Matthew 4:1-11
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.””
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you’, and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”‘
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'” Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”‘
Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
The very first thing Jesus faced after being baptized and starting His ministry was a period of temptation. Remember that temptation is a normal part of being a Christian. We are all tempted by the world, by our flesh and by the enemy of our souls the devil. But everything we face Jesus has already faced. He now lives in us and has defeated the enemy. We can rest assured that Jesus has gone before us and will be with us in our moment of need. It pleases Him and is part of our worship to call out to Him and ask for help. He knows exactly what it feels like to be tempted and can empathize with us in our trials.
“Jesus was led up by the Spirit…” and said “It is written…”. He is our example of how to defeat the enemy. Scripture was what Jesus quoted to the devil to make him go. We live in a time where we have incredible access to God’s Word. Memorize it so that when we are tempted the Holy Spirit can bring it to mind and we can defeat temptation. Meditate on God’s Word so that it becomes a part of our spiritual DNA.
We have the same tools as Jesus had at our disposal. We have the Word of God and we have the Spirit of God.
Prayer: Father thank you for providing everything we need for life and godliness in this corrupt world full of temptation. Help me to depend on You and Your Word every day. Amen