Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Genesis 4-7
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 4:10
Jesus: Get away from Me, Satan. I will not serve you. I will instead follow Scripture, which tells us to “worship the Eternal One, your God, and serve only Him.”
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
I believe Jesus faced his temptation in the wilderness as fully man. Yes, He was God, but I think while He lived alongside us, He showed us how to live in our humanness. So He set aside much of the power of His diety when He faced the problems we face from day-to-day. I think His emotions, His desires, His temptations were just as powerful as ours because He was fully human. His advantage with respect to temptation compared to the rest of us lies in the fact that He was not born of Adam’s seed. Born to a virgin mother, Jesus suffered and endured everything we do as humans.
That’s why Jesus’ words during this forty days of temptation are so important to us. This final barrage Satan throws at Jesus and His response give us a final victory cry that causes Satan to flee in defeat. These words from the mouth of our Savior gives us a powerful lesson in how to stand against the temptations that come our way. They are simple words, but if we will listen well, we, too, can stand in victory against the tempter.
Did you get it? Jesus said, “Get away from Me Satan. I will not serve you. I will instead follow the Scripture…” The point of this particular temptation focused on worship, but note that every temptation Satan threw in Jesus’ path, He answered with Scripture. Now, Jesus tires of Satan’s games and first tells him to go away, then tells him why. “I will follow the Scriptures,” Jesus tells him.
Those are important lessons for us as we begin this new year. If we could just remember those two lessons as temptations come, we would stay so far ahead in life, we would be awed by our spiritual progress. Let’s look at the first retort Jesus gives. How many times do we continue to dabble at the edges of wrong-doing before we seek escape? How often do we just get in Satan’s face and just tell him to go away when he comes with his cheap imitations of joy and pleasure?
If you’re like me, I have to admit I try to stand up to his temptations more often than I just tell him to go away. I think I can make it on my own strength and forget I have this all-powerful God that will push away the tempter when I call on his name. Or at least he will show me the exit signs so I can run away. Our problem is we fail to stop and call on him. Satan can’t stand up to Jesus and will leave or we will get the extra strength we need to get our legs in motion and get out of there.
God let’s us face those temptations, but He never abandons us to face them alone. The test comes when we decide what path we take. Will we yield to the temptation and sin or will we lean on God and live the more abundant life He wants us to enjoy. The secret to success over temptation comes in leaning on God. Using Scripture as Jesus did to rebuff him. Deciding every day as the day begins that you will answer every temptation the way Daniel did. He resolved not to defile himself with the kings food before the menu came. That’s how we should face the day. Resolve not to sin before the temptation comes, whatever temptation it might be. Say no to Satan before he shows up, then when he puts something in front of you, the answer has already been given. “No!” You don’t have to think about it. You’ve already answered Satan. Now that you’ve answered, lean on God to help you escape or drive Satan away.
The second important lesson from Jesus’ words, He said, “I will follow the Scriptures…” How many times do we get side-tracked with our denominational traditions or blinded by the “progressive” movements around us? We get hung up on something someone picks out of a single verse or two, take it out of context, and build a religion on it. Remember that God’s word doesn’t contradict itself. The concepts and precepts and principles of God are congruent. So when you take a verse or two out of context to prove a point, you may be doing just what Satan tried to with Jesus.
How do you overcome such twisting and turning of the Scriptures by the false prophets that spread so many lies and build so many religions of convenience? Know the Scriptures. Read them. Make them a part of you. Be like the Bereans of Acts 17:11 and search the Scriptures to see if what teachers and preachers say is true. Don’t even trust me. Look it up. Make sure what I and others say is consistent with God’s word. Look it up for two reasons. First, you’ll know if you are hearing the truth. Second, it gets you into God’s word one more time. You really can’t get enough of His word! Just remember to follow it when you read it.
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