Matthew 4: Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness
4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted by the devil.2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he
was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the
Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not
live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had
him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son
of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not
put the Lord your God to the test.
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and
showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All
this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For
it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and
attended him.
I have read this over and over again for a couple of weeks because I am in the throes
of spiritual warfare. I realize that there is a good number of people who will
read this and not fully understand what it means to be under the pressure of
warfare. I can only describe it by what people remember from cartoons with the
angel and the devil sitting on your shoulder; trust me it's an over
simplification but you get the gist.
The pressure is at time intense because The Enemy, The
Tempter, Satan , whatever you choose to call him, is busy using all your fears,
your insecurities and your character defects to dissuade, distract and detract from
what God has spoken into my spirit.
My humanity (flesh) naturally rebels against the things of
God because faith makes no sense to the flesh. A person has to decide to
believe, Faith has to extend beyond your vision and your feelings. Then you
have to decide to stand firm in/on the word of God..
Please believe this comes out of personal experience and I
may very well have to remind myself again because I have been found guilty of
imposing and inserting my will over the will of God to disastrous results.
Today, in this moment is time I am following Jesus' lead learning and
practicing how to watch, wait and pray
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