#179: "It is written"
To combat Satan's seduction, Jesus relied on Scripture rather than some mysterious spiritual power unavailable to us. Jesus waged this struggle as a complete human being, and He used no "special resources" that we don't have.
Matthew 4:1-11
Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to a desert. There He was tempted
by the devil. 2 Jesus went without food for forty
days and forty nights. After that He was hungry. 3 The
devil came tempting Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones
to be made into bread.” 4 But Jesus said, “It
is written, ‘Man is not to live on bread only. Man is to live by every word
that God speaks.’”
5 Then the devil took Jesus up to Jerusalem, the holy city. He had
Jesus stand on the highest part of the house of God. 6 The
devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. It is
written, ‘He has told His angels to look after You. In their hands they will
hold You up. Then Your foot will not hit against a stone.’” 7 Jesus
said to the devil, “It is written also, ‘You must not tempt the Lord your
God.’”
8 Again the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain. He had Jesus
look at all the nations of the world to see how great they were. 9 He
said to Jesus, “I will give You all these nations if You will get down at my
feet and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to the
devil, “Get away, Satan. It is written, ‘You must worship the Lord your
God. You must obey Him only.’” 11 Then the devil
went away from Jesus. Angels came and cared for Him.
We
effectively resist temptation in the same way Jesus did: by countering Satan’s
seductive lies by shining the light of God’s truth upon them. If we are
ignorant of God’s truth, we are poorly armed in the fight against temptation.
In the
face of sicknesses, it is written “by His stripes, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5)”; financial challenges, it is written “God shall bless
us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him (Psalms 67:7)”; storms of
life, it is written, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee (Hebrews
13:5)”.
We can’t
wage war without being fully equipped with the word of God. This is therefore a
wake-up call for us to arm ourselves with the word of God so that we can be
more than conquerors.
No war can be waged without proper kit!
ReplyDeleteGod bless you!
God bless you too
DeleteThank God for His Word. A very potent attack mechanism in fighting temptation
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