I got an email in my account a few weeks ago that piqued my interest. I get daily devotionals in my email box from Fellowship Church and Ed Young. It helps me to get into the bible on a daily basis when I read the verse he discusses for the day. Here’s the verse that came in.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16)
This is such a wonderful reminder to us all! We all go through times when we are tempted by something or maybe that temptation has already grabbed you and you are trying to get out. That skinny little avatar I have? That’s not nearly me at all! I’ve been tempted through my weight loss by candy bars, potato chips, fried chicken, French fries, pizza…you name it. There is so much food that I have given up to make my life better and healthier. I look at my elliptical machine daily and wonder do I really want to do that today, but I press on. God knows that I am tempted to skip my exercise every day. He knows that Satan tempts me by placing a dozen fast food joints within a mile of my house that I pass by daily. My libido? Not where it should be by a long shot now a days. Are you surprised by that? And as I am making my way toward premenopause and my hormones are changing and my body is sagging in places I least expected them to, and I get scared by dense tissue that has appeared on my latest mammogram….all of these things tempt me to try to take care of them my own way.
Jesus is able to sympathize with us though. No, he didn’t experience everything that we did while he was in human form on this earth, but he was tempted by things that we go through….lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride….I bet there were some very beautiful girls and women is his time…when he was a teen, he had to go through puberty like the rest of us. During his ministry, he traveled to the homes of sinners to minister to them. I am sure he saw and heard many things, but still he was left sinless. So he didn’t watch a pornographic movie, but I am sure he did see prostitutes on his travels. Knowing he was the Christ, he could have had every opportunity to brag about it, but did you ever notice this….in the Bible, he refers to himself as the son of man. I am sure he could have swelled with pride and screamed on the rooftops, “I am the Son of God!”,but he humbled himself enough to put himself on our level.
Now, dear ones, He sits on the throne of grace. He looks down on us and wants to help us with our problems and afflictions. There is only one problem…He’s waiting for us to come to Him and ask for His help. If we bring our temptations to Him, there is grace and forgiveness. Help in our time of need.
I mentioned above that for the first time ever, I had a spot on my mammogram this year. I have a story to share about that. Was I scared? Yes. Very much so. All my previous mammograms had been perfect. When I went for my annual exam this year though, I had a wake up call. My doctor spent a little bit more time in one area of one of my breasts, but didn’t say anything. I scheduled my mammogram as usual, had it done, and was called back to have another one done and a sonogram. At my second appointment at the diagnostic center, each step I had to take, I took it to the throne of grace. I told God that whatever this was, if it was something or if it was nothing, I knew that he knew about it already. I relinquished control of it to Him. I told him that I trusted Him and I prayed that He would help me not to doubt His will if it were something to be more concerned about. It was one of the few times that I could audibly hear His response. The song “Be Still and Know That He is God” sang through my head the whole time I was there. Through the mammogram, through the sonogram, while waiting on the radiologist, it just sang through my head. Dear ones, I don’t know all the words to that song, but every word of it was singing through my head. I couldn’t sing that song to you right at this minute. I still don’t know it. But I looked it up. Every word was there that day. God wanted me to be still, listen to Him, and to trust Him. He was in control. I did. I was pleased to find out I only had dense breast tissue in that breast and it was nothing more. I cried while getting dressed, thanking God for His grace and mercy. I let go and let Jesus take the wheel. He got me right where I needed to be.
Jesus is there for you in your time of need. Will you approach the throne of grace with your needs? There is no condemnation at the throne of grace. Jesus is waiting there with open arms. He is there for you. Cast all your cares on Him. He cares for you.
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Christian Nymphos 
This is such an encouraging word. I can truly relate to everything you are saying. My husband was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in January and has endured chemo, radiation, and a major reconstructive surgery.
Looking back I can truly say that Jesus carried us through all of this. We could never have endured all of this and come through victoriously without His strength, peace, and grace.
Before coming to Christ over 20 years ago, my husband had many addictions and sins of the flesh. After coming to Christ, many times he would say the only real pleasure I have left is making love to you. Through all of the treatments I can honestly say, his libido never diminished and our love making got better each time. So I can testify that if you delight yourself in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart. He loves us and supplies the strength that we need to get through every situation in life.
I can relate to Hotmama’s situation, but from a different perspective. Forty-six years ago I married a beautiful woman, who 10 months ago had to have a breast removed because she had cancer. We decided to forgo reconstructive surgery because of our ages and because we lost a lady friend from a MERSA infection after a mastectomy (hospitals, my wife’s surgeon warned, are where such infections are caught). My wife did, in fact, contract MERSA, which put her back in the hospital and might have taken her life, except for swift action with powerful antibiotics.
Or, more to the point, God intervened.
I took my darling’s loss of a breast harder than she did. No man wishes to see his wife’s body disfigured by a surgeon’s knife, however necessary. We are slowing down from age, but sex is still fantastic. As vital as sex is to a man’s self esteem, it’s important that the husband focus on his wife as a PERSON created in the image of a loving God, rather than as a body to be desired. When this is done, the desire will follow, and the wife will reciprocate. Love will last for a lifetime, and sexual pleasure, “naked and not ashamed,” will continue as long as health and strength continue.
I believe this is is the message of the Song of Solomon. This little book is written, not as an erotic love novel, but to teach both spouses to focus on the beauty of the other in ways that enhance the loveliness of love and bring out the best in each other.
Mysterylover
How true these words ring in my life. I’ve been a Christian for 40 years and still stand in awe of the faithfullness of my God. Our lives are a series of valleys and mountain tops. I’ve been through the lowest of these and felt a real peace knowing God was right there with me. Things don’t always turn out the way we would like, sometimes we have to go through pain and suffering in this life, but they ALWAYS turn out for the Glory of God if we just trust him. 0n the other end of that I have been on the highest mountain receiving God’s blessings!
In high school I had to memorize many bible verses.(Christian school) One of my favorites is James 1:2-4 My brothern count it all joy when you fall into various temptations knowing this, that the testing of your faith bringeth forth patience, but let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing.
Though trials may be hard, they’re for a reason. Through them we grow in our walk with the Lord.
“Jesus bring the rain!”
How wonderful it is to have a Savior that we can talk to directly (no mediator) anytime, about anything. He hears our prayers and answers them. What an awsome God!