What Do You Do When Temptation Overwhelms You?

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Dempsey1919

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For the last month or so, I have devoted more time to prayer and the spiritual life than usual. I pray my Rosary daily, I read the Scriptures daily, I attend weekly confession, and I attend Mass a couple of times each week. I am becoming more advanced in the spiritual life and I feel very close to Jesus.

Before this, I went through a spiritual crisis. My spiritual life was dead; I didn’t pray, and I never thought about God. I received the grace to keep attending Mass every Sunday but I did not receive communion for over seven months. I was constantly in a state of mortal sin. I lived the most sinful life possible. It was an all time low for me.

Thankfully, God did not forget me and constantly gave me graces. Finally, I went to confession, renounced my sinful lifestyle, and received communion. That was about a month ago. I am really trying to live a holy life, but the closer I get to Jesus, the greater the temptations.

How do you deal with strong temptations? Never before have I experienced such strong temptations to sin. I don’t want to sin, but the temptations to commit them are overwhelming at times; so much so that I sometimes feel incapable of resisting them. My life is becoming a battle. I fight for holiness but the attacks keep coming. I find great strength in the Rosary and this helps me overcome temptations and sins; but afterwards, the temptations still remain. The Rosary gives me strength to resist the temptations but it does not get rid of them.

Are your experiences similar to mine? Did your temptations increase when you deepened your prayer life? How did you overcome them? Does your life sometimes feel like a battle?
 
Temptations are present in everyone’s life and at some points, you feel that they are all there is! Since you are trying to be holy, you are paying more attention to the temptations as you are not succumbing to them…

I have been feeling the wrath of the Evil One since I have brought the Infant Jesus statue in my home. Everyday or week there has been something new that has been happening bad. But, through this all, I can feel my faith in the Lord increasing and I think that is what the Lord has wanted for me from the very beginning. Something happened today as well, and I havent felt any anxiety at all for it. I have left it in HIS hands and have decided to continue on with the confidence that HE will take care of it for me.

For a moment there, I thought of placing the statue in a church to get it out of my house, but realised that would be just giving in to the Devil. I was tempted last night, but I was able to overcome it so easily, I was amazed. I think it was in a large part becos of the presence of the Infant Jesus statue and the power I know it has to help me and keep me safe.

Hope this helps you my friend
 
Something has helped me with temptations recently. When bad thoughts come to me, I’m reminded that the Lord doesn’t look to my thoughts but to my actions. He does not judge me so much in what I feel or think, but in what I do. With that in mind, the tempting thoughts quickly lose their power over me, because I no longer stress over them that much. I just let them come and go. I remind myself that it is my actions that will be judged, not my thoughts or feelings.

Perhaps this will help you also. Just keep doing the right thing like praying the Rosary. Even if I pray with lots of bad thoughts and distraction, I still remind myself that it is the act of praying that will be rewarded by God. He will not condemn me because of the distractions.
 
It is common for the devil to go on the attack when he sees someone going through a conversion. When you were in mortal sin and living a luke-warm life, the devil didn’t need to attack you. Remember, we have to fight the devil, the flesh, and the world. If the devil sees someone being overcome by the flesh and/or the world, he doesn’t need to attack them. He already has them.

Once you went to confession and began making real progress in the spiritual life, the devil went on the attack. The goal of the devil is to get you to give up. It is common for him to dempt to despair and scrupples. Don’t listen to him. Just keep on trying. The reason God allows the devil to attack is so you can gain merit by persevering, and show forth your faithfulness.

What should you do. The first thing is to realize that these attacks are actually a good sign. The devil is reacting because he sees you making progress. Therefore, let these attack serve as confirmation that you are on the right path (which I think you already know). What God wants from you is that your continue to do your best. Keep going to regular confession and saying the Rosary daily. Regular confession (weekly if possible) will be a great help in remaining strong, and will help you purify yourself of faults and tendencies to sin that you developed when you were luke-warm. Keep in mind that whenever you confess a sin, you receive grace to strenghten you against that particular sin (the one you confessed). You can always re-confess and since that has already been forgiven in order to gain strength in that area. After confessing your sins, you can say “I am also sorry for such and such sin that I was guilty of many times in the past”, and thereby gain extra stength in that area.

I would recommend two things: 1.) Look up The Rules for Discerning the Spirits by St. Ignatius (they’re available online). These “rules” were given to him by the Blessed Mother herself. They will help you be able to discern when the devil is attacking you. I would also recommend reading some good spiritual books daily, such as The Spiritual Combat or one of many other older spiritual books.

Let me end by saying stay strong and be encouraged. You are doing a great job which is why you are being attacked. Keep up your efforts. God is very pleased with all the efforts you’re making to live according to His will.
 
this post will be simple and short, it is what i do when i feel tempted. i say to myself “blessed are the pure of heart.” i also remind myslef that God only gives us what we can handle, so if he is allowing these temptaions it means i can handle it.
 
Dempsey1919 said:
…Are your experiences similar to mine? Did your temptations increase when you deepened your prayer life? How did you overcome them? Does your life sometimes feel like a battle?
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My experiences were quite a lot like yours. But I need to keep things in logical order before I can fight them. I have to know what I am fighting. I did this by defining for myself exactly what was occurring.

My definition of temptation for myself was: Is this some sin being presented to me for a “yes I will do it,” or “no I will not do it” answer? Would I accept the stolen money from you? Or will I reject it? Will I agree to harbor the fugitive or will I say no? Temptation is yes-no. In my life, I find that I’m not so much bothered by temptation as by lust.

Then, I had lusts. There are no offers here. No one was offering me a kingdom, no one was offering me sex, no one was offering me riches, I was just dwelling on the thoughts and desires for certain specific things I was lusting for. In my past, even when I did get what I had lusted for, it ALWAYS fell short of what I anticipated or hoped for, every time. Most of the time I just made efforts to get or to do it and fell short and did not succeed. Lust is dwelling and obsession.

I fight temptation by saying no repeatedly, and by praying. Saying no and walking away or doing something else works for me. If I say, even to myself, I can’t do that because it is a sin and would offend God, I find it very difficult to go ahead and then do that which I was tempted to do.

The lusts are much more difficult for me. I find for myself two different lusts. One is the daily “I want that this one time and it would be OK” lust. These I fight by praying over. Then there are much more serious lusts which I think are spiritually induced, and I don’t mean by the Holy Spirit! These lusts smack me in the heart like an anvil, Woooo, where did THAT come from. And they seem very powerful. When I think about them more deeply, I realize I really don’t even want that, I would never want to do that, but the lust is so strong that I obsess over it.

As you wrote, these are attacks. There is a war going on, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Constant vigilance, avoiding the near occasions of sin, prayer, running away, these are necessary until I get much stronger.

You received some really good responses here.
 
even Jesus christ while on earth was tempted by Satan but he did not give in, he rebuked satan and he was able to overcome the temptations. if Jesus the son of God was faced with temptations then we as Christians, his followers are not exceptional we will face different kinds of temptations but like Jesus we should be able to stand strong for what we believe in and satan will free from us, since we are humans we cannot do this on our own
that where prayer comes in, We should deepen our prayer life, we should always find time for prayer like Jesus, he used to go in the wilderness or mountain to pray.
we are living in the last days even satan knows that he has no time that is why he is trying to distract christians from the word of God by different kind of things ( worldly possessions), therefore we christains should also pray very hard not fall into temptation
we should ask for the Holy Spirit
 
I want to say thank you to everyone who replied to this post. Your words and encouragements really help me. I will remember you tonight when I say my prayers.
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poetryforjesus:
I remind myself that it is my actions that will be judged, not my thoughts or feelings.
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This is great advice. I need to remember this myself. Sometimes I feel guilty for thoughts that arise in my mind, when in reality, I shouldn’t worry about them. The important thing is that I fight them and do not encourage them.
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mamabear3:
this post will be simple and short, it is what i do when i feel tempted. i say to myself “blessed are the pure of heart.”
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I meditated on the Beatitudes as they are recorded in the Gospel of St. Matthew before I started this thread so your advice seems like providence. I’ll try to meditate on the Beatitudes more often and I’ll definitely repeat them when temptations arise.
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solo1959:
There is a war going on, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Constant vigilance, avoiding the near occasions of sin, prayer, running away, these are necessary until I get much stronger.
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More and more, I am realising that the Devil is a reality present in all of our lives. He attacks us frequently and we need to fight against him. As I said in the OP, I never experienced any attacks when I was living in sin. Now that I am striving to become like Christ, I actually feel his diabolical influence. To people of faith, Satan is not an academic concept but a frightful reality. I have no doubt that some who read this will scoff and think that our imaginations are responsible for all of this. However, thanks to the advice in this thread, instead of hating these temptations, I now see them as an opportunity to gain more merit. They will help me grow in holiness.
Ultima Ratio:
I would recommend two things: 1.) Look up The Rules for Discerning the Spirits by St. Ignatius (they’re available online). These “rules” were given to him by the Blessed Mother herself. They will help you be able to discern when the devil is attacking you. I would also recommend reading some good spiritual books daily, such as The Spiritual Combat or one of many other older spiritual books.
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Ultima Ratio, your post was really helpful to me. Thanks for the words of encouragement and advice. I’m going to remember your advice and I’ll definitely read both of the books you mentioned.

I was wondering if you could provide a link for the books?
 
Dempsey1919 said:
Ultima Ratio, your post was really helpful to me. Thanks for the words of encouragement and advice. I’m going to remember your advice and I’ll definitely read both of the books you mentioned.

I was wondering if you could provide a link for the books?
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Here’s a link to The Spiritual Combat. It was a favorite books of St. Francis De Sales. I have a few books of his containing letters to people he directed, and he recommended this book to other often.

Here’s a link to The Rules for Discerning the Spirits, by St. Ignatius. I know I’ve read it online, but I wasn’t able to locate the link. If you do a more thorough search, you will probably be able to locate it.
 
Dempsey1919 said:
. Are your experiences similar to mine? Did your temptations increase when you deepened your prayer life? How did you overcome them? Does your life sometimes feel like a battle?
Click to expand...
yes the pattern you describe is that related by many of the saints.
St. Benedict comes to mind, he testifies that he felt compelled at times to jump into a briar bush to overcome temptations.

the classic spiritual direction is prayer, fasting and bodily penance, and as the nun’s put it, “Don’t give the devil room to get next to you.” Occupy your time, thoughts, mind with things of God and stay away from everything and everyone who has been an occasion of sin to you in the past.
You are absolutely right, the rosary is a weapon, so is a scapular, and so is the St. Benedict medal. Not in and of themselves as objects, but their intentional use with the prayers and blessings attached. The scapular as a sign that in our conversion we literally “put on Christ” and with Christ as our garment, shield and breastplate Satan cannot get near us.

we also work on cultivating actively and intentionally the virtues, especially charity, since sin cannot live where real love resides, as John reminds us.
 
I read some good stuff on this thread. Thanks for posting.

There is one more thing that I would like to add. I know your question is in regard to what do we do once temptation has occurred, but God will help us avoid temptation in the first place. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Here is a prayer that helped to change my life:

“God, I offer myself to Thee–to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt.
Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will.
Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life.
May I do Thy will always!” Amen.
 
Dempsey1919 said:
For the last month or so, I have devoted more time to prayer and the spiritual life than usual. I pray my Rosary daily, I read the Scriptures daily, I attend weekly confession, and I attend Mass a couple of times each week. I am becoming more advanced in the spiritual life and I feel very close to Jesus.

Before this, I went through a spiritual crisis. My spiritual life was dead; I didn’t pray, and I never thought about God. I received the grace to keep attending Mass every Sunday but I did not receive communion for over seven months. I was constantly in a state of mortal sin. I lived the most sinful life possible. It was an all time low for me.

Thankfully, God did not forget me and constantly gave me graces. Finally, I went to confession, renounced my sinful lifestyle, and received communion. That was about a month ago. I am really trying to live a holy life, but the closer I get to Jesus, the greater the temptations.

How do you deal with strong temptations? Never before have I experienced such strong temptations to sin. I don’t want to sin, but the temptations to commit them are overwhelming at times; so much so that I sometimes feel incapable of resisting them. My life is becoming a battle. I fight for holiness but the attacks keep coming. I find great strength in the Rosary and this helps me overcome temptations and sins; but afterwards, the temptations still remain. The Rosary gives me strength to resist the temptations but it does not get rid of them.

Are your experiences similar to mine? Did your temptations increase when you deepened your prayer life? How did you overcome them? Does your life sometimes feel like a battle?
Click to expand...
it is normal for temptation to increase for a little while when you come closer to Christ. I like to think of it as the tendancy to sin leaving me, the way when impurities in a fire make alot of smoke and poping sounds. ride out the temptation and focus on Christ, knowing that He suffered the same for you and that you ought to suffer these purifications of teh flesh for love of Him. they will go away, stay faithful
 
What Do You Do When Temptation Overwhelms You?

I know this is short and different: but I shout at the temptation to go away and then call to God to help me… and then I leave the space/place where I’m being tempted and usually call a spiritual friend to help me.
 
Bailey2 said:
What Do You Do When Temptation Overwhelms You?

I know this is short and different: but I shout at the temptation to go away and then call to God to help me… and then I leave the space/place where I’m being tempted and usually call a spiritual friend to help me.
Click to expand...
I love this response. And it sounds like it would be very effective.
 
hey, brother. yes, i know what you mean.

it’s as though the closer you get to Christ, the angrier Satan gets, and the more darts he throws.

prayer really, really helps. prayer to the Lord Jesus helps me especially. being wholly honest with Him about the temptation and struggle, and ask His help and guidance. being prayerfully specific helps too, as does also letting go and allowing Him to help and buffer you.

it is tough! but God always gives us a way to escape temptation, and His power is always stronger then the enemy’s.
 
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