Proverbs 2My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands. Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God. For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity. He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him. Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy. Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe. Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted. These men turn from the right way to walk down dark paths. They take pleasure in doing wrong, and they enjoy the twisted ways of evil. Their actions are crooked, and their ways are wrong. Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman, from the seductive words of the promiscuous woman. She has abandoned her husband and ignores the covenant she made before God. Entering her house leads to death; it is the road to the grave. The man who visits her is doomed. He will never reach the paths of life. Follow the steps of good men instead, and stay on the paths of the righteous. For only the godly will live in the land, and those with integrity will remain in it. But the wicked will be removed from the land, and the treacherous will be uprooted. NLT
Guarding Your Heart
A few well-worn analogies in Christiandom go like this: “… living as close to sin as possible without getting burned” or “…seeing how close to the edge you can get without falling.”
We all have many primary needs that must be met to survive and to be of sound mind. Every person needs to feel loved and accepted. We all need affirmation, to have value and a sense of purpose. Psychologists have concluded that hope is essential for life, without hope, a person will sink into despair which can be life-threatening. Living on the edge is an illegitimate attempt to meet basic needs.
God designed people to be needy for a reason. Our neediness draws us into relationships—we were made for relationships. God wired every person to have his or her needs met through relationships. Some of our needs are met through a genuine relationship with God—a vertical relationship. We also have needs met through vibrant, honest human relationships—horizontal relationships.
Satan is aware of our state of neediness. The Bible tells us that Satan is the great deceiver and the father of lies—he came to kill, steal and destroy. True to his nature, Satan will offer a counterfeit for each legitimate need we have. For instance, Romans Chapter 1 tells us that God gave each of us the primary need and desire to worship. God hardwired every person to worship Him, our default setting. Interestingly, we will worship something even if it is a perversion of God’s desire. This is why most people are confounded when they, after achieving the pinnacle, find themselves feeling empty and unfulfilled—their worship has been misdirected. In this instance, Satan’s counterfeit may have been fame and fortune. Sometimes, we worship another person, or perhaps even ourselves. Self-worship is an epidemic today. If Satan can tempt us to pursue his imitation, then he deflects our bent to worship God onto a person, place or thing. In every circumstance, God has a correct (righteous) way for each person to have his or her needs met without falling prey to Satan’s deceptions.
God wants us to thrive and not just survive. When we do things God’s way, we gain the greatest sense of fulfillment and satisfaction for living. Additionally, there are no fatal ‘side effects’ when living according to God’s directives. Conversely, when we try to meet a legitimate, God-given, need in an illegitimate way we miss His original design and thereby produce death—for the wages of sin is death.
To illustrate Satan’s tempting alternatives, envision a room with dozens of doors, each labeled with a counterfeit offering as a temptation to enter. This visual helped me understand why so many men fail when tempted sexually. I believe most men “linger” in this room “waiting” for the opportunity for a sexual encounter to present itself. If sex is offered, then taking advantage of that opportunity seems reasonable and culturally acceptable. However, if you are reading this, and you are a professing Christian, then you know that lingering in the “Room of Opportunity” is dangerous, and you are setting yourself up for failure.
Each door, in the Room of Opportunity, represents a counterfeit offering or a temptation to trust self and deny God. Satan will offer every man and woman a tempting imitation if he thinks he can deceive you and get you to miss God’s best.
One sure way to avoid the snare of Satan’s deceptions is to not give him the opportunity—don’t linger in the Room of Opportunity.
One way you exit the ‘Room of Opportunity’ is to get the revelation that God is your one and only provider. He is the only One who has the ability to meet your needs in a legitimate fashion. When you begin to see with your spiritual eyes, live by God’s Word, and act in faith, God becomes your all-in-all. God knows how to meet the needs that He has placed in you. God made you and He knows what will give you the utmost peace and joy.
Doors of Opportunity in the Room of Opportunity
The scriptures plainly state that there is pleasure in sin—for a season. Because of this temporary pleasure, many people, especially the unsaved, live (dwell, linger) in the Room of Opportunity—a room of deceitful temptations. Each door represents a temptation or invitation, creating irresistible opportunities to step into a particular sin. The worldly man or woman may even go from one door to another, checking and looking for opportunities of pleasure in sin.
Any person who has surrendered to Christ and has ‘renewed his mind by the washing of the Word,’ knows that these doors to sin are closed to him. Unfortunately, many Christians, even those who have heard the ‘Guarding Your Heart’ message, still choose to linger in the Room of Opportunity.
Are you a Christian who sincerely wants to honor God in your life, yet you can’t seem to resist the thrill of temptation? Choosing to linger in the Room of Opportunity, frustrates your ability to resist sin. You are on Satan’s turf. As a Christian, ask yourself: “What happens when a door of opportunity suddenly flies open?” For instance, as a businessman, you are blindsided with a breathtaking financial bribe, or a sexual encounter is whispered where no will know—you thought your heart was guarded and your mind was made-up. 1 Corinthians 10:13 is part of the answer to that question.
“But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.”
1 Corinthians 6:18 tells us to “Run from sexual immorality…”(NLT) Escape, run, exit the Room of Opportunity and do not dwell there. Another part of the answer is Galatians 5:16 “…Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”(NKJ) You do this by choosing to exit the room of opportunity and live a Spirit-led life—“For in Him we live and have our being.”
Charles Spurgeon weighs in on guarding your heart:
Ye are Christ’s. You are His by donation, for the Father gave you to the Son; His by His bloody purchase, for He counted down the price for your redemption; His by dedication, for you have consecrated yourself to Him; His by relation, for you are named by his name, and made one of His brethren and joint-heirs.
Labour practically to show the world that you are the servant, the friend, the bride of Jesus. When tempted to sin, reply, “I cannot do this great wickedness, for I am Christ’s.” Immortal principles forbid the friend of Christ to sin. When wealth is before you to be won by sin, say that you are Christ’s, and touch it not. Are you exposed to difficulties and dangers? Stand fast in the evil day, remembering that you are Christ’s. Are you placed where others are sitting down idly, doing nothing? Rise to the work with all your powers; and when the sweat stands upon your brow, and you are tempted to loiter, cry, “No, I cannot stop, for I am Christ’s.
If I were not purchased by blood, I might be like Issachar, crouching between two burdens; but I am Christ’s, and cannot loiter.” When the siren song of pleasure would tempt you from the path of right, reply, “Thy music cannot charm me; I am Christ’s.” When the cause of God invites thee, give thy goods and thyself away, for thou art Christ’s. Never belie thy profession.
Be thou ever one of those whose manners are Christian, whose speech is like the Nazarene, whose conduct and conversation are so redolent of heaven, that all who see you may know that you are the Saviour’s, recognizing in you His features of love and His countenance of holiness. “I am a Roman!” was of old a reason for integrity; far more, then, let it be your argument for holiness, “I am Christ’s!” – Charles H Spurgeon
Alive With Christ
“Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God's anger just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's special favor that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms-- all because we are one with Christ Jesus. And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus. God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:1-10