Sometimes, it gets difficult to resist the devil and we fall into temptation. The temptation is then followed by guilt, at least for me. I start thinking about how in the world I ended up doing such a thing. This becomes a recurring thing to the point that some of us distance ourselves from God and find ourselves back in our old habits of life without realizing it. Fortunately, our God is a merciful God, He is always ready to welcome us back without asking for anything. The good news is that you are not the only one that gets tempted by the devil. Jesus, the son of God, was tempted.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Matthew 4: 1-3
Right before Jesus fasts, the bible tells us that He got baptized and at that moment, heaven was opened and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him (Read Matthew 3: 16-17). I believe that this was a precious moment for Jesus, a moment of celebration as God the Father testified in front of everyone that Jesus is the son of God whom He love and in Him He is well pleased (Matthew 3:17). I strongly believe that Jesus could feel, in His human nature, that He is loved and cherished by the Father. After the moment of celebration, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights (Matthew 4:1-3). Jesus was in a position of weakness because He was hungry. The devil took that opportunity to test Him, he was not afraid to test Jesus even if He knew that He was the son of God. Guess what? Jesus resisted the devil! In his weakness, He stood up and used the word of God to fight back.
Like Jesus, we enjoy our moment of celebration and dwell in the Lord, spending time with Him in prayer and worship. During those moments of celebration, it is easy for us to feel the presence of God. After that, the devil uses our weakness against us (this could be anything) and we feel like God is not there anymore to protect us, He is silent. The devil doesn’t like to see anyone loving and receiving love from God. He doesn’t like to see us happy and enjoying our lives. Unfortunately, we sometimes fall for it and forget to use our weapon, the word of God. To be able to use the word of God as a weapon, we must know it, we must spend time reading the bible to take advantage of it in times of temptation.
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. Matthew 4: 10-11
After multiple attempts, the devil finally let Jesus and the angels brought food to Jesus. Likewise, if you resist the devil long enough, using the word of God as a weapon against him, he will flew. Halleluiah! The devil is already defeated, he is just a liar. He tries to make you and I think that we are weak but let’s remind him that we will boast about our weaknesses because that’s when God’s power is made perfect in us (2 Corinthians 12:10). Jesus is your strength! A strength that will never fail.
Prayer: Father God, I thank you for your unfailing love. I thank you for your continues presence in my worst and best moments. Thank you for giving me your word as a weapon to use against the devil. Help me to stand up and resist the devil every time he tries to put me down. I know that He will flew and the angels will come to attend me with anything I will need in that moment and even more. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
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