Overcoming temptations

By Ivan Ho    31 Mar 2026

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Genesis 3:1-6

Genesis 3:1-6 is the historical account about the fall of Adam and Eve, the story of how the devil tempted man into sin against God.

Jesus was also tempted by the devil in the wilderness but the way He responded to the devil was completely opposite to the way Eve responded to the deceiver. When the devil tempted Jesus, he quoted the bible because satan knew what was written in the scriptures. The devil has been studying the bible for thousands of years and knows clearly what God says in His words, perhaps more knowledgeable than a lot of Christians, but the evil one is neither submitted to God nor to His words.

When satan tempted Eve, he did not quote from the scriptures which had yet been written but he misquoted the spoken word of God delivered to Eve by her husband Adam.

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat:
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die“. (Gen 2:16-17)

The devil approached Eve and engaged in a conversation with her: “Has God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

First of all, God never said they must not eat of every tree of the garden. Rather, God gave Adam and Eve the freedom to eat from every tree of the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Right there, red flag should had been raised, and Eve could have left the devil and went to her husband, but instead, she engaged herself in some sort of theological discussion with the crafty serpent. Know that people the devil uses aren’t usually heathens who don’t know God but rather, people who do have some knowledge of the word of God, people who may have been mingling around in the church environment. The devil was free to roam around in the garden of Eden and his agents are also free to sneak around in people’s homes, workplaces and surprise, surprise, in churches today. There are no signs outside the church doors saying: “people under demonic influence are not allowed to enter”.

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, or else you die’ ” (Gen 3:2-3)

That’s not exactly what God said but Eve was right, they were allowed to eat from all the trees except the one in the midst of the garden i.e. the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Perhaps she was thinking: “If I never touched the forbidden tree, I would never eat from it”. That’s where people tend to put themselves in positions of vulnerability to commit sin, and sin is simply disobedience against God’s words. They reason that if they refrain from touching certain things or certain areas in life, they are safe from sins. We think that if we set some rules around certain activities, we are safe to engage in those activities that God forbids. This is how man try not to sin: by abstainance, by avoidance, by setting certain rules. Little do we know, temptations begin in our minds and the devil targets to change our mindsets in subtle ways. If our minds aren’t set on Christ and His words, we can be easily swayed no matter what rules we try to abide.

And the serpent said unto the woman, “You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes will be opened, and you will be as gods, knowing good and evil“. (Genesis 3:5)

The devil suggested to Eve, “It’s okay, you won’t surely die, God understands. As a matter of fact, if you eat of it, you will attain enlightenment, you will be like gods”. This in fact is how the new age spiritists and eastern philosophies appeal to mankind.

God may have words delivered to you and I, be it written words in the bible or prophetic words spoken to us through various ways. The devil’s tactics is to convince us to reinterpret His words, thereby tempt us into taking alternative paths, thinking that we are still following God. People like Eve, king Saul etc. were biblical examples of how man would compromise in disobeying the words of God and justify themselves in doing so. People may not blatantly go against the word of God, nevertheless they disobey God by departing from the original contents of His words.

At this point, Eve’s mind had been swayed and deceptions had already taken root in her heart. That’s when sin was formed in her mind before she actually committed the act.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Gen 3:6)

There are few key words in the above scriptures that reveal the heart conditions of Eve that would lead to her downfall.

1. Good 
Hebrew tobe
Good, the good, goods or good things, good men or women; beautiful, best, better, bountiful, cheerful, at ease, fair (word), (be in) favour, fine, glad, good, graciously, joyful, kindly, kindness, liketh (best), loving, merry, most, pleasant, + pleaseth, pleasure, precious, prosperity, ready, sweet, wealth, welfare, (be) well (favoured).

2. Pleasant (to the eyes)
Hebrew tah-av-aw’
A longing; by implication a delight (subjectively satisfaction, objectively a charm): – dainty, desire, exceedingly, greedily, lust, pleasant.

3. Desire (to make one wise)
Hebrew khaw-mad’
To delight in: – beauty, greatly beloved, covet, delectable thing, (great) delight, desire, goodly, lust, (be) pleasant (thing), precious (thing).

None of the meanings of the abovementioned words are negative. The devil never tempts us with things or people who look bad, unpleasant, repugnant, undesirable, or else we would run away. Instead, their words always sound good, pleasing, appealing, beautiful, desirable, motivational, full of human intelligence, but deep down they deviate from the original words of God.

Eve saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, desirable to make one wise, and she ate the fruit that was forbidden by God. She then began to spread her version of the contaminated “gospel” to her husband who was with her, and he ate also. That was how sin entered into mankind and how we all fall in the same manner.

Everyone of us have been tempted in life one way or another, but temptations do not have to lead to sin. When we do fall into sins through temptations, however, we cannot blame God. The bible tells us that we are drawn away by our own lusts and enticed by words that originate from the devil. God allows temptations to come to test our faith so that when we overcome, we will receive the crown of life. Jesus has shown us how to overcome temptations. When our Lord was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, He quoted the written word of God and rebuked the devil, and the devil departed from him. We must not entertain the devil like Eve did and must resist him with the word of God.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.  James 1: 13-15

 

Dealing with temptations

An alcoholic may say to himself: “If I don’t walk pass any pubs or liquor stores, I will never end up getting drunk”. Or another person may think: “If I refrain from French kiss, I won’t end up having sex (with someone outside of marriage)”.  Mind you, you don’t have to be a born again believer filled with the Spirit of God to make those resolutions. Anyone can apply these self imposed rules to avoid getting into “mischevious behaviours”. These measures may work for a while, but unless we draw near to Christ and allow Him to deal with our sinful nature, we will succumb to temptations when the opportunity presents itself. Buddhist monks may try to escape from the affairs of the world to live seclusive lives in temples, but their minds have not been redeemed and their sinful natures have not been dealt with by the blood of Jesus. They are still sinful people in need of salvation that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

Unless we are convinced by God Himself not to do certain things, not to be with certain people, not to be at certain places, we aren’t refraining from these activities out of our love and obedience to God, we are simply following some self imposed rules. These rules will be bent and compromised when temptations come. We need to come to the realisation that certain things are called sins not because we think they are sinful behaviours but because God in His words say so. The devil’s schemes is to attempt to convince us that what God called sins are just matters of perspectives. He said to Eve: “Did God say…?”. If satan can successfully convince a person to redefine the word of God, that God never says certain areas of behaviours are sinful, that person has already fallen into demonic temptations.

There are no such thing as temptation free zones, even if one tries to shut himself from the rest of the world. Jesus was tempted by the devil after he had been fasting and praying by Himself in the wilderness for 40 days. The difference between us and Jesus is: our Lord never sinned despite being tempted. The purpose of His fasting wasn’t to avoid temptations but to draw near to His heavenly Father.

If we want to overcome temptations, first and foremost we must draw near to God and through Christ we can resist any temptations. The issue isn’t about dealing with temptations but allowing God to deal with our hearts.

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4: 7-8

 

People tend to think: “If I avoid doing this, or walk away from that, I will avoid falling into temptations”. It would work only if God told us to do so, otherwise we are deceiving ourselves by self denial behaviours. Jesus says: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me“. Matthew 16:24

If one only does the first part of self denial without at the same time following Jesus, he isn’t His disciple.

The key to overcome temptations is to walk in the Spirit and follow Christ. As disciples of Jesus, we are not simply trying to follow a set of rules or codes of conduct but rather, we are following a living God. To follow Jesus is to follow His words, His way and His will.

The bible says: Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)

Forgiveness from our sins

The first thing we need to acknowledge is the fact that we are all sinners before God in need of forgiveness and redemption. Even though we have fallen into all kinds of temptations and sinned against God, there is forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ.

Thank God,  despite the sins of Adam and Eve which led to their death and judgement, He did not walk away from them. Right in the beginning, in His love and mercy, God has paved the way of salvation which was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ who paid the ransom for our sins by His death on the cross. By His resurrection, our sins are totally forgiven, not by anything that we do, but by what Jesus did on the cross! By God’s grace and through faith in Jesus, though we die, we will enter into the kingdom of God to be in the eternal presence of our Lord.