#607 Praying With Temptation: The 3-Simple Morning Solution To Combat Evil Changes Everything

For those of you who don't know Padre Pio , he had this stigma on . It's amazing . It's a true story , coming from my dad , from the war . So , anyways , this morning I want to talk about praying with temptation . Praying with temptation is so important .

Quick note , just in case you haven't been on here for a while or you're new to the show and you just caught us in between this is Claymore Miletus Christi . These are young men that I've been meeting for a long time now that are waking up and saying you know , something's wrong .

They feel this opposing force in the world between truth and lies , between good and evil , between beauty and everything that wants to profane beauty , and they have a sense of this . Something's wrong with that toxic culture and they're standing up . Right . They voted for Donald Trump . Donald Trump's not Jesus , donald Trump's not our savior .

But he came into the battle and you saw something in his heart that something has to change and it always starts on a battlefield of the human heart . This is really two opposing forces .

Since the beginning of time History , I should say man's history right in the garden of Eden , right at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil , we're tempted , we turn away from God and we turn toward evil . So this is temptation . This is what I want to talk about today Praying with temptation . It's so important . So I'm going to get to the chase .

You know , just go back . For those of you who are new , go back into our podcast . Look for Claymore , the introductory episode , some of those first episodes . You'll have the idea . But this Claymore Battle Plan . Go to our website , jp2reneworg . Go to resources at the top , go down and once you're on resources , go down to Claymore .

You'll see that sword behind me , that big sword , and it's in red . You can't miss it . Click on that and then go underneath . You can click on the Claymore battle plan . This is how a young man gets his heart back .

This is how we start to understand what's going on in the culture marriages , family , sexuality , all those things and then what we can do to save our nation . Otherwise we won't have a nation . The good news is we know , as men , that we're made for this .

We're made for adventure , battle , beauty , love and all of those things , and that battle starts in the heart . So let me get to the chase Part of this battle plan for Claymore . It talks about five aspects to the formation as soldiers of Christ . What does that mean ?

That means that we have to be able to step into the story , understand what's going on in our heart , understand what's going on in the culture , understand the battles that are going on and make it clear , because once a man understands the battle , then he knows what he's fighting for . And the first thing we got to get back is our own hearts .

So if you look at the battle plan if you have this printed out , it would be on page four it's five aspects to Claymore formation as soldiers of Christ . Now , the number one is spiritual formation . This is your own heart . This is to get back your own heart , and you'll read in the battle plan what's going on in the human heart .

But let me read you just a little piece of this Spiritual formation , starting here , and there's just these three easy things to do in the morning . I love it and this is what we're going to be talking about today . But just a quick overview .

Fought on a battlefield of the individual heart , where a fallen world has rendered man , body and soul to the default position of sin and death . We're a body and a soul . You take out grace , you take out God , you take out the source of life and love and you're looking at sin and death . That's just a practical reality .

Let's say you say , well , I'm an atheist . Well then you're looking at sin and death . I mean , that's it . There's no answer to that . Of course , that's not enough . The reason you woke up is because , ooh , there's got to be something more to this right .

So a spiritual formation is the path to redemption and grace , restoring the original formula from the beginning body , soul , filled with divine life and love , filled with what we call grace . Grace is the participation in the life of God himself . It fills us . And how do I know this ? Because you walk into the story and you feel the power .

See , jesus didn't come in for sin management , he came in with power . You will encounter this . We've talked about this already , so I'm going to keep moving on here .

So that gives us , then , this grace with body and soul gives us the potential for human freedom from porn and anxiety and all these different things , gives us the potential for human flourishing , to find authentic love in our life , to be a person of love , to be a gift , not just to take and take and take , but to be a person that gives and is a man to

protect women , protect children , et cetera . And so this potential then has to be efficacious , to make it efficacious in my free will . I'm given free will , so I have to choose now . So right , body , soul plus grace is the potential for human freedom , the potential for human flourishing . But now I have free will , I have to decide . This is a cool thing .

I step up to the plate now as a man and I choose what . I choose the good . When your conscience is working right , when you're opening your heart up , you're opening to the good . And then here's what happens I choose the good , I start to do good , I become good , I am good .

Ooh , anxiety comes down , you feel a joy and a peace there , right , because only God is good . You're getting that divine grace back into your heart . Or I choose evil . I walk away from the good again . I do evil , I become evil , I am evil .

And that's what you see out in the world , this crazy world people that have chosen to come back into redemption , into that grace , and those that have rejected it . And that's what you see all around us and the wars and the pandemics , and the lies and the cheating going on . And this is where Trump comes in , because Trump sees this all coming down .

He's not a perfect person , not all coming down . He's not a perfect person . Not a perfect person . He's not Jesus Christ , right , but he has the guts to stand up and push . And that's what we want . We're not perfect people , but we want to play our role in stepping up and doing what , doing the good . So here's what happens . Three simple morning solution .

I call it Three simple morning solution to combat evil . Look at get down on your knees before you look at that phone . I was looking for my phone just to hold it up for , just for a visual , but anyways , before you look at that phone in the morning and it can be hard to do , you got a habit of getting up .

Now I do look at it because the alarm sometimes goes off . Most of the time I'm up way before the alarm right . So that's okay . Turn off the alarm , but then put it back down . I go right to my knees and there the first thing I do , I kneel with our blessed mother , your blessed mother , and I say let it be done to me according to your word .

This is from Luke's gospel , chapter one , verses 34 , 38 . This is our blessed mother , a young Jewish girl . You know the . The angel Gabriel comes upon her and says look at , the savior's coming into the world now and he's coming in through your body . He's going to come into a , into a family .

And so she says yes , and I won't get further into that , but that's what we want to do . We want to kneel with our Blessed Mother in the morning . Picture her visual kneeling next to you and say Blessed Mother , help me Open up just a small heart for your son . And then let it be done to me according to your word . What are you doing ?

You're opening up in prayer and saying with our Blessed Mother to help us open up to that grace and receive it . Now , the second thing that happens and this is the emphasis today temptation is not a sin . Once you stand up , you know we're tempted anyways , but once you really stand up .

You know , gk Chesterton would say you know you , really , if you're just floating downstream , you don't even hardly notice it . It's when you stand up , you try to get your heart back .

Then you feel , you feel those forces coming at you , and these temptations will come at you there's no doubt about it , maybe more than you've ever had in your life , because you're really recognizing them , and there's attack . There's a spiritual attack , there's a spiritual component about this , right . So temptation , though , is not a sin . Jesus himself was tempted .

This is very important to a man . This might be the most important thing that you'll ever learn in your whole life . Why ? Because we're full of passions and desires and we're supposed to be See in a horizontal world . Without this grace , right , without this vertical piece , then what do we do ?

If we try to be good , right , we try to stuff these desires down . We think , oh , I shouldn't have these desires . Or I look at this girl and , oh , I start to lust after her . And so we try to push it down . Or what happens ?

You push it down long enough , you get hungry , right , it's like the starvation diet , like you haven't eaten for a couple of days . And then what happens ? The marketers and everybody , the forces of evil , coming at you and say I know what you're looking for . Watch a little porn . Imagine this girl in your mind and blah , blah . Watching a little porn .

Imagine this girl in your mind and blah , blah , blah , blah , blah . Right , so you go in this cycle , don't you ? You're trying to be good , boom , indulge , try to be good , and it's just a sick repetition . It's these addictions that we get into . This is the third way . This is taking that temptation , not stuffing it down .

God gave you those passions and desires but to see it in 3D , to open it up . So in 3D , what do we know ? We know those desires have been put into our heart by design to lead us to our destiny . Those desires , this power , can be opened up . It will actually lead you where you want to go . So this is the most important thing you can learn .

So temptation is not a sin . So we use every invitation as an invitation to prayer . Every time I'm tempted , in my head , my mind , I see something , I think even lack of courage . There's times I'm speaking and you get attacked by this or that and you say , oh man , I don't want to go out tonight , I'm tired and I got to go talk again or whatever .

You got to have courage and you got to have fortitude , you got to have perseverance . Well , where do you get that from ? I don't have that in me . So I open myself up . Even that's a temptation , right ? So I say you know , god , give me what I need to get through this day . Give us this day our daily bread .

But lust lust is something that we all deal with as men , and that's okay , Long as we understand it and long as we want to do something about it . And what do we do about it ? We open it up to God because it actually lifts us . It's hard , it's like rocket fuel . It lifts us to the destiny where we need to go .

So we want to use that power that God gave us , this passion and desires for femininity , masculinity , our sexual desires , et cetera . That's what I want to focus on today , because that's erosa , and we have to open those up . And once we open up to the source of divine life and love , we're filled . And now we can go around the world and see a woman .

Maybe it's the one I'm going to marry , maybe the one I'm married to , or maybe I'm looking right , but even so , we're always going to be lifting our hearts up and filling it with prayer . It's amazing what it'll do to your heart . But this is the battle . That's why I got a sword back there . John Paul would say this is the battlefield of the heart .

So a friend of mine is a Catholic priest and he wrote , praying with Temptation , this prayer , and I want to just pray this with you and then in the morning you can print this out . Very important Again , if you go to Claymore , same thing . Click on that . You can download the battle plan . If you scroll down a little bit , there's two other links on there .

One is Praying with Temptations . So we're going to pull that off and look at it and then you can print that off . Maybe you want to say it for a while in the morning . So I'm going to pray it with you . I'm going to pray it with you right now . So let's pretend we're on our knees right now . We've opened our hearts up with our Blessed Mother .

Let it be done to me according to your word . Then we meditate on these temptations coming at us , maybe that we had yesterday , maybe we're having now , but even in general , and I want to say this prayer in the morning . Now I'm just offering up most of the time . Just ooh , this came into my mind , that came into my mind . Take this from me .

That might be enough for you , but it's good to understand what's going on underneath and the actual prayer is really beautiful . So praying with temptations right , this is what you may want to do in the morning for a while .

Have this printed right by your bed , and then the third thing , just so you know is to get up and love the next person you see with authentic love , and it's using this divine grace that we're connected to and seeing that person as God sees them . It's a battle Won't happen overnight . Are you ready ? There are temptations that assail me all the time .

I feel like giving up . I'm never going to escape their grip . Have you ever had these thoughts , such as these ? As you try to live this out , father asks as you're trying to live out your faith , as you're trying to step into this battle plan , does it seem hopeless at times to escape the grip of temptation ?

What I'm about to suggest will help in all matters of temptation , but I will specifically address the temptation of lust and two primary considerations . All right , so I'm going to go into that . So , in the name of the Father , son , holy Spirit , amen , take a deep breath . Father , Son , holy Spirit , amen , take a deep breath , just open your hearts up .

First , temptation is not a sin . Jesus experienced temptations in the desert . Since he is God and all sin is against God , he could never sin . Temptation is not a sin . It's what we do when temptation comes . That is either virtuous or sinful . It can be sinful , however , to put yourself in the near occasion of sin .

So be prudent about what you look at online and watch on television , and form healthy and holy boundaries in your relationships . Secondly , we must recognize that sexual desires are not bad in themselves . You hear that God created us as sexual beings to stamp into our very bodies the mystery hidden from all eternity in God .

He stamped into our bodies , right Creating us male or female , the mystery that God is an eternal exchange of love , father , son and Holy Spirit . He's destined us to share in that exchange . This is where we're going , but eternity doesn't mean tomorrow . Eternity means forever . We're stepping into the story now .

The union of man and woman in marriage , where the two become one , is meant to be a sign of the union of God and man . See , these are united . This desire for a man and a woman to become one flesh even is a little taste of God's desire to be one flesh with us .

But they work together in this temporal world and forever God's drawing us into his love story so that we can become persons of love . Right . Given the importance of the sign of marriage and sex , it's no surprise that this is where we experience the most temptation and confusion in our fallen world , and precisely where the evil one will strike . Be not afraid .

That's John Paul's favorite word , right . Be not afraid . Step up into the battle . Grab the claymore sword . Huh , our Lord became one of us through his passion , death and resurrection to offer us the grace of redemption , that grace that I was just talking about earlier , for us body and soul . Huh , it's for us body and soul . Huh , it's for us body and soul .

Then we take that grace in , huh . Praying through temptation will help us experience the redemption of our bodies for which we long . In the grip of temptation , turn to prayer , very intentional prayer . Let's take , for example you see a person who you find attractive and the temptation of lust arises in you See temptation as a trigger for prayer .

When you encounter a temptation . Say , lord , thank you for the beauty of that person . Say the beauty of that woman coming down the aisle toward me . Huh , give me the eyes to see them purely as your son or daughter . Give me and them all the grace we need to know and to love you .

You may also find it helpful to pray the Hail Mary , since our Blessed Mother is all pure . At some point , whether in the moment or later in your prayer time , invite the Lord into your desires and ask him to redirect them toward union with him . That's their purpose . When we pray with our temptations , they become a source of grace and transformation .

They're not our enemy anymore . The enemy is the enemy . He gives you those temptations and I use it against him and for God and for my own heart , huh . Does this mean that we will not fall into sin again ? Probably not , but don't get discouraged . However . We will fall less over time and our cooperation will set us free from sin .

We may struggle with temptation , but it will become a means of grace and purification for us . God works all things to the good for those who love him . Be honest with our Lord . He knows everything . Anyways , enter the battle of the heart and place your hope and trust in Jesus . Be patient with yourself . Recognize the temptation , turn it into prayer .

Open your heart to the power of redemption that flows from the cross . Jesus hanging on the cross , that's that divine image you see behind me . Now he's not on the cross there , but that's that blood and water coming out as he was at the cross Water for what it's , for baptism , for the nuptial bath , to forgive us of our sins .

And then the red is Jesus himself body , blood , soul and divinity that he gives us . This is the source , this is the whole mass right . So , again , be honest with the Lord . He knows us anyway . Enter the battle of the heart and place your hope and trust in Jesus . Be patient with yourself . Recognize the temptation , turn it into prayer .

Open your heart to the power of redemption that flows from the cross and , through grace , freedom will be yours . Hey , god bless you . Good to be with you guys . Hey , watch for part two , which will be Sergeant Columban's wartime encounter with a poor friar who prays . Thanks everyone . Talk to you again soon . Bye-bye .