The bible lets us know that Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and of course Jesus prepared for the test, He fasted 40 days and 40 nights which left him in a state of extreme hunger afterwards and yea…the devil (the enemy) came to take advantage of that.
First Test – Vs 3-4
Devil: if you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread
Jesus: Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Our Life is not dependent on food alone for growth. Now y’all don’t get me wrong we have physical growth where we grow by eating right, taking good vitamins, doing your exercise and all those beautiful things. But the food that Jesus is talking about in vs4 is the Word of God! We need the word of God for Spiritual growth.
That did not end there, the bible told us that the devil took Him (Jesus) to the Holy city and sat 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 give his angels charge of you’. Hmmm…. Do you know that the scripture the devil quoted is in Psalm 91? (Psalm 91 vs 11). The devil brought the word to the Word. What does this even tell us, well, I think, or I’d rather say, I know the devil knows the scripture, he understands the scripture and could use it to manipulate you. As a believer the word of God is the sword of the spirit, we use it to fight and wage war. It is very important we are filled or better said grounded with the word of God, because the devil who is our enemy is not asleep. The devil does not have the power to do anything to you, what he does is he works on your mind, he tries to change your perspective about certain things which takes us to God’s word in Romans 12;2… ‘Do not be conformed to this world but be ye transformed(metamorphosed)by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Thank God, Jesus was filled by the word of God, thank God He did not live by bread alone, because as a child of God, it is pertinent that we stay on top of our game through the God word.
You would think the devil gave up on Jesus… naaah, he did not. Vs 8-9 told us that he took Him again to a very high mountain and showed Jesus all the earths kingdom how glorious they all were and said to Him, fall and worship me (really devil ???). Then Jesus said to Him, ’Begone Satan for it written” You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve” … Did you see the way Jesus responded to the devil? such a rock star statement! Jesus did not think about it, there was no where in the scripture, He paused and thought for a while, the bible said Jesus said to him’ Begone Satan!! With an exclamation mark, that means he raised his voice at the devil. He did not give him any more chance to continue further, sometimes when you have some weird thoughts coming into your mind continuously, you speak Boldly at it, not quietly but BOLDLY (if you must raise your voice kindly go ahead). Sometimes we could have the wrong thoughts or the wrong feelings wanting to take place in your mind, refuse to let that settle, whatever it is, attack it with the word of God, the bible says we destroy every argument and every obstacle to the knowledge of God and take every thought (thought that are not of God) captive to obey Christ. As a child of God, you speak boldly at it ‘You evil/negative thought I bring you under the subjection of the Holy Ghost in Jesus name!
Stand your ground as child of God stay on top of your game, do not let the devil take advantage of your mind, he is manipulative, but guess what friends we have Jesus and His word and because of this very thing we have won!!
Culled by Eseosa