How can I resist temptation?

Short answer

Temptation itself is not sin, and God never lets it grow beyond what you can bear. Resist it by staying close to God: watch and pray, submit to Him, stand against the devil, answer with Scripture and take the way out God provides.

Everyone is tempted, including those who have followed Christ for many years. Temptation is the pull toward doing wrong, a thought or a desire that invites us to leave God’s way. The Bible does not treat this as a reason for despair. It tells us where temptation comes from, what God promises in it and what we can do.

Jesus understands your temptation

We do not face temptation alone, because the Son of God has faced it too:

For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:15 · King James Version (1769)

William MacDonald writes that no one can truly sympathize with another who has not been through something similar, and Christ as a man went through all that we do, though He cannot sympathize with sin because He never sinned. MacArthur adds that Jesus could be tempted, as in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11), but He could not sin. Matthew Henry draws a comfort from this: temptations that we do not give in to are not sins, only trials.

So being tempted is not proof that you are far from God. What matters is what we do with it. The same passage invites us to come to the throne of grace to find mercy and help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Temptation does not come from God

It helps to know the source of the problem. James writes:

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.
Jas 1:13–15 · King James Version (1769)

MacArthur explains that God allows trials, but a trial becomes temptation when we answer it with doubt and disobedience. He notes that James uses the picture of hunting: desire is the bait that draws us into the trap. The New Geneva Study Bible distinguishes between testing and tempting: God tests people but never tempts them to sin, and Jesus in the wilderness was tested by God and tempted by Satan. MacDonald adds that we like to put the blame elsewhere, but sin starts in our own hearts, and we are responsible for it.

This is good news in one way. If temptation grows from our own desires, then we can learn to notice them, name them and bring them to God early. Matthew Henry advises us to stop sin at its beginnings, before it grows.

God sets limits and provides a way out

When temptation feels overwhelming, remember this promise:

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
1 Cor 10:13 · King James Version (1769)

MacDonald points out that God does not promise to free us from temptation, but to limit its strength and to give relief so that we can bear it. The New Geneva Study Bible draws a serious conclusion: since God never allows more than we can bear, sin is never unavoidable for a believer. Matthew Henry notes that God is wise as well as faithful, and He will deliver us either from the trial or at least from its harm. The way out is real, but we have to take it. In practice it may mean leaving the room, closing the page, calling a friend or changing the plan for the evening.

What to do when temptation comes

Jesus gave His disciples a simple instruction in Gethsemane:

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Matt 26:41 · King James Version (1769)

Adam Clarke explains that watching means not being taken by surprise, and praying means being able to bear the trial when it comes. MacDonald notes how often we sleep better than we pray. We need to ask for help before temptation, not only when it has already caught us.

James adds two steps:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Jas 4:7 · King James Version (1769)

MacArthur says that “submit” is a military word used of a soldier under his commander’s authority: it means placing yourself willingly under God. The second step is to stand against the devil. MacDonald says we do this by closing our ears and hearts to his offers and using Scripture as the sword of the Spirit, and the New Geneva Study Bible says Satan is powerful but not invincible. Jesus did exactly this in the desert: He answered every temptation with what is written, as Matthew Henry points out.

If you fall, do not hide from God. Go back to Him, to the throne of grace, where, as Henry notes, there is mercy to pardon and grace to purify. Resisting temptation is not about being strong in yourself. It is about turning to the One who was tempted as we are, and who stays with us in every trial.