The Narrow Path Ministries

Some months ago, it occurred to me that Eve’s error in the garden of Eden was that after being confronted with an outside opinion from the tempter, she did not instantly seek a second opinion from her Father. Adam didn’t instantly seek a second opinion from his Father either. Neither of them instantly prayed at the point of decision. God was very near to them in the garden, but they did not instantly call out to Him and ask for a second opinion from Him. That was their error, and their error has been repeated throughout history. In the fullness of time, Jesus Christ broke the cycle of that error through His life of perfect communion with His Father and His resulting perfect obedience to His Father’s will.

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus (the second Adam) did the opposite of what Adam did in the garden of Eden. When Jesus was confronted with a temptation to back out of His mission (which included being tortured to death and other horrendous things that were ahead of Him), Jesus prayed. He went through agony as He was praying. However, after Jesus was done praying in the garden, His resolve to complete His mission was absolutely unwavering. It was all settled. Jesus had sought and clearly heard a second opinion from His Father, and He would obediently carry out His Father’s will.

Temptation for us is defined as hearing an incorrect opinion from the tempter. When we instantly pray to our Father at the onset of temptation, we are actively seeking and will assuredly receive a second opinion from our Father. Thereby, we will not fall, and we will do our Father‘s will.

During His life, Jesus deeply communed with His Father. It was extraordinarily deep communion, perhaps beyond our comprehension. That deep communion is why Jesus never disobeyed his Father’s will. He never fell when He was tempted. He remained sinless.

Jesus instructed His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane to watch and pray so that they would not enter into temptation. Jesus wanted his disciples to clearly hear a second opinion from their Heavenly Father in all upcoming temptations, as Jesus Himself had always heard from His Heavenly Father. Through their prayers, Jesus knew that His disciples would hear from their Father and thereby not enter into temptation and thereby accomplish their Father’s will.

We are instructed to pray without ceasing. Practically speaking, I think this is what that means for us:

If I am tempted to hate, I must instantly talk with my Father about it and get a second opinion from Him. His opinion (His Word in my heart) will always be that I should love rather than hate, so I must instantly pray that my Father do only good, saving kinds of things for the person that I am tempted to hate. Instantly praying for the person will turn the temptation completely around; and it will be my Father’s will that is done, to His glory.

If I am tempted to lust after a person, I must instantly talk with my Father about it and get a second opinion from Him. His opinion (His Word in my heart) will always be that I should love rather than lust, so I must instantly pray that my Father do only good, saving kinds of things for the person that I am tempted to lust after. Instantly praying for the person will turn the temptation completely around; and it will be my Father’s will that is done, to His glory.

If I am tempted to judge a person or gossip about a person, I must instantly talk with my Father about it and get a second opinion from Him. His opinion (His Word in my heart) will always be that I should love instead of judge or gossip, so I must instantly pray that my Father do only good, saving kinds of things for the person that I am tempted to judge or gossip about. Instantly praying for the person will turn the temptation completely around, and it will be my Father’s will that is done, to His glory.

Jesus was sinless, because He actively sought his Father’s will through prayer. He always obeyed what His Father told Him to do. His communion with His Father was perfect.

Let us pray constantly, so that we will accomplish our Father’s will. Jesus Christ has opened the way for all of us who know Him to do that. Amen.

Hi Ralph,

An interesting post. Perhaps easier said than done(!?)

A while ago I made a time lapse clip for youtube, excerpting from a Charles Spurgeon sermon on 1 Thess 5:17: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3lckl2K0ck
It might run parallel to what you have written here (though his phrase "heaven`s door does not open to every knock" might run counter to the expectation that we can always hope for an instant second opinion?)

Ian,

Thank you for writing. When I go to the public library soon, I will watch your video clip that you cited above (my dial-up internet connection at home is too slow for audio and video).

I envision Christians in all ages enduring and triumphing over unimaginable persecutions and hardships within thoroughly-depraved societies only by praying constantly. I believe that Jesus and the apostles triumphed in their missions only by praying constantly.

If we consistently deal with our personal temptations by instantly praying for God’s goodness to be poured out upon other people, then the temptations are not at all burdensome for us but instead are just additional opportunities for us to pray for other people. In that way, the tempter loses, and everybody else wins, to God’s glory. It is the only way I want to live. I believe it is God’s desire that all of our temptations be turned completely around by us instantly praying for others, to His glory.

If we consistently deal with our personal temptations by instantly praying for God’s goodness to be poured out upon other people, then the temptations are not at all burdensome for us but instead are just additional opportunities for us to pray for other people. In that way, the tempter loses, and everybody else wins, to God’s glory. It is the only way I want to live. I believe it is God’s desire that all of our temptations be turned completely around by us instantly praying for others, to His glory

A fresh perspective on dealing with temptation, and resonates well with me, Ralph!

Here are some verses about selflessness and some verses about temptation:

Matthew 22 (RSV):
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”

Mark 12 (RSV):
28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Luke 10 (RSV):
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.”

James 4 (RSV):
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

1 Corinthians 10 (RSV):
12 Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Some months ago, it occurred to me that Eve’s error in the garden of Eden was that after being confronted with an outside opinion from the tempter, she did not instantly seek a second opinion from her Father.

Eve did not need a second opinion. She already knew God's opinion.

SamIam wrote:Eve did not need a second opinion. She already knew God's opinion.

im pretty sure ralph's emphasis is how niether adam or eve prayed God's guidance at the moment they most needed to...

SamIam,

In the wilderness, Jesus three times heard an opinion from the tempter, and three times He responded by giving a second opinion to the tempter. In each case, the second opinion that Jesus gave the tempter came from His Father’s Word that was in His heart.

I believe that Jesus was in deep communion with His Father in the desert, as He always was at other times; so Jesus also had direct wisdom from His Father available to Him. I believe that Jesus knew the right thing to say to the tempter because His Father was helping Him. It was Jesus’ continual communion with His Father that gave Him the wisdom to triumph in His life’s mission.

When we are tempted, we hear the tempter’s opinion. Like Jesus, we need to have a second opinion to counter the opinion that we hear from the tempter. That second opinion often comes from God’s Word that has been stored in our hearts. In some cases, we do not already have God’s opinion stored in our hearts, and we need to seek it. When we humbly submit ourselves to God and ask for His opinion, I believe God will somehow give us His opinion if we do not already have it stored in our hearts.

As you wrote, Eve already knew God’s opinion. However, I think she had received it indirectly, from Adam. Moreover, Eve’s understanding of God’s opinion was not exactly as God had spoken it to Adam; it was somewhat embellished, for reasons unknown to me.

[For your further pondering, these ideas about Adam and Eve are more thoroughly developed in the thread, “Pondering the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden”.]

That indirectly-received information from Adam was not equivalent to what Eve could have heard from God directly at the moment of temptation, if she had been able to cry out to her Father for His strength. There is no indication that she ever did cry out. I think she did not understand how weak and needy she was. The same can be said of Adam. They had never yet succumbed to temptation, so they did not experientially know their weakness and neediness.

But we who understand how weak and needy we are must cry out to our Father for His wisdom and strength.

If Eve had been able to call out to her Father to get His wisdom and strength at the moment of temptation, I think she would have responded differently to the temptation.

That is the lesson each of us must eventually learn.

Even though I know what God’s Word says, I might still yield to a temptation. But if I submit myself to my Father at the moment of temptation, He will strengthen me so that I can take the way of escape that He promises to provide.

I believe a sure way of escape for us is to instantly pray for other people at the moment of temptation. It is a selfless act. The tempter loses, and everybody else wins, to God’s glory.

King David had God’s Word in his heart, but he yielded to temptations that wrecked his family and many other people. I think His error was that He did not humble himself and ask for God’s strength at the moment of temptation. He yielded to selfishness. If he had prayed for God’s goodness to be bountifully poured out upon Bathsheba and Uriah at the moment of his temptation, I think everyone involved would have fared exceedingly better.

The same is true for us.

Thank you for writing.

It seems to me when we are tempted, our problem is not one of ignorance. I'm pretty sure Eve understood perfectly well that God did not want her to eat the fruit.

You are working very hard to press this "second opinion" idea into the text.

When we are tempted we likely already know God's opinion on the matter, otherwise we would not recognize it as a temptation.

The problem is weakness, not ignorance.

ralph, if i am misrepresenting the thrust (so to speak) of what you're saying, please correct me. but, samiam, i think you're mistaking ralph's intention here. i don't think ralph is offering a primary interpretation of the story, but rather peeling away another layer of a spiritual application we might learn from it. he's focusing more on prayer to God in the midst of temptation and trial(which becomes the springboard as it were). isn't in these times that our ignorance and weakness manifest together? or maybe, couldn't our weakness cause us to be willingly ignorant of God's will?, if possible pleasure is all we seek in that time of weakness.

Ralph wrote: If he had prayed for God’s goodness to be bountifully poured out upon Bathsheba and Uriah at the moment of his temptation,

this sentence was what made me see what ralph is communicating. again, ralph, if i got you wrong...sorry.

grace and peace,
jeremiah