LEARNING DAILY

 

Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

 

It is time to open your Bible again in order to read the full passage of Jesus being tempted.

 

Jesus has just been baptized by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove comes to rest on Him and God the Father has expressed his pleasure in His Son. All three aspects of the Trinity are involved in the baptism. The Bible then states Jesus was led by the Spirit to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The temptation of Jesus by Satan was an attempt to entice Jesus away from the way of perfect obedience to the will of God; He was taken to the wilderness. The wilderness is a place that many of the people God has used were proven. Think back to your Old Testament reading and remember Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, and Elijah had those times in the wilderness to be tempted and grow in their faith and trust; all of them trusted that God was with them and would see them through the situation they found themselves in.

 

Forty days and nights of fasting! Forty years of wandering in the desert by Israel! There must be a correlation. Forty days and nights without food obviously made Jesus hungry and weak – just the sort of weakness the devil looks for when tempting God’s people. Satan tempted Jesus with worldly desires and successes if Jesus would only submit to him. With each temptation, Jesus used the authority of God’s Word rather than submit to the desires of Satan. You and I need to learn some important things about the temptation of Jesus Christ. They are going to be more important in the days ahead as we walk the narrow way to eternity in God’s kingdom.

 

I might be stating the obvious but Satan is our greatest enemy! He hates you and me and wants nothing more than to deceive us, to entice each of us to sin and be open to deception. It is very real! You and I are involved in spiritual warfare every single day. Have you put on your spiritual armor, yet? I would encourage you to go to Ephesians 6 to read what the armor God has given to His people.

 

You and I cannot fight against this adversary alone or in our own strength. Without the Holy Spirit and God’s Word (the sword in the armor) none of us can overcome temptation nor sin. Jesus used the Word of God to fight the temptations of Satan. You and I must do so as well. Read, study, memorize to become as familiar as possible to know what it says so when deception comes you are able to say no to or correct what you are being tempted with. There is no getting around the need to read, study, and meditate on what you have read every day. Personal experience tells you that the Holy Spirit will bring the Scripture to mind that will help you when temptation comes. Don’t forget to pray about the Word you have read!

 

 I believe each of us knows what is needed to live a godly life. You and I need to do what we know is the way God wants us to live. Yes, that involves dying to self every day and following the will of the Father. It is better to prepare each day by being in God’s Word than to fall to the schemes of Satan who will try to twist God’s Word in his temptations. They will come!