KEY SCRIPTURE: Matthew 4:1 KJV “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.”

The Lord Jesus after His baptism and the descent of the Spirit upon Him, was led by the Holy Spirit to be tempted in the wilderness. In St Mark’s account he presented it this way. Mark 1:12 KJV” And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness”. From Mark’s account it seems the Spirit was in a hurry to get that done. The word tempts used in this context has the idea of testing a metal to see how strong it will perform. Could He have failed, or sinned? As a man He had the power of choice, yet He had set up His mind to please the father. Remember, a decided mind cannot be drawn into sin. It was a fact that Satan attempted to move Him to act against God, but failed.

The first temptation was for Him to use power wrongly to satisfy the flesh. Anytime a child of God satisfies his or flesh against the word of God, he or she has accepted the reign of the flesh over God’s rule. In the garden of Eden man fell because of food. Many wrong actions are remotely controlled by the longings of the stomach. The Lord gave the tempter the right answer. It is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed out of the mouth of God. He made it clear that, life is spiritual, and the spiritual should always be paramount. The word of God is spirit and must always rule our actions

The devil tempted him for the second time. This time, since he realized Jesus was quoting scripture to answer him, he tempted him with the scriptures, but twisted the word. Tempting God amounts to dishonouring the scriptures. The Lord knew his scriptures and could not be deceived by the devil. To outwit Satan always you need the Holy Spirit to inspire the right scriptures against the devil. It also involves studying the word to have the scripture ready in your heart. In that second temptation, Satan tried to make the Lord Jesus act foolishly. Many errors men make basically proceed from shear foolishness. Please always use the scriptures to scrutinize thoughts, suggestions, impressions and ideas that come to to your mind. The Lord saw the error and corrected the devil by saying. It is written, you shall not tempt the Lord our God.

CONFESSION

Thank you, heavenly father, for the Holy Spirit, who is my ever-present helper. He always gives me the appropriate scriptures to answer the devil. Through His leading I am always victorious.

FURTHER STUDIES

Matthew 10:16 KJV” Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”

John 16:13 KJV” Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”