they do know there is a way of escape and are looking for it, but in the heat of the battle, they simply can't find it? How can my prayers help them overcome?
Last week I was telling the story of how my husband and I have been under significant spiritual attack ever since we set up our spiritual "war room" and began purposefully interceding for each other and for those around us. I am sure it must be very difficult for my husband to sit back and watch me fall into the devil's traps. He tries so hard to help me. I know he is praying for me, and often he takes me by the hand and leads me upstairs into the spare bedroom, our "war room", where he encourages me to fight the battle, to not let the devil win... I know it must be very hard on him, because I know how hard it is for me to watch him in the midst of the battle!
One day, he was struggling with one of the temptations most commonly used by the devil to trap him. I began to pray for him, and I saw that he was fighting and winning. I continued to intercede for him, claiming the power of Jesus' blood that he would overcome, because we all know that when the devil is thrown off once, he always returns with full forces (Remember Matthew 12:43-44? "When an evil spirit leaves a person...it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order.Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself...” NLT)! I doubled my prayers, but I could see my husband was no longer fighting as he had before. He was worn down and discouraged. He had forgotten God's truth that there is always a way out. I remembered my prayer for myself. Would it work for him? I decided to try... Father God, I prayed. You see that Rob is exhausted by the spiritual battle. He wants so much to be free of this trap for good, but he is worn out and discouraged. He is truly reaching the point of being "tempted beyond what [he] can bear." But You have promised that when we reach that point, You will always provide a way out so we can endure! I claim that promise for him right now!
There was an almost instantaneous change in my husband. He became calm. He stood up straight and a smile started to creep onto his face. The attack was over. God had prevailed. God had provided him with the way of escape!
I've been praying this over him every time he is under attack since that day, and I am happy to tell you that to date, he has not fallen back into that deadly trap of the devil.
Why?
Because God truly does provide us with a way out, so that we will never be tempted beyond that which we can bear, and when the battle is so intense that we can't remember this promise, or when we are so exhausted by the constant spiritual fight that we can't find that way of escape, we can cry out to God, and He will carry us through to the exit, the way out.
Praise God! He is truly the Victor!
I pray you will all remember this story the next time you either find yourself or find someone else who is under spiritual attack. I pray you will fight. I pray you will seek and find that way out. But when it eludes you, I pray that you will claim God's promise to never let you be tempted beyond that which you can bear. I know that God will reach out and carry you through to His way of escape!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Associate Director, Moderator, Answers2Prayer Ministries
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