Temptation's 3 Stages: Where Most Christians Give UpEgzanp

Day 3: The Stage 1 Strategy (How Jesus Stopped Temptation Before It Started)

Jesus was hungry. Really hungry. Forty days of fasting, hungry. And Satan offered Him the perfect solution - turn stones into bread. But notice what Jesus didn't do.

He didn't negotiate.

Jesus didn't say, "Well, I am pretty hungry," or "Let me think about this." He didn't weigh the pros and cons. He responded immediately with truth: "It is written..."

This is the Stage 1 strategy: Immediate response with pre-decided truth.

How This Changes Your Money Game:

When that sale notification pops up, you don't debate whether you need it. You already know: "My budget is my boundary."

When you see that Instagram post about someone's vacation, you don't start calculating how you could afford it. You already know: "My contentment isn't based on what others have."

When that "limited time offer" creates urgency, you don't scramble to decide. You already know: "If I didn't plan for it, I don't need it."

The Pre-Decision Framework:

1. Identify your Stage 1 triggers (sale emails, social media, certain stores)
2. Create your immediate response (your version of "It is written...")
3. Act on it without negotiation

Your Stage 1 Arsenal:

• "This wasn't in my plan."
• "I don't make money decisions when I'm emotional."
• "If it was important, I would have budgeted for it."
• "I buy things, things don't buy me."

Here's the reality: Stage 1 strategy requires you to be "unreasonable." You can't logic your way through temptation - you have to pre-decide your way through it.

Starting today: Pick one financial temptation trigger and create your immediate response. Don't wait until you're hungry in the wilderness. Decide now, when you're thinking clearly.

The same principle that helped Jesus defeat temptation in the wilderness will help you defeat it in Target. Master this with your money, and you've learned to master it everywhere.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for showing me that victory happens at Stage 1, not Stage 3. Help me pre-decide my responses to financial temptation. Give me the strength to act immediately on truth instead of negotiating with desire. Make me someone who stops temptation before it starts, in every area of my life.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Master the Stage 1 Strategy in every area of your finances:

You've learned how to stop temptation at Stage 1, but what about building the financial systems that make it even easier? As a thank you for finishing the plan, I'd love to give you a copy of my award-winning book 'Simple Money, Rich Life'. It's packed with biblical strategies to create the pre-decision framework that stops financial temptation before it starts - plus practical tools to multiply your income, maximize your savings, and amplify your giving.

👉 Get your Stage 1 financial strategy here