How Can We Overcome Satan’s Temptation? | The Church of Almighty God

How Can We Overcome Satan’s Temptation?

  January 18, 2018

By Sun Yue

One day, my mother-in-law told me delightedly that the Lord Jesus has returned in flesh. Afterward, she invited other sisters to testify to me patiently about God’s work of the last days. Through their fellowship, I knew that Almighty God is the second coming of the Lord Jesus. So, I gaily accepted God’s new work.
God’s word was so attractive that once I had the time, I would read it and learn to sing hymns. The more I read God’s word, the greater energy I had to believe in God, the sweeter I felt at heart, and the more released my spirit was. I couldn’t say how happy I was in my heart!

However, just when I was reading God’s word hungrily, my right eye began to swell and then hurt. In the very beginning, I could still read God’s word by covering my right eye. Four or five days later, my eye kept hurting as if to leap out. Having had enough of it, I put down the book to ease the pain for a while and waited to read on until after the pain was gone. However, the minute I took up the book, my eye started to swell again and then the pain returned, but when I put it down, the pain soon disappeared. Then I tried watching TV, and was surprised to find that my eye didn’t hurt either. This puzzled me a lot: Why does my eye not hurt when I watch TV but hurt badly when I read the book of God’s word? What’s really going on? I recollected what happened in recent days. From reading this book, I was able to be certain at heart that no one other than God can open up the mysteries in the Bible because only God has such authority and power, and that the word of this book is indeed God’s personal utterance. But why does my eye hurt so much when I read God’s word? I just can’t understand it. Later, I tried reading the book again, soon after which my eye swelled and hurt to the point that it was killing me. After much trial and error, I discovered one thing: As long as I took out the book of God’s word and read it, my right eye would hurt while it wouldn’t if I did any other things. I was scared and dared not to read the book again …

Two days later, the sister who was watering me came for a visit. I told her, “My eye would hurt severely once I read this book. You’d better take it away and give it to others. I really can’t read it.” After hearing my words, she fellowshiped with me patiently, “Sister, we’re fortunate to catch up with the work of true God. Satan and the evil spirits won’t possibly let us go and follow true God to be saved. Especially when we have just accepted God’s new work and haven’t understood much of all the truths expressed by God, this is the chance that Satan will easily take advantage of to disturb our reading God’s word and destroy our normal relationship with God. God’s word says: ‘The work of the Holy Spirit is a form of proactive guidance and positive enlightenment. It does not allow people to be passive. It brings them solace, gives them faith and resolve and it enables them to pursue being made perfect by God. When the Holy Spirit works, people are able to actively enter; they are not passive or forced, but are proactive.’ ‘The work of the Holy Spirit is proactive progress, while the work of Satan is regression and passivity, disobedience toward God, opposition to God, loss of faith in God, and unwillingness to even sing songs or get up and dance. That which comes from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit is not forced upon you, but is especially natural. If you follow it, you will have the truth, and if you don’t, then afterward there will be reproach. If it is the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, then nothing you do will be interfered with or constrained, you will be set free, there will be a path to practice in your actions, and you will not be subject to any restraints, and be able to act upon the will of God. The work of Satan brings many things that cause interference to you, it makes you unwilling to pray, too lazy to eat and drink the words of God, and undisposed to live the life of the church, and it estranges you from the spiritual life’ (‘The Work of the Holy Spirit and the Work of Satan’). God’s word tells us clearly the manifestations of the work of the Holy Spirit and the work of Satan. The work of the Holy Spirit is completely positive, particularly natural and soft, without forcing man to do this or that; when the Holy Spirit moves man and enlightens man, man will feel liberated in spirit and his relationship with God will be more and more normal. Whereas the work of Satan is absolutely negative, aimed at disturbing and destroying our normal relationship with God; and Satan always does this through great force, distracting our mind from quieting ourselves to read God’s word or become close to God. Gradually, we stay away from God and betray God; this is Satan’s base purpose. Just like the environment you encounter today: Your eye hurts, this is out of Satan’s disturbance. Satan wants to force us to quit reading God’s word, so that we may stay away from God and betray God. We should see things from a spiritual perspective, increase our discernment, and see through Satan’s trick.”

According to God’s word and the sister’s fellowship, I then understood: I could hunger to read God’s word as if I could never read it enough; the more I read God’s word, the more faith I had in God, and the more inexhaustible energy I felt I had…. All this turns out to be the result of the work of the Holy Spirit. Nowadays, I immediately lose faith in God just because my eye hurts when I read God’s word. Not only do I not know to pray to God and rely on Him, but I doubt and daren’t read God’s word, and even want to desert God’s word and forsake God. Is this not the manifestation of Satan’s work to get me away from God? I see. I have fallen into Satan’s trick.

The sister continued to fellowship, “This time Almighty God comes to do work, He mainly expresses truths and leads us into the reality of God’s word. As long as we read God’s word with our heart, we can understand the truth, live in the light, and be gained by God. What Satan fears most is that we can enter into God’s word and be gained by God. So, it’ll enforce its plots when we are reading God’s word, obstructing us from reading God’s word and becoming close to God. If we leave God’s word, we’ll fall into Satan’s trick and lose the chance of God’s salvation. So when your eye hurts, you should pray to God more. Just as God’s word says: ‘Almighty God is an all-powerful physician! To dwell in sickness is to be sick, but to dwell in the spirit is to be well. If you have but one breath, God will not let you die.’ ‘The life of the resurrected Christ is within us. We really lack faith in the presence of God, and may God put true faith within us. The word of God is sweet indeed! God’s word is potent medicine! Put to shame the devil and Satan! If we grasp God’s word we will have support and His word will quickly save our hearts! It dispels all things and sets all in peace. Faith is like a single log bridge, those who cling abjectly to life will have difficulty in crossing it, but those who are ready to sacrifice themselves can pass over without worry’ (‘The Sixth Utterance’). In truth, in this battle of the spiritual realm, God is watching us by our side. As long as we truly rely on God, God will work on us and gradually we can overcome Satan’s temptation. Never lose faith in God!”

Having heard God’s word and sister’s fellowship, I felt each word was in accordance with God’s will. That I could be tricked by Satan was because my faith in God was too little. This time, I could never doubt God’s word and give up reading it; the more Satan disturbed me, the more I should cooperate with God by my faith in Him, never to yield to Satan. And so, I prayed to God, “Oh, God! I’m willing to read Your word; I’ll read Your word even though my eye hurts. May You help me overcome Satan’s temptation.” In the days that followed, I prayed to God and relied on Him to read God’s word every day. Although my eye still hurts, it didn’t make the slightest difference to me in reading God’s word. Six or seven days later, my eye hurt so badly that it seemed to be dropping. My heart was greatly distressed but I could clearly realize that it was Satan who sped up carrying out its scheme to hinder me from drawing near to God. Thinking back to the last time when my eye hurt and I thus followed Satan to quit reading God’s word, I almost fell into Satan’s trap and lost the chance of being saved by God. This time, on no account would I surrender to Satan. So I resolved in my heart: I will read God’s word even though my eye would hurt like hell. When I couldn’t stand the pain, I put the book onto the bed, pressing my right eye that was aching to the point of dropping with both hands, and read it with the other eye. Just like this, I went on reading God’s word and miraculously, my eye didn’t hurt that much. Half a month later, the pain vanished without trace. From this matter, I saw God’s protection for me, feeling particularly secure and relieved in spirit. I thanked God for His protection from the depth of my heart and for leading me to overcome Satan’s temptation. At the same time, I also felt lucky that I hadn’t let the sister take the book of God’s word away; otherwise, I would have lost God’s salvation. However, Satan was reluctant to admit defeat, and it continued to use tricks to harass and tempt me.

Soon I performed my duty as a creature in the church. One day at lunch, my telephone rang, I picked it up and it was from my husband. He said, “Our son fought with his classmate at school. He pricked a girl’s eye, and the girl has to have her eye replaced with an artificial eye. The county hospital can’t handle it and she needs to be brought to Beijing for treatment. Go and see her quickly.” Hearing that, I became anxious all at once: What shall I do now? How came he injured her eye? What great pain will it bring to her? How much shall we pay to compensate her? My younger son never caused trouble, but how could he make such a big trouble today? I had no way. In a fluster, I could only pray to God in my heart, “God! My son has made great trouble for me. I don’t know what to do now. God! May You open a way out for me.” Then I went to the girl’s house and saw the gate of her house was locked. I wasn’t able to contact her family, nor did I know what had become of her. Once again, I came before God praying, “Oh, God! May You give me faith and strength to face all this….” While praying, I suddenly thought of God’s word saying: “Of everything that occurs in the universe, there is nothing that I do not have the final say in. What exists that is not in My hands? All that I say goes….” (“The First Utterance”). God’s word gave me faith and courage and I came to know that the matter befalling me today was in God’s hand. So I was ready to commit it to God and waited for God’s time.

On that afternoon, I went to attend a meeting. When seeing sisters, I told them what had happened to my family. They fellowshiped with me about how to see through Satan’s trick. And they read two other passages of God’s words: “In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God. Take when Job was tried, for example: Behind the scenes, Satan was making a bet with God, and what happened to Job was the deeds of men, and the interference of men” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God”). “You must be awake and waiting at every moment, and you must come before Me more. You must recognize the various plots and cunning schemes of Satan, know the spirit, know people and be able to discern all kinds of people, matters and things; you must eat and drink more of My words and, more importantly, you must be able to eat and drink them by yourselves. Equip yourselves with all the truth, come before Me so that I may open your spiritual eyes and allow you to see all the mysteries that lie within the spirit….” (“The Seventeenth Utterance”). God’s word made me understand that what happened to me today was, from the outside, an accident between people, but in fact, it involved a war in spiritual realm and contained Satan’s temptation and disturbance. Since I only hoped for peace and smoothness, grace and blessings after I believed in God, Satan used my younger son to stir up trouble to disturb my heart, because it harmed my vital interests. In this way, Satan wanted me to thereby complain against God, stray away from God, and even betray God—how sinister, vicious, and detestable Satan is! I could never be fooled by it again. I also thought of Job. When he encountered Satan’s temptation and lost all his possessions and all his children, he not only made no complaints of God but even sing the praises of God’s holy name, leaving Satan utterly ashamed and defeated. I should also see things from a spiritual perspective, see through Satan’s trick, stand on God’s side to bear witness for Him, and never follow Satan to betray God. When I thought like this, my heart gradually calmed down. And I didn’t suffer from interference and was confident to face what would happen in the future.

When I arrived home after the meeting, I saw my younger son waiting for me at home. He told me that the headmaster asked me to go to the school. I didn’t know what to encounter, but thinking of what we fellowshiped in today’s meeting, my heart was steadfast and peaceful. When I reached the school and saw the girl’s parents there, I asked them hurriedly, “How’s your kid’s eye?” Her mother said, “Nothing serious. The wound was sewed up by seven stitches. It was a lucky thing. Less than one millimeter and the eyeball will be injured. We were terribly frightened when seeing that my daughter’s eye was full of blood.” I said, “Thank goodness that she’s okay. So whatever the cost, I’ll pay.” Unexpectedly, she said, “You needn’t pay for it.” The headmaster also said, “Don’t blame your son for this matter. The girl provoked him first and then he pricked her. Your son was never in trouble at school. So no matter how much it costs, our school will pay for it; you needn’t pay.” Listening to what they said, I was grateful to God from my heart unceasingly. After I saw through Satan’s tricks, I saw God’s deeds were so wondrous. Then I was more assured that it’s God who domains all this; without God’s permission, Satan could do nothing to me, no matter how frantically it disturbed me. I thanked God from my heart for His care and protection for me. It was God’s word that practically guided and helped me to see through Satan’s plots. And through Satan’s interference, God made me know His almightiness and sovereignty, and increased my faith. Thanks for God’s guidance!

I saw God’s word that says: “My entire management plan … at each stage it accords with man’s needs—or, to be more precise, it is done according to the tricks that Satan employs in the war that I wage against it. The purpose of My work is to defeat Satan, to make manifest My wisdom and omnipotence, to expose all of Satan’s tricks, and thereby to save the entire human race, which lives under its domain. It is to show My wisdom and omnipotence while at the same time revealing the unbearable hideousness of Satan. Even more, it is to teach My creations to discriminate between good and evil, to know that I am the Ruler of all things, to see clearly that Satan is humanity’s foe, the lowest of the low, the evil one, and to tell, with absolute certainty, the difference between good and evil, truth and falsehood, holiness and filth, and what is great and what is ignoble” (“The True Story Behind Work in the Age of Redemption”). Thinking back to the scenes of my experience, I really saw Satan’s hatefulness. It’s an evil spirit which is cunning and evil, base and shameless; it enforced various plots to tempt me to complain against God, stay away from God, and even betray God; it attempted vainly to deceive and devout me, hindering me from following true God and gaining eternal salvation from Him. The eviler it was, the more it allowed me to see its ugly countenance, and the more I hated and rejected it. From my experiences, I have really and truly experienced the almightiness and practicality of God’s word. I have seen that God’s word is indeed the truth; God’s word carries transcendent authority and power that could help me see through Satan’s tricks and overcome its temptation; God’s work is really full of wisdom and almightiness.

All the glory be to Almighty God!

Dear brothers and sisters, If you have any understanding or enlightenment from God, welcome to share with us via the online chat window at the bottom of the website or send an email to info@hearthymn.com. We sincerely hope we’ll grow spiritually through sharing with each other.

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