How can we recognize when we are weak and susceptible to temptation? And how can we prepare ourselves ahead of time?
HALT! Watch out when you are any of these:
- Hungry
- Angry
- Lonely
- Tired
When we're hungry, angry, lonely, or tired we are more likely to give into temptation. I'm sure you can think of times when this has happened to you. I know it has for me.
When was Jesus tempted? Matthew 4:1-11. While Jesus was in the wilderness and hadn't eaten for 40 days/nights he was tempted by the devil. Jesus was most likely tired from being out in the wilderness for that long and definitely hungry from not eating. Jesus could have been lonely too, but the scriptures don't say anything about that. We know Jesus passed all the temptations thrown at him, but we usually don't.
With this in mind we can set our minds ahead of time on what we are going to do when the situation arises.
Hungry? Eat something. No food? Pray.
Angry? Forgive, give thanks for what you have, pray.
Lonely? Call a friend, go visit someone or look for someone in need.
Tired? Take a nap or go to bed.
I'm still in pre-race mode, but I can already foresee when I will be hungry, angry, lonely, and tired while on the race. I'm setting my mind ahead of time to be aware of these situations, so that when temptation comes I will be prepared. It's a lot easier to set my mind on what I'll do ahead of time instead of waiting until I'm in the moment and my thoughts are all jumbled!
It's like muscle memory.
By the way, I didn't come up with the HALT acronym….I heard someone on the radio talking about it and thought I'd pass it along 😀
