When we receive the life of God in our spirit, we also receive a birthright, it is the legal aspect of so great a salvation. To inherit the blessing of the birthright or our privileges in Christ we must learn how to begin to appropriate our inheritance by walking in the spirit.
When we learn how to walk in the spirit, we will never fulfill the lust of the flesh, this speaks of a maturity where we are led by the Spirit. Where we grow up in the Lord and put away childish things. We lose our life (soul) in this world and keep it unto eternal life.
Until we reach a place of maturity where we are literally driven by the Lord, we must deal with temptation. All temptations deal with this present world.
Unless we have a vision of our destiny in the Lord to be the bride of Christ seated upon the throne with Jesus Christ and press toward the mark of this high calling counting the cost of walking with God we will not be willing to enter into the sufferings of Christ or the requirements necessary, the depriving of ourselves in order to inherit the throne to become functional kings and priests unto God.
It is not the will of God that we be tempted, nor does he lead us into temptation. The reason we are tempted is because we get our eyes on this present world (the passing scene). Temptation results from the lack of proper focus so that we get our eyes on the objective of the moment.
Unless we learn how to break this focus, it will persist until we are focused on satisfying the desire of the moment or getting rid of the pressure that comes against us by yielding to it.
We see a picture of temptation in the Garden of Eden. Eve was deceived and Adam willingly yielded to it because they did not see the overall picture. Deception came because Eve became focused on the fruit and suddenly everything else seemed as if it was of no consequence or importance.
We are tempted because of a lack of perspective; our focus is not set upon what is important, but the desire or pressure of the moment.
Deception comes because the eyes of our spirit get blurred and out of focus, our spiritual eyes become bad no longer single. The deceptive thing becomes magnified out of proportion, and we see it out of context. This is when it can become something very desirable to us.
Satan is the tempter, usually if we are being tempted evil spirits are involved.
James 1: 12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
When we lose sight of the heavenly vision, the overall picture, the circumstances of the moment can become very discouraging.
Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him. He was able to picture what it would be like to redeem us from our sins. Like Jesus we endure the cross for the joy set before us.
Our focus must be continually set on the things the Lord sets before us, or in a moment of weakness we will abandon the thing that God intends for us to do. We despise our birthright and forfeit the blessing.
This is what happened to Esau, his birthright was a thing of the future, not something he could enjoy for the moment. He sold his birthright for a single meal. His appetite overwhelmed him. He did not see the overall picture.
Esau was an immoral person and a fornicator, godless in the sense that he did care enough for what God wanted but was more concerned about pleasing his flesh.
Jacob on the other hand, even though he could not be trusted until the Lord crippled him and changed his name, never lost sight of the goal. There was one thing that he wanted, and he was willing to lie and deceive his own father to get it. He wanted the blessing of the birthright.
To keep the right perspective, we have to keep the larger picture in mind, we need a mind set. Once we lose sight of the prize of the mark of the high calling, the circumstances of the moment steal our courage to press on.
If we are focused on the sufferings of the moment, we will not be able to rise above them. When we are focused on the Lord, we are able to draw the necessary strength to keep on the straight path.
If we suffer with him, we will also reign with him. Unless this becomes the focus of our heart, we will not enter the full measure of sufferings, the requirements of denying oneself and taking up our cross in order to inherit what God wants us to have.
We inherit the promises of God through faith and patience. Patience is the necessary quality to endure the cross for the joy set before us. The faithful will enter the joy of the Lord, the rest will suffer loss.
If we desire to be a manifested son of God, the bride of Christ we cannot despise our birthright. When we chose to yield to the flesh, instead of suffering in the flesh we have lost our perspective (a objective assessment of a situation, giving it prime importance). It is not because our spirit is not willing; it is not because we lack power.
Temptation results from a lack of focus that draws the strength of the Lord. It is a lack of proper focus on the one thing that is really important, so that something else looms up to be important to us when in reality it is not at all.
In a walk with God, there are times that our soul is being tried very much. The enemy will do everything he can to get our focus off the goal, and to focus on a way out of the present trial.
Satan has a way out, just like the Lord. Satan’s way out is to give up, to yield to the temptation or the pressure of the moment. God’s way out is by offering Himself to us, so that we can appropriate more of him, lifting us out of the realm of temptation. God cannot be tempted; temptation reveals an area of our lives not like Him.
When our one desire is to please the Lord, we are going to be misunderstood. In serving the Lord we serve others on His terms. When we are not appreciated and there is no gratitude, will we accept this as preparation to be kings and priests, this is a constant test. Are we a man pleaser or a God pleaser?
We are in the world but not of the world, we cannot think as the world thinks or even allow a self-indulgent thought. We must do the will of God and do it with all our heart. There are a lot of things we are called to do, that we hesitate to do, because of the weakness of the flesh.
Temptations come not because of intense desire, but because the desires of the flesh become more important for the moment, than the desires of the spirit. We can desire after the things of God and the next moment be drawn after the flesh because the two natures coexist. We have a human nature (soul) and a divine nature (spirit).
It is only when we intensely hunger and thirst after the Lord where we have a meeting with Him that we have the proper perspective that takes our focus off the present, passing feelings and emotions of the flesh.
It is when we are caught up in the presence of the Lord, where we think God’s thoughts with Him and feel what He is feeling that we have the proper perspective and attitude toward the flesh. When we are communing with the Lord, we become totally unaware of the circumstances.
Joseph had seen a great vision and never lost sight of the overall picture; this enabled him to flee from the temptation of Potiphar’s wife. This is why it is so important to have a real vision and revelation from the Lord. We are tempted when we lose our vision, when the things of the Lord fade out of the picture.
The birthright belongs to those who not only see the vision of it but persevere in it. The passing scene is not important. We need to hear the kind of word which builds a picture in us, to live for something beyond just today.
Heb6: 10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
We need the full assurance of Hope that comes when our eye becomes single, where we are no longer focused in many directions, but have a steadfast focus upon the Lord where we are continually filled with His Spirit.
After all the things that Paul had suffered for the name of the Lord, He told King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the Heavenly vision; nothing could distract Him from the goal.