Hello My Friend,
Whether we like it or not all Christians have to deal with the devil, in fact, the closer you get to God you can be sure the devil is right there to try and put a wedge between the two. The good news is that God only allows the devil to mess with us so much, God will never allow Satan to tempt us beyond our capabilities. Jesus was no exception, as soon as He was filled with the Holy Spirit the devil tempted Him.
“And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.” – Luke 4:3-13.
Notice that it says that the devil departed from Him for a season? The devil will never leave a believer alone, even God Himself, he will always be on the attack, he even tries to deceive Jesus by quoting Scripture. Not one person on earth has not had to face some kind of consequences because they trusted someone who knew some Scripture and got burned from it. The only way Jesus was able to resist temptation and overcome the devil was by knowing all of the Scriptures Himself and being able to discern God’s truths from the devil’s lies. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” – Ephesians 6:12,13.
After Jesus came out of the wilderness He went back home to Nazareth, it was custom on the Sabbath that He read some Scripture from the Bible. Jesus opens it to the Book of Isaiah. “And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.” – Luke 4:17-21,28,29.
Jesus was rejected by the very people He grew up with as a child, teenager, and young man. Why was He rejected? God’s Word. Jesus was speaking the truth and they did not want to hear it. God’s Word, when spoken truthfully, is so powerful that no weapon can defeat it. It cuts right through the flesh and goes deep down into the soul to convict and put every avid sinner in their place. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” – Hebrews 4:12.
While many rejected His preaching some followed Him just to hear it, those who gladly receive Christ gladly receive His Word, amazingly, some Christians do not want to receive His Word. I came across this Christian community forum, one of the rules was that you were not allowed to speak of current disasters in the world as signs that they have anything to do with Jesus returning. Everything in the Bible will come to pass, much of it already has, pretending that these things are not coming to pass and silencing those who do know the prophecies will not keep Jesus from returning. Jesus said Himself, “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” – Matthew 24:6-8.
We cannot keep ignoring God’s Word! It is truth and it is coming to pass very fast, if we do not put on God’s whole armor we are deceiving ourselves and opening ourselves up for a lot of pain and sorrow. While no one knows the hour that Jesus will come, we need to know that much of what we are facing in the world today are the signs of the times. “And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.” – Luke 12:39,40.
Today’s Prayer: God, there are a lot of rumors out there, so many that we do not know what to believe, while we cannot predict the return of Your Son we can be prepared. We can be prepared by putting on Your armor, walking in righteousness, living by faith, and telling the Gospel to all we know. We can be assured of our salvation, and we can be armed by the truth of Your Word as we hear and receive Jesus Christ in our lives. Lord, prepare us, lead us, guide us, and give us Your power to withstand the devil and every other evil device that tries to pull us away from You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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