Tag: satan

Jesus is Tempted

In today’s scripture covering the words of Jesus, we look at Luke 4. This is a continuation from yesterday’s message in Luke 3, where John the Baptist taught about repentance, turning from sin, and being baptized. Luke 4 picks up after Jesus’ baptism and goes right into Jesus being tempted by Satan in the dessert. I love this picture of the human side of Jesus, and I’m going to look across the other gospels to show this full picture, because I love everything about this passage!

Matthew, Mark, and Luke each record different aspects of the temptation. Most bible scholars agree that Jesus was fasting in the wilderness for 40 days, during which time Satan was tempting him. At the end of the 40 days, Satan tempted him with three specific things that are recorded in detail (Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-18).

The situation is intriguing from the very beginning. The Holy Spirit directs Jesus to go to the wilderness to be tempted. Jesus was sent there for a purpose! A lot of times I think we create and walk right into our own messes – we made choices that lead to the storm we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of… But there are other situations that truly pop up out of the blue, and we are left scratching our heads with questions like… Why am I here? How did this happen? What am I supposed to make of all of this? Just maybe we are led there for a reason. Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into this temptation for a purpose. And we shouldn’t underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit to lead us to places that have tempting situations. Why? Why would He do that? God uses victory over temptation as an example for others. What example is God using in your life for others? Is there an area you need to take a more black and white stand, as an example for others? Are you tempted to stay silent when you need to speak truth into a situation?

Next, we look at how Jesus was tempted. Sounds pretty familiar to the same types of things we are tempted by… physical needs and desires (bread), power (the world), and lastly, He was tempted to test God (throw Himself off the mountain).  Jesus was tempted in the same ways that Satan tries to tempt us today. It’s pretty cool that Jesus walked before us and showed us exactly what to watch for!  When you think of these three areas of temptation, is there one you need to take hold of today and claim victory?

How? How can we overcome? BAM – Jesus shows us! He responds to each temptation by reciting scripture (we find it in Deuteronomy) back to Satan. What an awesome example for us to keep the Word of God in our hearts and overcome Satan. Do you have some go-to scriptures that you can use when you’re feeling tempted? Here are a few of mine:

Keep thy tongue from evil. Psalm 34:13

Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord. Romans 12:19

Whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are lovely, think on THOSE things. Phil 4:8

Fear not, I am with thee. Isaiah 41:10

Depart from evil and do good. Psalm 34:14

My God will supply all your needs. Phil 4:19

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you. Luke 6:27

As cheesy as it sounds, I like to say them out loud. There’s power in verbally declaring victory over the enemy!

The last piece of Jesus’ temptation is His Father’s care and compassion. After Jesus endured the temptation, God sent help (His angels) to comfort and minister to Jesus. I really don’t know exactly what this means (not much is explained), but I’ve always envisioned some sort of angel cheerleading situation. V-I-C-T-O-R-Y, GOOOOOO JESUS! Oh, and I also picture them carrying lots of bread. All the bread. As a grain-a-holic myself, my version of this story is with a satchel full of naan, baguettes, bagels, all of it. I mean, Jesus was fasting for awhile!!  In all seriousness, when we are in the middle of a temptation, we can look forward to being replenished by our Father. God will restore our weary souls. Can you look back and see this provision in your life?

God is so gracious to give us this fully-man Jesus to walk before us and show us how to do life on earth. It’s no coincidence that this temptation by Satan occurred right after Jesus’ baptism.  The enemy doesn’t want us to gain any ground in our faith walk. When we declare our commitment and belief in God, the enemy will work to shake us. Let’s follow Jesus’ example and be ready, armed with the Word of God!

The Tempter

Today’s reading is Matthew 4.

As I mentioned in my previous writing 2 weeks ago, one of the big “ah-ha’s” for me as I became an adult was when it really hit me that Jesus was tempted, just like us and as we see in this writing, but was the only human to live without sin, yet died on the cross to take our place. As new small group members some years ago, there was a couple in our group who seemed to talk constantly about Satan and his temptations in their lives and the lives of others around them. They talked about it so much that it my wife and I found it awkward and thought they were really kind of out there. Not that we didn’t acknowledge Satan is real because if you acknowledge God is real you have to acknowledge Satan is real, but we just felt they were a little over the top about how much Satan interjects and they talked about it. However, as we have matured in our faith, we completely understand it now.

A few weeks ago, I was in a restaurant speaking with a friend who is really struggling to believe God is real and is struggling with other things in his life. We had been talking for over an hour and although there was much activity in the restaurant he was locked in on me, keeping eye contact the entire time. As I began to make a very strong and direct witness to him to the point that you could feel the intensity building in the conversation and I began to tell him we all have a God-shaped hole in our hearts only He can fill, “BAM!!” a worker dropped a trash can right in the middle of my sentence and he lost all focus on what I was saying. A few years ago, I would have said that’s crazy and this was just coincidence, but I now believe that was Satan interjecting. You’ll hear similar stories during conversions from other believers and pastors if you ask them.

I find it very interesting in Matthew 4:3 Satan is called “the tempter.” God did not have to use this terminology. This was very intentional. That’s what Satan does. He tempts. That’s who he is. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” If he tried to tempt Jesus 3 times here in a short period of time, you can bet he’s going to be tempting us. In fact, it is my humble opinion that he tries to tempt those of outspoken faith and belief the most because that is a huge win for him if he gets us to sin, especially when others find out about it about it. It does a lot of damage when a pastor, elder, small group leader, or strong believer sins and it becomes known by many. He loves this. People expect a known and public repeat sinner to sin so that is not a big win to Satan when they sin again.

How do we avoid falling into Satan’s traps and temptations?

  1. Acknowledge he’s real and tempting us daily..even by the hour and the minute.
  2. Stay in prayer and the Word. Expectancy theory says that which you think about expands. If you spend more time with God, you’ll stay close to and be thinking about Him keeping you insulated. Satan knows the Scriptures as we see her, but so did Jesus as we see here in Matthew 4:4, Matthew 4:7, and Matthew 4:10.
  3. Stay in close community with other believers through church and small group to keep you accountable (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12). Consider reading The Resolution for Men and The Resolution for Women with other male or female believers…committing to the Resolution at the end.
  4. Stay humble and on watch…even as we mature in our faith. If he tried to tempt Jesus, he will tempt us!

Even the Lord’s Prayer tells us to pray “Lead us not into temptation” in Matthew 6:13. Let us put on the armor of God and answer the call today and everyday Timothy gives us in 1 Timothy 6:11-12.

“But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”