The devil tries to seduce everyone of us. He did it to Eve in the Garden when he tempted her to doubt the Truth of what God had told them. and He is still at it today. He says “oh. it’s all right, mate. Everyone is doing it. Or, no one will see you. Its OK. Or, that stuff’s old hat. Nobody follows that anymore. Guess what he is still up to his same dirty tricks today and i trust that you will learn something from what jesus went through. Hebrews 4:15 says, “ For we do not have a High priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses., but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin.
Jesus knows and feels with us as He has experienced just what you are going through.
Mat 4:1 At that time Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the Desert in order to be tempted by the Devil.
Mat 4:2 There He fasted for forty days and nights; and after that He suffered from hunger.
Right after his Baptism, “At that time…..” When you have made a commitment and are following Jesus to fulfill all righteousness i.e. to live a godly life then expect the Devil to soon come to hound you and tempt you.
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the Desert in order to be tempted by the Devil.
Jesus whole life was lived in the power of the Holy Spirit and surrendered to His Divine Leading. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will allow us to go through difficult situations and trying moments so that we will lead how to handle the word of God and defeat the Devil right where he tries us.
What a shocking place where the Devil tempted him. The desert of Judea.
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| Judean Desert |
Jesus was here showing us how to act when the Devil is attacking us and how to win the victory in the nitty-gritty of the hour of temptation which we all experience.
Temptation G3985 Strong’’s πειράζω peirazō pi-rad'-zo
From G3984; to test (objectively), that is, endeavor, scrutinize, entice, discipline: - assay, examine, go about, prove, tempt (-er), try.
The word “tempt,” in the original, means to try, to endeavor, to attempt to do a thing; then, to try the nature of a thing, as metals by fire; then, to test moral qualities by trying them, to see how they will endure; then, to endeavor to draw people away from virtue by suggesting motives to evil. This is the meaning here, and this is now the established sense of the word in the English language. Barnes
The Devil is the Tempter
This is his number one plan to stumble humanity and cause us to come under his authority. He tries us as to the genuineness of our Faith and obedience to the Word of God. He hates God and His Word so he does all he can to disrupt and subvert every blessing and purpose of God for our lives.Eph 6:11 Put on the complete armour of God, so as to be able to stand firm against all the stratagems of the Devil.
[wiles of the Devil] μεθοδεία methodeia
Thayer Definition: 1) cunning arts, deceit, craft, trickery
Barnes The word rendered “wiles” (μεθοδεία methodeia), means properly that which is traced out with “method;” that which is “methodized;” and then that which is well laid - art, skill, cunning. It occurs in the New Testament only in Eph_4:14, and in this place. It is appropriately rendered here as “wiles,” meaning cunning devices, arts, attempts to delude and destroy us. The wiles “of the devil” are the various arts and stratagems which he employs to drag souls down to perdition. We can more easily encounter open force than we can cunning; and we need the weapons of Christian armour to meet the attempts to draw us into a snare, as much as to meet open force. The idea here is, that Satan does not carry on an open warfare. He does not meet the Christian soldier face to face. He advances covertly; makes his approaches in darkness; employs cunning rather than power, and seeks rather to delude and betray than to vanquish by mere force. Hence, the necessity of being constantly armed to meet him whenever the attack is made. A man who has to contend with a visible enemy, may feel safe if he only prepares to meet him in the open field. But far different is the case if the enemy is invisible; if he steals upon us slyly and stealthily; if he practices war only by ambushes and by surprises. Such is the foe that we have to contend with - and almost all the Christian struggle is a warfare against stratagems and wiles. Satan does not openly appear. He approaches us not in repulsive forms, but comes to recommend some plausible doctrine, to lay before us some temptation that shall not immediately repel us. He presents the world in an alluring aspect; invites us to pleasures that seem to be harmless, and leads us in indulgence until we have gone so far that we cannot retreat.
Eph 6:12 For ours is not a conflict with mere flesh and blood, but with the despotisms, the empires, the forces that control and govern this dark world--the spiritual hosts of evil arrayed against us in the heavenly warfare.
The First Temptation : For Jesus To prove His Divinity by working a miracle
Mat 4:3 So the Tempter came and said, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to turn into loaves."
Notes: For us we do not see the real significance or power of this temptation because we eat daily and are rarely hungry like millions in third world countries who go hungry every day and are never really satisfied. Many millions of people struggle to put food on the table every day and do not know where their next meal is coming from.
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| www.causes.com/campaigns/56551-african-children-hunger-no-more |
Jesus was hungry. He had been in the desert without eating for forty days and forty nights. It was not a Ramadan type of fast where they eat all they want and more every evening. When Jesus was at His weakest Satan came to tempt Him. So with us when we are tired and exhausted he will come and try to get us to resolve the situation of hunger or loneliness or the need of love in a wrong way. Watch out for the schemes of the Devil. Don’t just think that because you are a Christian you can do whatever you want to whenever you want to.
Jesus answer to Satan.
Mat 4:4 "It is written," replied Jesus, "'IT IS NOT ON BREAD ALONE THAT A MAN SHALL LIVE, BUT ON WHATSOEVER GOD SHALL APPOINT.'"
Mat 4:4 But He answered and said, It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."
Jesus quoted the OT from Deuteronomy 8:3 to defeat the Devil. Jesus is showing us that we must know and use the Word of God and the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God in these situations of Temptation.
Do you know the Word of God sufficiently to use it against Satan. Memorize it especially while you are young.
"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."
It is the Word of God that should prescribe the boundaries of our living. We are not to be hearers only but DOERS of God’s Word.
It is better to be hungry or fasting and doing the Will of God than to be full of the best food and living contrary to God’s Word, His Revealed Will for our Lives.
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