“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

-The Apostle Paul to The Church in Corinth 

Temptation 

Damnation

Down my throat as I choke on it again

Invade my lungs as I take it in

Traversing through my veins

Then deep into the marrow 

This comes upon me and pulls me under

Below myself as my soul begs again

Against my flesh so strong

The sun sets on another failed battle 

Weapons laid down 

Disappointing exhaustion licks my wounds

“But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

-The Apostle Paul to The Church in Rome

I do not desire this reciprocating war

Dragging me from dusk until dawn

Then through The Midnight again

Flesh that have been stained by the world

Eyes that no longer belong to me

The angels mourn again another loss

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

-Hebrews 4:12

I beg The Word to pierce me through. To cut deep to the bone, into the marrow to scrape this infection out. The Bloodletting to drain The Darkness that feeds The Temptation that feeds The Darkness. Every ounce for healing. One drop salvaged for the sake of living. Whatever it takes for my life’s desire. To separate The Temptation from Damnation. Divided they will find their fall.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

-The Apostle Paul to The Church in Rome

If the two part, and they must, that Damnation becomes only a past relic. One thing that is no more. A reminder of where I’ve been and where I will never return. Something that can no longer dance with me under the faint moonlight of The Midnight. The Temptation may mourn at the grave of Damnation. Knowing that He too will be brought to ruin. For He cannot die. No. For He will continue to exist. He will continue to breathe in the shadows as he stalks me. However, he will not force me into submission. He will not force me to bow to his desires as he pulls the chains tightly, dragging me into dark realms. Because The Darkness has been bled out and The Light has been born into the chasm of empty veins, forcing my heart to pump another way. Because The Word has surgically removed The Infection that has owned me from birth and has found home within these dry bones. Life lived renewed. Damnation rots away at the foot of its tombstone. Alone and weak The Temptation has been brought to nothing more than a name. 

No longer my master.

Temptation.

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

-James, the brother of Jesus