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You Don't Have To Be Ashamed Of Your Temptations | Guided Prayers · Central Christian Church

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: When temptation gets the better of us, our first instinct is to look for someone to blame.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: The situation, the other person, even God.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: We hide, we explain, we point anywhere but at the desire underneath it.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: In James 1, 13 through 15, he traces it honestly back to the source.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: James walks the whole chain backward.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Sin doesn't start with the act, it starts with a desire we keep feeding in the dark.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And there's freedom in that because if the root is a desire, it's something God can actually meet and heal the moment we stop hiding it and bring it into the light.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Let's begin by thanking God that we can bring anything to him without being ashamed.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Thank him that he is completely pure, that there is no darkness in him to hide from.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And thank him that in Jesus you are already made right with him, so you can be honest about what's still being healed.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let the Holy Spirit search your heart for a moment.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Ask him to bring up the desire underneath the temptation that keeps tripping you up, what you actually reach for in a weak moment.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Name it to God out loud or in the quiet, instead of hiding it.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And ask him to go to the root and turn that desire back toward himself.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing left to blame, nothing left to hide.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Quietly tell him, I'm not hiding this anymore.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Meet me at the root and heal it.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: We give you what we've been hiding, and we trust you to cover us with forgiveness and grace.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.