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Tag: The Temptation of Christ

40 days and 40 nights :: Time to get Strong (Spiritually)

This is part of the 40 days and 40 nights series.

The Bible states that Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness and after he had fasted for forty days and forty nights, the tempter (devil) came to him and tested/tempted him.

First it is important to recognize that Jesus was not alone in the wilderness. It was the Holy Spirit of God who was with him and who led him. Second, it is interesting to recognize that the tempter comes to tempt Jesus, during his time of physical weakness – after he had fasted for forty days and forty nights. The forty days and forty nights was the time before Jesus’ testing. Physically Jesus was empty but spiritually he was fully charged and even in his hunger, he had full control of his mind and effectively used the quick, powerful and sharp two-edged sword of God (the Scripture) (Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12) to fight against the tempter and his temptations. His Spirit was willing and he did not succumb to the desires of his flesh.

Points to ponder:
When the Spirit of God leads us, even the wilderness of our lives is not a place where we are to feel alone and though physically (in the flesh) we may be weak, we will be strong and super-charged spiritually (in our spirit), when we are led by the Spirit of God. The Spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak (Matthews 26:41), so we ought to watch for the Spirit’s supervision and watch out for satan’s schemes (Ephesians 6:11; 2 Corinthians 2:11) and pray that the Lord deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13) so that we do not fall into temptation (Matthew 26:40-41). Are you feeling lonely? Are you strong and supercharged?

Matthew 4:1-3a (KJV)
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, ..

The tempter’s tricks

The accuser of the brethren and God’s adversary, the devil is known for a few tricks that he has up his sleeve, by which he attempts to beguile and mislead those who belong to Christ Jesus. To understand his schemes, it is best to look at the way he approached to tempt the sinless Jesus Christ. The temptation of Jesus Christ is recorded in the book of Matthew 4:1-10.

The first trick of the devil is that he appeals to the appetite. Jesus was hungry after fasting for forty days and forty nights, and the devil tempted Jesus by appealing to appetite, asking Jesus to turn the stones to bread. Jesus responded from the Scripture, stating that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”. Secondly, the devil tempted Jesus by appealing to avarice, to usurp the throne of God that He had humbly given up, by questioning the position Jesus had (as he did the first time), which was “the Son the God”. When the devil tried to tempt the Jesus by asking Jesus to test the Lord God, Jesus responded by stating, the the Lord God should not be tested. Finally the devil tempted Jesus by appealing to ambition. The third time, note, how the devil does not question Jesus by asking Him if Jesus was the son of God, but instead, shows him all the kingdoms of the earth and attempt to appeal to Jesus’ ambition (quest for power and position).

The devil appeals to our appetite (physical primarily), our avarice (greed for more) and an appeal to our ambition (quest for power and position).  Let us hold fast to the Scripture (as Jesus Christ did) and use the word of God, so that we may not fall into the traps laid for us by the devil.

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