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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Jesus: The Glory of the Desert .... Part 3

Jesus:  The Glory in the Desert  .... Part 3
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                                            Part 1 - The Glory in the Desert
                                            Part 2 - Glory in the Desert


The Devil Attacks Jesus
Matthew 4:3, 5-6, 8-9
3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
5Then 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.' "
8Again, 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."




When are we most tempted?

Answer- when we are most venerable to influence, when we are depressed, or when we allow the world to push us away from God.




The devil, evil in our lives, is very sneaky just as he is presented here. After fasting for forty days in the desert, Jesus becomes being venerable to outside influence. Now, some would say that Jesus had special powers that he could resist the influence of the devil. But, that is not Jesus' way. To be the example to us, He had to experience life as we do. He experienced pain, happiness, and temptations, just as he knew we do.

A look at how the devil came to Jesus:


First, Jesus had to be in a weakened state of hunger and thirst.   vs 2


Second, he issues a challenge to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God...".  vs 3, 5


Third, the devil challenges Jesus to use His powers to help himself.  vs 3


Fourth: the devil challenges Jesus to use His powers to do magic.  vs 6


Finally: the devil challenges Jesus with the possibility of riches.  vs 8,9


In our most vulnerable moments, emotional lows, or feeling down, the devil, evil, seeks us out when we are weak in our needs and especially when he feels us babbling about our wants.  In subtle ways, the evil around us challenges our needs and wants.  The real challenge is, as in all the challenges to Jesus, is not to rely on God, but to selfishly try to solve our all our problems ourselves without God.  These challenges come to us from all sides, in many different and simple ways.


Evil often comes from friends, they tempt us with doing something wrong, "come on my friend, doing it just this one time will not hurt anybody, and we cannot get caught." or "Well, if you are my friend you will not tell on me." Just one step out side the path of God, and life begins a slippery slope from God. In a similar manner, the Devil challenged Jesus with, "If you are the Son of God...".  The devil knew Jesus was God and could execute the challenge with perfection.  As we should, Jesus would not fall into the devil's tricks.


The devil or the evil of this world, is always challenging us with our wants. We cannot let our wants overcome us, but it happens all the time. We want a larger TV screen, out comes the plastic. We want a bigger boat than our neighbor's boat, out comes the plastic. We want the latest phone... out comes the plastic. Then to pay for all this plastic money, we want a better job with more money.... and there goes to time with raising a Godly family. Just what the devil wanted, us satisfying our wants.


Friends, we have to constantly be on guard for the glancing blows the devil and evil sends our way. The best way to resist?... a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, asking God to provide His guidance through the Holy Spirit IN EVERYTHING WE THINK, SAY, AND DO.


Jesus, in the desert was with the Holy Spirit to Guide Him, Jesus knew and used the scriptures in the devils face, and finally, and easily, Jesus did cast away the devil... and the devil was gone very quickly.  We too, must resist and as with Jesus, the evil will fade until another moment of weakness.


Jesus is the Great Example, and with the Holy Spirit as our Guide, we must follow His example. It is the first Commandant, we must love God.... love Jesus. In doing this, we must follow Him. 

Thanks be to God

lonnie


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    Part 1 - The Glory in the Desert

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    Part 2 - Glory in the Desert



    Thanks Be to God

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    And about that guide book for raising children, the Bible has survived as the best guide book for any behavior we need assistance with. We just need to read, study and pray for guidance of the Holy Spirit. That is the best guidance we can have.




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    lonnie

    Publication  0053







    INTRO

    In this Part 3 of Glory in the Desert, WE LEARN FROM JESUS HOW TO CHALLENGE EVIL IN OUR LIVES just as Jesus did.   Links to Part 1 and 2 are found in Glory in the Desert Part 3. Please share the message on your Fb page as you like, and if you like, click the FB 'Follow' button to have notifications of these publications.  For other messages like this, visit my FB page, or on FB visit-"A Daily Thought Group".

    http://lonnieadailythought.blogspot.com/2012/02/jesus-glory-of-desert-part-3.html


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