Satan gives Adam an apple, and takes away Paradise. Therefore in all temptations let us consider not what he offers, but what we shall lose.
– Richard Sibbes
Temptation
Every moment of resistance to temptation is a victory.
– Frederick W. Faber
Temptation
Temptation may even be a blessing to a man when it reveals to him his weakness and drives him to the almighty Savior. Do not be surprised, then, dear child of God, if you are tempted at every step of your earthly journey, and almost beyond endurance; but you will not be tempted beyond what you are able to bear, and with every temptation there will be a way of escape.
– F.B. Meyer
Temptation | Endurance | Weakness
Every time you defeat a temptation, you become more like Jesus!
– Rick Warren
Temptation
As the most dangerous winds may enter at little openings, so the devil never enters more dangerously than by little unobserved incidents, which seem to be nothing, yet insensibly open the heart to great temptations.
– John Wesley
Satan | Temptation
God has defeated Satan through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through this overwhelming victory, God has also empowered you to overcome any temptation to sin and has provided sufficient resources for you to respond biblically to any problem of life. By relying on God’s power and being obedient to His Word, you can be an overcomer in any situation.
– John C. Broger
Temptation | Overcoming
All the great temptations appear first in the region of the mind and can be fought and conquered there. We have been given the power to close the door of the mind. We can lose this power through disuse or increase it by use, by the daily discipline of the inner man in things which seem small and by reliance upon the word of the Spirit of truth. It is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. It is as though He said, ‘Learn to live in your will, not in your feelings.’
– Amy Carmichael
Temptation | Discipline | Feelings
The riches of His free grace cause me daily to triumph over all the temptations of the wicked one, who is very vigilant, and seeks all occasions to disturb me.
– George Whitefield
Temptation
Temptation exercises our faith and teaches us to pray.
– A. B. Simpson
Temptation
Temptation is the devil looking through the keyhole. Yielding is opening the door and inviting him in.
– Billy Sunday
Temptation
Our toil is sweet with thankfulness, Our burden is our boon; The curse of earth’s gray morning is, The blessing of its noon.
– John Greenleaf Whittier
Service | Temptation | Thankfulness
All men are tempted. There is no man that lives that can’t be broken down, provided it is the right temptation, put in the right spot.
– Henry Ward Beecher
Temptation | Men
Our great Pattern hath showed us what our deportment ought to be in all suggestions and temptations. When the devil showed Him “all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them,” to tempt Him withal, He did not stand and look upon them, viewing their glory, and pondering their empire…. but instantly, without stay, He cries, “Get thee hence, Satan.” Meet thy temptation in its entrance with thoughts of faith concerning Christ on the cross; this will make it sink before thee. Entertain no parley, no dispute with it, if thou wouldst not enter into it.
– John Owen
Temptation
Ability to resist temptation is directly proportionate to your submission to God.
– Ed Cole
Temptation | Submission
Temptations and occasions put nothing into a man, but only draw out what was in him before.
– John Owen
Temptation
The temptation once yielded to gains power. The crack in the embankment which lets a drop or two ooze through is soon a hole which lets out a flood.
– Alexander MacLaren
Temptation
Jesus was not tempted to see if He would fall. He was tempted to show that He could not fall.
– J. Vernon McGee
Temptation
One of the best results of temptation is that it shows us what is in our hearts.
– A. B. Simpson
Temptation
We must not count temptation a strange thing. “The disciple is not greater than his master, nor the servant than his lord.” If Satan came to Christ, he will also come to Christians.
– J. C. Ryle
Temptation
Our minds are mental greenhouses where unlawful thoughts, once planted, are nurtured and watered before being transplanted into the real world of unlawful actions… These actions are savored in the mind long before they are enjoyed in reality. The thought life, then, is our first line of defense in the battle of self-control.
– Jerry Bridges
Temptation | Self-control
Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
– Martin Luther King Jr.
Temptation | Bitterness
Every temptation is great or small according as the man is.
– Jeremy Taylor
Temptation
Temptations which accompany the working day will be conquered on the basis of the morning breakthrough to God. Decisions, demanded by work, become easier and simpler where they are made not in the fear of men, but only in the sight of God. He wants to give us today the power which we need for our work.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Temptation | Prayer | Work
Temptations, when we meet them at first, are as the lion that roared upon Samson; but if we overcome them, the next time we see them we shall find a nest of honey within them.
– John Bunyan
Temptation | Overcoming
Satan doth sow most of his seed of temptation in hearts that lie fallow. When he sees persons unemployed, he will find work for them to do.
– Thomas Watson
Satan | Temptation
Although our sins are forgiven and we now have the power to overcome temptation, we will forever struggle with sin because we still have what the Bible calls the flesh.
– Chip Ingram
Temptation
Temptations are an appeal to meet righteous needs in an unrighteous way.
– William Thrasher
Temptation
The flesh inclines us more to believe a temptation than a promise.
– Thomas Watson
Temptation
To believe that He will preserve us is, indeed, a means of preservation. God will certainly preserve us, and make a way of escape for us out of the temptation, should we fall. We are to pray for what God has already promised. Our requests are to be regulated by His promises and commands. Faith embraces the promises and so finds relief.
– John Owen
Temptation | Faith
If thou wouldst conquer thy weakness, thou must never gratify it. No man is compelled to evil: his consent only makes it his. It is no sin to be tempted, but to be overcome.
– William Penn
Temptation | Weakness
Deliver us from everything that may entangle our affections and harden our hearts.
– William Tiptaft
Temptation
God chooses that men should be tried, but let a man beware of tempting his neighbor. God knows how and how much, and where and when. Man is his brother’s keeper, and must keep him according to his knowledge.
– George Macdonald
Temptation
Unwillingness to accept God’s “way of escape” from temptation frightens me what a rebel yet resides within.
– Jim Elliot
Humility | Temptation | Rebellion
He who chooses the beginning of the road chooses the place it leads to. It is the means that determines the end.
– Harry Emerson Fosdick
Temptation
Temptation always starts in your mind, not in circumstances.
– Rick Warren
Temptation | Circumstances
To be tempted is in itself no sin. It is the yielding to the temptation, and giving it a place in our hearts, which we must fear.
– J. C. Ryle
Temptation
Hand over to Christ every temptation and care.
– F.B. Meyer
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Temptation
But temptation is not sin. A man may ask me to share with him the spoils of a burglary, but no one can accuse me of receiving stolen property if I indignantly refuse and keep my doors tightly shut against him.
– F.B. Meyer
Temptation
Temptations are never so dangerous as when they come to us in a religious garb.
– Dwight L. Moody
Temptation
Christ, because He was the only Man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only Man who knows to the full what temptation means.
– C.S. Lewis
Temptation
To tempt another is worse than to sin thyself. When you tempt, you do that which you cannot undo with your repentance.
– William Gurnall
Temptation
Many of us suffer from temptations from which we have no business to suffer.
– Oswald Chambers
Temptation
You have escaped the formidable rocks. Beware lest you are wrecked on the sands.
– Assorted Authors
Temptation
The chief weapon we ought to use in resisting Satan is the Bible. Three times the great enemy offered temptations to our Lord. Three times his offer was refused, with a text of Scripture as the reason, “it is written” (Mt. 3:4, 7, 10).
– J. C. Ryle
Temptation | The Bible
So long as idleness is quite shut out from our lives, all the sins of wantonness, softness, and effeminacy are prevented; and there is but little room for temptation.
– Jeremy Taylor
Idleness | Temptation
Being virtuous is no feat once temptation ceases.
– Assorted Authors
VirtueTemptation
It is true that Satan often uses the flesh to secure the consent of man, yet in each instance of enticement the enemy creates some kind of thought by which to induce the man. We cannot separate temptation and thought. All temptations are offered us in the form of thoughts. Since the latter are so exposed to the power of darkness, we need to learn how to guard them.
– Watchman Nee
Temptation | Satan
If we do not abide in prayer, we will abide in temptation. Let this be one aspect of our daily intercession: “God, preserve my soul, and keep my heart and all its ways so that I will not be entangled.” When this is true in our lives, a passing temptation will not overcome us. We will remain free while others lie in bondage.
– John Owen
TemptationPrayerFreedom
Every temptation is an opportunity to do good.
– Rick Warren
Temptation
The higher the hill, the stronger the wind: so the loftier the life, the stronger the enemy’s temptations.
– Assorted Authors
Temptation | Satan
The life of Balance is difficult. It lies on the verge of continual temptation, its perpetual adjustments become fatiguing, its measured virtue is monotonous and uninspiring.
– Henry Drummond
Temptation
God is better served in resisting a temptation to evil than in many formal prayers.
– William Penn
Temptation
We usually know what we can do, but temptation shows us who we are.
– Thomas a Kempis
Temptation
The greatest of all temptations is to want to be without any.
– Henry Drummond
Temptation
The devil tempts, that he may deceive; but God suffers us to be tempted, to try us. Temptation is a trial of our sincerity.
– Thomas Watson
Temptation | Deception
Let our hearts admit, “I am poor and weak. Satan is too subtle, too cunning, too powerful; he watches constantly for advantages over my soul. The world presses in upon me with all sorts of pressures, pleas, and pretences. My own corruption is violent, tumultuous, enticing, and entangling. As it conceives sin, it was within me and against me. Occasions and opportunities for temptation are innumerable. No wonder I do not know how deeply involved I have been with sin. Therefore, on God alone will I rely for my keeping. I will continually look to Him.
– John Owen
Temptation
To realize God’s presence is the one sovereign remedy against temptation.
– Francois Fenelon
Temptation
Power over very many of the commonest temptations is only to be won by degrees, and however anxious one might be to apply the summary method to every case, he soon finds it impossible in practice.
– Henry Drummond
Temptation
As long as the Spirit dwells in my heart, He deadens me to sin, so that, if lawfully called through temptation, I may reckon upon God carrying me through. But when the Spirit leaves me, I am like dry gunpowder.
– Robert Murray McCheyne
The Holy Spirit | Temptation
One of the most serious threats to the human spirit is boredom. Boredom is the breeding ground for wickedness. Bored people are easy targets of the flesh and the Devil. It is like putting a bull’s-eye on your chest with a sign: “Tempt me. I’m easy!” Why? Because boredom is contrary to the natural, God-given impulse for fascination, excitement, pleasure, and exhilaration.
– Sam Storms
Temptation
My temptations have been my Masters in Divinity.
– Martin Luther
Temptation
Watch the morning watch. Do not see the face of man until you have seen the face of God. Before you enter on the day with its temptations, look up into His face and hide His Word in your heart.
– F.B. Meyer
Temptation | Scripture
What is sin? It is the “Yes of the will” to temptation.
– F.B. Meyer
Temptation
Temptation is like a knife that may either cut the meat or the throat of a man; it may be his food or his poison, his exercise or his destruction.
– John Owen
Temptation
There is a great deal of difference between falling into a temptation, and running into a temptation. The falling into a temptation shall work for good, not the running into it. He that falls into a river is capable of help and pity, but he that desperately turns into it is guilty of his own death.
– Thomas Watson
Temptation
The devil visits idle men with his temptations. God visits industrious men with His favors.
– Matthew Henry
Idleness | Temptation
Every time Satan suggested a temptation, Jesus countered by quoting Scripture.
– Rick Warren
Temptation
The only way to avoid cannon-shot is to fall down. No such way to be freed from temptation as to keep low.
– Thomas Brooks
Temptation
When Christians find themselves exposed to temptation they should pray to God to uphold them, and when they are tempted they should not be discouraged. It is not a sin to be tempted; the sin is to fall into temptation.
– Dwight L. Moody
Temptation
When you have overcome one temptation, you must be ready to enter the lists with another. As distrust, in some sense, is the mother of safety, so security is the gate of danger.
– Thomas Brooks
Temptation | Overcoming
Watch constantly against those things which are thought to be no temptations. The most poisonous serpents are found where the sweetest flowers grow. Cleopatra was poisoned by an asp that was brought to her in a basket of fair flowers. Sharp-edged tools, long handled, wound at last.
– Charles Spurgeon
Temptation
Since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, temptation has been a constant, unrelenting part of human life. Men have tried to avoid and resist it with self-inflicted pain to make themselves uncomfortable and presumably humble, or by isolating themselves from other people and from physical comforts. But no person has ever found a place or a circumstance that can make him safe from temptation.
– John MacArthur
Temptation
Many a dangerous temptation comes to us in gay, fine colors, that are but skin-deep.
– Matthew Henry
Temptation
We have no sufficient strength of our own. All our sufficiency is of God. We should stir up ourselves to resist temptations in a reliance upon God’s all-sufficiency and the omnipotence of his might.
– Matthew Henry
Temptation | Strength
Do not grudge the Hand that is molding the still too shapeless image within you. It is growing more beautiful, though you see it not, and every touch of temptation may add to its perfection.
– Henry Drummond
Temptation | Beauty
The temptation once yielded to gains power. The crack in the embankment which lets a drop or two ooze through is soon a hole which lets out a flood.
– Alexander MacLaren
Temptation
Sin gets its power by persuading me to believe that I will be happier if I follow it. The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier.
– John Piper
Temptation
I love the soul that dares tread the temptations of his years beneath his youthful feet.
– Isaac Watts
Temptation | Youth
It is not a sin to be tempted.
– Rick Warren
Temptation
Temptations are a file which rub off much of the rust of our self-confidence.
– Francois Fenelon
Temptation | Self-confidence
Only he who flings himself upward when the pull comes to drag him down can hope to break the force of temptation. Temptation may be an invitation to hell, but much more is it an opportunity to reach heaven.
– Charles H. Brent
Temptation
Satan doth not tempt God’s children because they have sin in them, but because they have grace in them. Had they no grace, the devil would not disturb them… Though to be tempted is a trouble, yet to think why you are tempted is a comfort.
– Thomas Watson
Satan | Temptation | Sin
At the moment of temptation, sin and righteousness are both very near the Christian; but, of the two, the latter is the nearer. Those alone labor effectively among men who impetuously fling themselves upward towards God.
– Charles H. Brent
Temptation | Sin | Righteousness
The essence of temptation is the invitation to live independently of God.
– Neil T. Anderson
Temptation
Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.
– Martin Luther
Sin | Temptation
Steadfastness in believing doth not exclude all temptations from without. When we say a tree is firmly rooted, we do not say the wind never blows upon it.
– John Owen
Temptation | Believing
Ahab cast a covetous eye at Naboth’s vineyard, David a lustful eye at Bathsheba. The eye is the pulse of the soul; as physicians judge of the heart by the pulse, so we by the eye; a rolling eye, a roving heart. The good eye keeps minute time, and strikes when it should; the lustful, crochet-time, and so puts all out of tune.
– Thomas Adams
Jealousy | Lust | Temptation
Sonship is a thing which all the infirmities of our flesh, and all the sins into which we are hurried by temptation, can never violate or weaken.
– Charles Spurgeon
Temptation
Do not resent temptation; do not be perplexed because it seems to thicken round you more and more, and ceases neither for effort nor for agony nor prayer. That is your practice. That is the practice which God appoints you; and it is having its work in making you patient, and humble, and generous, and unselfish, and kind, and courteous.
– Henry Drummond
Temptation
Temptations are like tramps. Treat them kindly, and they will return bringing others with them.
– Dwight L. Moody
Temptation
Temptation usually comes in through a door that has deliberately been left open.
– Assorted Authors
Sin | Temptation