There’s an old saying which says, ”Sin keeps us from God’s word or God’s word keeps us from Sin!” It has encouraged a lot of young believers to try to memorise many of verses from God’s word to use when being tempted to sin. Of course, one has to remember that every verse needs to be interpreted in the light of its context to fully understand its true meaning. But remembering single verses helps us to find the context of those verses to give us a more balanced understanding of God’s word. Here is how the Psalmist recognised the power of God’s word, Psalm 119:9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
The following is a list of verses that one can turn to, to see how the Lord has promised to answer our prayers as believers and how He can guide us as we seek to live for Him.
VERSES INDICATING THAT GOD HEARS AND ANSWERS THE PRAYERS OF HIS CHILDREN
2Chronicles 7:13-14. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psa 91:15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honour him.
Psa 145:18-19. The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.
Isa 65:24 Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.
Jer 29:12 -13. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Jer 33:3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Micah 7:7 But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Matthew 7:7–11. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Mat 18:19 -20. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Luke 11:13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
John 14:13–14. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
John 15:7. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
John 16:23 -24. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Mark 11:22 -24. And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Eph 3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
Philippians 4:6 -7. do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Heb 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
James 1:5. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
James 5:13-16. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
1Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
1 John 3:21-22. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
1 Jn 5:14-15. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
VERSES ON SEEKING THE LORD’S BLESSING OR GUIDANCE
Psa 32:6 Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. 7 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Psa 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!
Prov 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Psa 23:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Blog No.598 posted on Monday 13 July 2026.
holbeck 
599 VICTORY OVER TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS.
Sermon preached by Canon Jim Holbeck at the Healing Service at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney on Wed 24May2006. Reading: James 1:12-18. Topic: “Victory Over Trials And Temptations.”
• Ever feel a bit battered. There are just so many things coming at you and you just get over one crisis and then another one appears.
• It’s as though things are coming at us to test us all the time.
• Well sometimes we are living in such a way that we are bringing all sorts of difficulties on ourselves.
• In that case we need to repent of our rebellion against God and ask for His forgiveness and help in Jesus.
• But at other times we are trying to do the right thing but everything seem to be going wrong or we keep facing pressure after pressure.
• It has a name. It’s called “Being Human.”
1. TRIALS WILL SURELY COME OUR WAY. 1:12
James 1:12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him
• We are all going through various trials and temptations but we can learn to cope with them.
• James knew that everyone including Christian believers were going to undergo trials and be tempted.
• He makes the promise to those who stood the test that they would receive the Crown of life (or God’s approval) which God promised to those who love Him.
• John wrote the same thing in Rev 2:10 to show that though believers might have to suffer various kinds of trials including persecution, it was not that God had lost control but that He was allowing those things to happen in a world that wasn’t perfect in any way.
• If they remained loyal to Him they would know His blessing. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
• Faithfulness and dependence on Him leads to His blessing.
2. HOW TO FACE THE TRIALS THAT COME
i). Recognise the source of temptation. It is not God. He doesn’t tempt anyone towards evil.
• But there is another who is called the tempter, Satan who does tempt us.
• In Gen 1-3, we saw Adam and Eve tempted by the serpent in the Garden of Eden and giving in to the lies of the evil one.
• We saw Jesus as a man being tempted by Satan but winning victory over all the temptations Satan threw at him.
• Paul was conscious that being unwilling to forgive someone could lead to an openness to being deceived by Satan, 2 Cor 2:10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ. 11 And we do this so that we may not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
• He warned that harbouring sin could give a foothold to the devil Eph 4:26-27, “In your anger do not sin” : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold..
ii). Recognise why we respond to temptation
James then went on to talk about what one should do when faced with trials and temptation.
• He shows that trials will come to all of us and that we might be tempted to act in ways that were not right. but God is not the source of temptation.
• God cannot give into temptation and tempts no-one.
James describes temptation as acting in this way.
• We may be undergoing a trial of some kind.
• But there may be something in the trial that becomes tempting to us.
• James says that we are lured and enticed by our own desire.
• That means there is something within us that wants to respond to what we see or hear. We have a nature within us that has a bias towards evil.
Eg., Gal 5:16-21, 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
• James then talks about desire as conceiving and give in to sin.
• By that he means that as we continue to focus on the things or people that tempt us we can lose our self-control and come under their control.
• In our desire to possess the inappropriate thing or person that is tempting us we can be possessed by the object of our desire.
• We’ve had a defeat. We have sinned and fallen short. We have fallen into sin. We have rebelled against God and are guilty in His sight, even though we may try to suppress our guilt.
iii). Seeking God’s enabling to give us victory
• If we want to be changed God can help us.
• It’s as we open our lives to Him that He can come in power to bring about a transformation within us.
• Instead of being continually biased towards evil we can know His presence in our lives wanting us to do what is righteous and good.
• No illustration is perfect but just imagine a bowling ball on the bowling green. The ball is biased with more weight on the one side than the other. It cannot go in a straight line unless we put more weight in the other side to make it go evenly.
• We’re like that with our bias towards evil in the trials of life. It is natural for us to do evil.
• We need a counteracting presence in our lives so that we can go along the straight and narrow and live as God wants us to live.
• Bu the paths of life are not always smooth and level like a bowling green. We need a presence in our lives that can make us keep going in the straight and narrow even when the ground tilts sharply or become rough with lots of obstacles ahead.
• The only presence in our lives that can bring that victory is the presence of Christ within us in the power of His Spirit.
• Paul put it like this in Gal 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
• We can overcome that bias towards evil no matter how rocky is the path before us, nor how powerful are the forces opposed to us to take us downhill.
• Instead of reacting naturally to the temptations and trials of life we can be different.
• Instead of letting our old nature rule our lives, we can let Christ by His Spirit change us to be like Jesus.
• Gal 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
• There can be no victory without Christ in our lives.
• Paul contrasts in Gal 5 what he calls the works of the flesh, the characteristics of our old nature, the way we behave naturally to testing or tempting situations, with the fruit of the Spirit.
• When the trials and temptations come instead of responding n a godly way with God’s strength we cave in and sin.
a). We sin in the area of morality.
• We become guilty of sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality. Instead of living as God wanted us to live as celibate until we find our life partner we give in to our inward desires and become guilty in the sight of God. We can suppress our guilt but suppressed guilt can lead to physical and emotional damage.
b). We sin in the area of religion.
We become guilty of turning away from God and replacing Him with something or someone less challenging, what Paul calls here 20 idolatry, sorcery. Many people today have had mental stress and breakdown because they dabbled in the areas of the occult and were possessed by the power they were trying to harness. They live in fear of powers that are nasty and dangerous.
c). We sin socially with wrong attitudes that may lead to wrong actions.
• Instead of doing what God said in loving our neighbour as ourselves we responded to those around us in negative ways as Paul writes, we became characterised by social sins strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy
• We have no peace because our minds may be full of evil thoughts or even plotting revenge against those who made us angry or whom we envied because they seemed to have more than we have.
• How much time do we spend thinking or speaking evil of those whom we felt hurt us.
d). We sin in the area of drink. We become guilty of sinning in the area of being involved in drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.
God has said Eph 5:17 So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit,
• What stress has come into your life because you lost control and came under the influence of alcohol or drugs and became addicted to them instead of being besotted with Jesus and filled with His Spirit.
• What has it done to your marriage, your family, your body, the physical and emotional health of those around you?
• We may say “I’m just a social drinker” but how often are you filled with wine rather than filled with the Spirit of God?
• No wonder Paul sums it up by saying for those who are showing forth that sort of lifestyle, I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
• It shows that such people are not born again of the Spirit of God and certainly not filled with His Spirit.
3. THE DECISION NEEDED TO CHANGE
What’s the answer to beginning to be different with God’s help and becoming open to more victories and more healing in our lives.
• Letting Jesus Christ to come into our lives and allowing Him to fill us with His Holy Spirit.
• What sort of life would that look like?
• What sort of characteristics might I begin to show if I did such a thing?
• Paul calls it the fruit of the Spirit , the outward evidence of the presence of Christ within us by His Spirit.
• 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
• How are you and I going to face the trials and the temptations that come our way?
• By going it alone doing our own thing in our own strength and have defeat after defeat so that we despair of life being any different.
• Or letting Jesus Christ change us and fill us with His presence so that when people look at us as changed individuals they see for the first time, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control.
• Only you can determine the decision you need to make.
If you want to be different, to live with more victories in your life, to be more open for God to heal you and to bless you, then pray to let God change you to be the person He wants you to be.
Blog No.599 posted on Sunday 02 August 2026