"Settled Ahead of Time"

"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." Daniel 1:8

The time to decide not to give into temptation is not while you are in the temptation, but before it ever comes. Daniel did not wait until he was faced with the temptation to break God's commands to decide not to, he had already settled it in his heart before the temptation actually came. Daniel could have let the fact that he was a captive, the acceptance of certain practices by the culture that he was now a part of, the fact that he was "on his own" with no parents to tell him what to do influence him in the time of temptation. But he did not because he had already made up his mind not to defile himself or disobey God. He had already decided not to allow anything or anyone to influence him to give in and sin against God.

If you wait until you are in the middle of the temptation (whatever it may be) to decide what you will do, you will more than likely give in to the temptation. You have to settle it before it even comes your way. Jesus won the victory at the cross because He had settled it in His heart before He came to it. He made the decision in the Garden when He said, "Nevertheless, not My will but Thine"-- so He stayed on course and endured the cross.

Today you need to start making some choices and settling some things in your heart before you are ever tempted by them. If you will make the decision now not to compromise God's word and keep His commandments, it will keep you in the hour of temptation and you will make the right choice then.

Have a great day. The time to resist the temptation is before you even get to it by settling it in your heart ahead of time.

For further reading:
Matthew 26:39
James 4:7
Psalm 101:3
Genesis 39:7-12

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell
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