resumé
In chapter 9, “The Blessing and Blessing of Affliction?John Bunyan reflected on his temptations and concluded that two were the causes of his temptation: (1) he did not continue to pray to keep him away from the temptations to come (119) and (2) he had tested God. Bunyan’s wife is pregnant and in great pain and he prayed, “Lord, if you take away this affliction from my wife and make her stop suffering tonight?”Because at that time she was in pain?God proved that He discerned the most hidden thoughts by alleviating Bunyan’s wife, but did this reality that God searched all he accused when he crossed his evil heart?, if that’s what he wants! (120-121). According to Bunyan: “That is what he [God] did to me, and I deserved it, because I should have believed in His Word and not put it before the omnipresent eyes of God. ?(121).
Bunyan also reflects on the fruits of temptation
1)? First, she continually made me have a wonderful sense of both the blessing and the glory of God and his beloved Son. (121)
2) The scriptures were wonderful to me too. I saw that your truth was the key to the kingdom of heaven; those whom the Scriptures promote inherit happiness, but those whom they oppose and condemn perish forever. (121)
3) This temptation made me understand the nature of promises, in a way I had never understood before; now I tremble under the mighty hand of God, continually lacerated by the thunder of his righteousness; this prompted me, with cautious heart and attentive eyes, to turn each page of Scripture with great fear and to consider, with great diligence and tremor, each verse, as well as its natural importance and breadth.
4)? Through this temptation, I have also been preserved from my old and foolish practice of set aside the word of promise, when it occurred to me; although I could not obtain from the promise this comfort and grace that I had obtained on other occasions, I aferred myself, as a man about to fall, to all that I saw in the promise. Before, I thought I wouldn’t take the promise if I didn’t feel the comfort, but now was not the time to do it; the blood avenger pursued me with great determination. (122)
5) Have I never seen so much abundance and fulness of grace, love, and mercy that I have seen after this temptation?, abundant grace poured out upon great sins; where guilt is most terrible and vehement, there God’s mercy in Christ, when bestowed upon the soul, is the most sublime and powerful. After Job went through his captivity, he obtained twice as much as before (Job 42. 10). Bless God for Jesus Christ, our Lord!
Bunyan then describes other temptations and demonstrations of God’s grace. We can stand out twice. At first, Bunyan understands that his righteousness is in paradise:
It was like someone who wakes up from an uncomfortable dream, from a nightmare, and I heard this heavenly phrase as if I had said: “Sinner, do you think that because of your sins and diseases I cannot save your soul? But behold, my son is to my right, and I look at him, not at you, and will I treat you as I appreciate him? In this, I was very enlightened in my mind and understood that God can justify a sinner at any time. It was only by looking at Christ and attributing to us the blessings of Christ that the work was done immediately. (125)
In the second, Bunyan points out how Satan takes advantage of our body’s weakness to tempt us:
On another occasion, when I was very sick and weak, did the tempter attack me violently?I think he’s favorable enough to attack a soul when he starts approaching the grave. He struggled to hide my previous experience of God’s goodness and to put the terror of God’s death and judgment before me so intensely that at that moment, for fear of not entering heaven, he would die. (126)
1) Scripture: Have you noticed that despite all temptations, what comforts Bunyan is Scripture?At all times, he quotes or clings to the Word of God. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the Baptist “Prince of Preachers,” who read The Pilgrim once a year, said of Bunyan: “Hit him anywhere; and you will see that his blood is biblical, the very essence of the Bible derives from it. He cannot speak without quoting a text, because his soul is filled with the Word of God. . We must learn to fight temptations with the scriptures. This was not the pattern our Lord gave us when we are tempted by the evil one. Have you been filled with the Word?
2) Prayer: Jesus taught us to pray to the Father: “Do not let us enter / fall into temptation. ” Did you pray for that? Oh seriously. Did you pray for that? Have you been tempted to sin (anger, pornography, masturbation, envy, lies, etc. )? If so, have you asked for divine help? Did you yell at God to escape you, promised in 1 Corinthians 10:13?
3) Look: As Bunyan points out, does the tempter prefer to throw his darts when we are physically weak?, tired, sick, etc. Knowing that this is the enemy’s strategy, we must be vigilant and vigilant. we think we deserve to be rewarded by watching programs that, instead of making us think of things above, will lead us to think about things that are from the earth (Cl 3. 2). Or we think that because we’re tired, it can be rude to people close to us. When we are sick, we are tempted to whisper against God. So watch and pray.
At your turn
1) What have you learned about responding to temptations?
2) Did anything else draw your attention in Chapter 9?Something you don’t agree with?
By: Vin-cius Musselman Pimentel © 2014 Let’s Return to the Gospel. Original: Learn from John Bunyan how to fight temptations
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