'...you may have a genetic basis for that alchoholic craving or that sexual urge or that fiery temper. But the fact that you have it means that God designed you, knowing you can follow Christ even with that thorn in your flesh (1 Cor.10:13). As you face the temptation, know that God is walking you through it, just as surely as the Spirit led our Lord Jesus in and out of his desert testing. The temptation itself ought to be a revelation. God is saying, "You have been created and gifted with the ability to walk away from this."
The problem is, though, that we often think escape from temptation, promised by God, means escape from the agony of temptation, which is does not. Don't pray for an end to the struggle. Pray for your warfare to be more effective as you dodge fiery darts on the way into the kingdom. Peace is the fruit of the Spirit, but that's peace with God and with one another. It is emphatically not peace with the world, the flesh, and the Devil. That's why the Bible can include such a seemingly discordant statement about peace as "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet" (Rom.16:20). Don't be discouraged or depressed if you're in agony fighting against your temptations. That means the Holy Spirit is there. And where the Spirit is, for now anyway, there is war (Gal.5:17).'
Russell D Moore, Tempted and Tried, p.184.
