Devil Temptation Quotes & Sayings

Never do what the devil provokes you to do — Sunday Adelaja

From its very inaction, idleness ultimately becomes the most active cause of evil; as a palsy is more to be dreaded than a fever. The Turks have a proverb which says that the devil tempts all other men, but that idle men tempt the devil. — Charles Caleb Colton

I suppose that's a Slavophile idea.' 'No: today's Slavophiles would disown it. These days the people have grown more intelligent. But you went even further: you believed that Roman Catholicism was no longer Christianity. You asserted that Rome was preaching a Christ who had succumbed to the third temptation of the Devil, and that by proclaiming to the entire world that Christ without an earthly kingdom cannot prevail on earth, Catholicism was thereby preaching the Antichrist and hence had destroyed the entire Western world. You specifically pointed out that — Fyodor Dostoyevsky

That's the temptation of the devil: "Turn stones into bread! Be relevant!" — Henri Nouwen

Sometimes the devil tempts me to believe in God. — Bill Vaughan

Deception is nowhere more common than in religion. And the persons most easily and damningly deceived are the leaders. Those who deceive others are first themselves deceived, for not many, I think, begin with evil intent. The devil, after all, is a spiritual being. His usual mode of temptation is not an obvious evil but to an apparent good. The commonest forms of devil-inspired worship do not take place furtively at black masses with decapitated cats but flourish under the bright lights of acclaim and glory, in a swirl of organ music. — Eugene H. Peterson

Maybe demons are defined as anything other than God that tries to tell us who we are. And maybe, just moments after Jesus' baptism, when the devil says to him, "If you are the Son of God ... " he does so because he knows that Jesus is vulnerable to temptation precisely to the degree that he is insecure about his identity and mistrusts his relationship with God. So if God's first move is to give us our identity, then the devil's first move is to throw that identity into question. — Nadia Bolz-Weber

The devil doesn't come dressed in a red cape and pointy horns. He comes as everything you've ever wished for ... — Tucker Max

PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Comm. in Matt. Prolog.) Matthew has arranged his narrative in a regular series of events. First, the birth, secondly, the baptism, thirdly, the temptation, fourthly, the teachings, fifthly, the miracles, sixthly, the passion, seventhly, the resurrection, and lastly, the ascension of Christ; desiring by this not only to set forth the history of Christ, but to teach the order of evangelic life. It is nought that we are born of our parents, if we be not reborn again of God by water and the Spirit. After baptism we must resist the Devil. Then being as it were superior to all temptation, he is made fit to teach, and if he be a priest let him teach, and commend his teaching, as it were, by the miracles of a good life; if he be lay, let him teach faith by his works. In the end we must take our departure from the stage of this world, and there remains that the reward of resurrection and glory follow the victory over temptation. — Thomas Aquinas

He at no time thought himself out of the Black Douglas's reach, any more than the good Christian supposes himself out of reach of the wiles of the devil; while every new temptation, instead of confirming his hope, seems to announce that the immediate retreat of the Evil One will be followed by some new attack yet more cunningly devised. — Walter Scott

You must pray when you are in the heat of temptation - when your mind is preoccupied with thoughts of lust or revenge. If someone urges you to pray under these circumstances, your mind often insists that it's too impure - as if your dirty thoughts leave no room for prayer. But you must not wait for temptation to end or the thoughts of lust and other sins to totally disappear from your mind before you pray. At precisely the moment when you feel the strongest temptation and are least prepared to pray, go to a place where you can be alone. Pray the Lord's Prayer or any other prayer you can think of to defend against the devil and his temptations. Then you will feel the temptation decrease, and Satan will run away. Those who think you should wait until your mind is free from impure thoughts to pray only help Satan, who is already far too strong. Waiting to pray is an unchristian approach to prayer. It's a teaching that comes from the devil. — Martin Luther

You know, it's never wise to tempt the devil"
His gaze lowered to her hand, still locked in his grip, her finger glistening with pear juice.
His rich voice lowered to raw huskiness "had I not this mask, I should be of a mind to suck that juice right off your fingers — Kristen Callihan

Frequent and violent temptations were a proof that the citadel of the soul had not fallen and that the devil raged to make it fall. — James Joyce

Whenever the devil harasses you, seek the company of men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other merry thing. Sometimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves, and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him no place for troubling our consciences with trifles. We are conquered if we try too conscientiously not to sin at all. So when the devil says to you: do not drink, answer him: I will drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to. — Martin Luther

Devils soonest tempt, resembling spirits of light. — William Shakespeare

You see, it is so hard for these creatures to persevere. The routine of adversity, the gradual decay of youthful loves and youthful hopes, the quiet despair (hardly felt as pain) of ever overcoming the chronic temptations with which we have again and again defeated them, the drabness which we create in their lives and the inarticulate resentment with which we teach them to respond to it--all this provides admirable opportunities of wearing out a soul by attrition. — C.S. Lewis

The devil can't make you do anything! Resistance is not futile. You can overcome temptation. Where — Adam Hamilton

The devil doesn't need to invent any new temptations; the old ones work as well as they ever have. — Billy Graham

My God, Sweetness beyond words, make bitter all the carnal comfort that draws me from love of the eternal and lures me to its evil self by the sight of some delightful good in the present. Let it not overcome me, my God. Let not flesh and blood conquer me. Let not the world and its brief glory deceive me, nor the devil trip me by his craftiness. Give me courage to resist, patience to endure, and constancy to persevere. Give me the soothing unction of Your spirit rather than all the consolations of the world, and in place of carnal love, infuse into me the love of Your name. — Thomas A Kempis

I find it most true that the greatest temptation outside of hell is to live without temptations; if water stands, it rots; faith is the better for the sharp winter storm in its face and grace withers without adversity. The devil is but God's master fencer to teach us to handle our weapons. — Samuel Rutherford

Satan does not tempt us to do wrong things; he tempts us in order to make us lose what God has put into us by regeneration, viz., the possibility of being of value to God. He does not come on the line of tempting us to sin, but on the line of shifting the point of view, and only the Spirit of God can detect this as a temptation of the devil. — Oswald Chambers

The Christian life begins with a firm no to the lifestyle of the devil. We need to remember this. We cannot remain Christians if we do not keep saying no to temptation as we go through life. And - mark you - one cannot say no to the devil unless one has first spoken a big, powerful yes to Jesus. — Anthony M. Coniaris

If we would answer the question of the existence of the Evil then we would not be sinners, we could make something else responsible. — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Devil, having nothing else to do Went off to tempt my Lady Poltagrue. My Lady, tempted by a private whim, To his extreme annoyance, tempted him. — Hilaire Belloc

Your level is above the reach of the devil ... Keep it in mind; as long as you are in the light of God, you bind him (the devil) tight! — Israelmore Ayivor

His black eyes smoldered, a velvet seduction. I need a dream to rid myself of nightmares.
She backed away from him, holding a palm outward to ward him off. "Just you keep your ideas to yourself," she warned. "You have that devil's look, the one that says no woman is safe."
That is not true, Shea, he denied, the hard edge of his mouth softening into temptation. Only one woman. You. — Christine Feehan

But that's one way we can identify the devil's voice: It always plays to our fears. It is the voice that tells us we must do something to prove who we are, to prove that we're worthy, to prove that we are who God has already declared us to be. When we know we are loved by God, we don't have to prove anything to anyone. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves more beloved than we are. — Jonathan Martin

God invites while the devil pressures and shoves and bullies. Realize who holds the actual power before you react. You are greater than Satan; God is greater than all. — Richelle E. Goodrich

Every hour of temptation in one's life has origin. Either from the flesh or the devil . — Osunsakin Adewale

Calvin: Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man? Hobbes: I'm not sure man needs the help. — Bill Watterson

The righteousness that makes a man visit the sins of a father upon his children, is the righteousness of a devil, not the righteousness of God. When God visits the sins of a father on his children, it is to deliver the child from his own sins through yielding to inherited temptation. — George MacDonald

The devil will suggest some activities to you to make you leave your primary goal — Sunday Adelaja

You belong with me, Azami. Your family will be my family. My family - the GhostWalkers - will be yours."
"You're a very dangerous man, Sam Johnson," she whispered. "You stand there, tempting me with your pretty words of a future together, the devil in his blue jeans, so good-looking you're impossible to resist. I don't know why I can't say no to you."
His grin widened. His arms slid around her, pulling her tight against him. He didn't want so much as a breath between them. "That will stand me in good stead in the future." He bent his head once more to the temptation of her angelic mouth. — Christine Feehan

Whoever has the power to label others as evil is automatically, or reflexively, the good person. Good people label bad people as evil. And once you do that, then it demonizes them. You don't negotiate with evil. You don't sit down at the table with the devil and say, "Okay, let's work this out." What you want to do is destroy evil. Every Catholic kid every night says, or should say, "Lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil." And so you've got to go to God to help you deal with evil rather than your State Department or your negotiators. — Philip Zimbardo

Temptation is not a sin. It is the yielding that is sin. All temptation is from the devil. — Billy Graham

I know as well as any one, [the devil] is an adversary, whom if we resist, he will fly from us
but I seldom resist him at all; from a terror, that though I may conquer, I may still get a hurt in the combat
soinstead of thinking to make him fly, I generally fly myself. — Laurence Sterne

Temptation is an opportunity to please God and shame the devil. — Matshona Dhliwayo

Your temptations are from the devil and from Hell; but your sufferings and afflictions are from God and Heaven. — Pio Of Pietrelcina

We've all of us got to meet the devil alone. Temptation is a lonely business ... — Margaret Deland

Fear is the devil's most powerful tool because he can't always convince a good man to do wrong, but he can paralyze his will with fright, keeping a good man from doing what is right. It eventually results in the same end. — Richelle E. Goodrich

I never claimed to be an angel and even the devil could only play with fire for so long before he gave in to unholy temptation and danced in the flames. — Jay Crownover

The goal of temptation is to make you fall. So it is the devil who tempts you, not God! — Pedro Okoro

The devil and temptations also do give occasion unto us somewhat to learn and understand the Scriptures, by experience and practice. Without trials and temptations we should never understand anything thereof; no, not although we diligently read and heard the same. — Martin Luther

But the guarding of our desires is more than fighting a rear-guard defensive action against temptations from the world, the flesh, and the devil. We must take the offensive. Paul directs us to set our hearts on things above, that is, on spiritual values (Colossians 3:1). — Jerry Bridges

We can't flee from temptation in our own strength - but God will give us the strength we need, if we'll only seek it. A friend of mine says, When the devil knocks, I just send Jesus to the door! — Billy Graham

One should fight like the devil the temptation to think well of editors. They are all, without exception - at least some of the time, incompetent or crazy. — John Gardner

Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. observed, The Devil did not tempt Adam and Eve to steal, to lie, to kill, to commit adultery; he tempted them to live independently of God. — Jim Berg

What we are taught to seek or shun in prayer, we should equally pursue or avoid in action. Very earnestly, therefore, should we avoid temptation, seeking to walk so guardedly in the path of obedience, that we may never tempt the devil to tempt us. — Charles Haddon Spurgeon

He who has no mind to trade with the Devil should be so wise as to keep from his shop. — Robert South

There is no harder shield for the devil to pierce with temptation than singing with prayer. — Henry Ward Beecher

Temptation is the devil looking through the keyhole. Yielding is opening the door and inviting him in. — Billy Sunday

The Devil has a great advantage against us inasmuch as he has a strong bastion and bulwark against us in our own flesh and blood. — Martin Luther

We live in the midst of an evil world, and see few with us, and many against us. We carry within us a weak heart, too ready at any moment to turn aside from the right way. We have near us, at every moment, a busy devil, watching continually for our halting, and seeking to lead us into temptation. Where shall we turn for comfort? What shall keep faith alive, and preserve us from sinking in despair? There is only one answer. We must look to Jesus. We must think on His almighty power, and His wonders of old time. We must call to mind how He can create food for His people out of nothing, and supply the needs of those who follow Him, even in the wilderness. And as we think these thoughts, we must remember that this Jesus still lives, never changes, and is on our side. — J.C. Ryle

The second cause whence these rebellions sometimes proceed is the devil, who, in order to disquiet and disturb the soul, at times when it is at prayer or is striving to pray, contrives to stir up these motions of impurity in its nature; and if the soul gives heed to any of these, they cause it great harm. For through fear of these not only do persons become lax in prayer - which is the aim of the devil when he begins to strive with them - but some give up prayer altogether, because they think that these things attack them more during that exercise than apart from it, which is true, since the devil attacks them then more than at other times, so that they may give up spiritual exercises. — San Juan De La Cruz

The guy was a piece of sin. If he were the devil holding a contract, this would be the moment I might just give in to temptation and sign over my soul. — J.C. Reed

The more public thy place, Christian, and the more eminent thy service for God, the more thou must look that the devil will have some more dangerous design or other against thee; and therefore, if every private soldier needs armour against Satan's bullets of temptation, then the commanders and officers who stand in the front of battle much more. — William Gurnall

Another sign of our effectual calling is diligence in our ordinary calling. Some boast of their high calling, but they lie idly at anchor. Religion does not seal warrants to idleness. Christians must not be slothful. Idleness is the devil's bath; a slothful person becomes a prey to every temptation. Grace, while it cures the heart, does not make the hand lame. He who is called of God, as he works for heaven, so he works in his trade. — Thomas Watson

Dr. Murray made it clear to me before I left that a woman who enhoys the Act is as loose as a harlot. God gives pleasure in it only to husbands. Women are the source of evil and temptation, therefore women are to blame when men fall into fleshly error. It was Eve who seduced Adam, Eve who entered into league with the serpent, who was the Devil in disguise. So the only pleasure women are allowed is in their children. — Colleen McCullough

Idleness is a constant sin, and labor is a duty. Idleness is the devil's home for temptation and for unprofitable, distracting musings; while labor profit others and ourselves. — Anne Baxter

Mock the devil, and he will flee from thee. — Edward De Bono

Our great Pattern hath showed us what our deportment ought to be in all suggestions and temptations. When the devil showed Him "all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them," to tempt Him withal, He did not stand and look upon them, viewing their glory, and pondering their empire ... but instantly, without stay, He cries, "Get thee hence, Satan." Meet thy temptation in its entrance with thoughts of faith concerning Christ on the cross; this will make it sink before thee. Entertain no parley, no dispute with it, if thou wouldst not enter into it. — John Owen

Henry Cloud offers this perspective on the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness: "Think of what the devil did in the temptation (Luke 4). He offered Jesus instant relief from His hunger, but Jesus said no. He offered Jesus instant glory, but He refused. The devil offered Him instant safety, but Jesus rebuked him. Jesus knew that to gain those things, He had to go through a process that was God's way. And He learned obedience through the suffering. — Heather Zempel

An idle person is the devil's tennis ball, which he bandies up and down with temptation until at last the ball goes out of play. — Thomas Watson

Those Saints, which God loves best, The Devil tempts not least. — Robert Herrick

Satan rejoices when old habits overwhelm [us] and we cave in to the pressure of the crowd ... perhaps temptation lures [us] into sin ... a backsliding Christian compromises their faith and causes unbelievers to mock the Gospel. — Billy Graham