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Thoughts for the Day: Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.
Monday, August 17, 2009
1 Peter 5:8. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.
Your Adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Distinguishing between dangerous solitariness and productive solitude.
*Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, by the Lockman Foundation.*
No believer is exempted by trials and temptations. Trials are intended to make us grow by refusing to fall into sin. Trials are God's invitation to win over our weakness and problems. Temptations, on the other hand, are Satan's invitation to sin. He wants us to solve our problems our way so that God does not get the honor. Trials and temptations usually deal with the same thing or issue. A person who has become so desperate about life and wants to kill himself is undergoing a TRIAL (God wants him to overcome his suicidal thoughts) and a TEMPTATION (Satan says - get it over with so you can rest). Trials are of verying degrees from the slightly tempting to the overwhelmingly tempting. the best case study about temptation is in Matthew 4 and Luke where Satan himself, the MAIN GUY in tempter (he is called the TEMPTER) attempted to make the Lord Jesus do someting that was clearly not in accord with the Father's will. There is so much that we can learn from this encounter between the Lord Jesus and the Tempter.
Luke 4:1
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by devil. And He ate nothing during thoses days; and when they had ended, He became hungry. 3 And the devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." 4 And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone." 5 And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, "I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I will give it to whomever I wish." 7 "Therefore if You worship before me, is shall be all Yours." 8 And Jesus answered and said to him, "It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only". 9 And he led Him to Jerusalem and he had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; 10 for it is written, 'He will give His angels charge concerning You to guard You, 11 and, 'On their hands they will bear You up, Lest You strike Your foot against a stone.' " 12 And Jesus answered and said to him, "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." 13 And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him until an oppotune time.
PART 1: Satan's favorite timing with regards to TEMPTATION:
SATAN'S FAVORITE TIME TO TEMPT US: WHEN WE FIND OURSELVES ALONE. Hoping to find us helpless and defenseless, Satan waits until we are alone and then begins to tempt us. This is what he did to the Lord Jesus.
Luke 4:1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by devil. And He ate nothing during thoses days; and when they had ended, He became hungry.
Jesus had been in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. He was really alone. Because He was alone, Satan need not worry about any interference from others. The record in Matthew seems to indicate that Jesus faced Satan's temptation at the end of the forty days. Luke, however, tells us an important part of the story: SATAN TEMPTED TO BRING DOWN JESUS THROUGH TEMPTATION FOR FORTY DAYS.
As soon as Jesus was alone, and Satan saw that He was alone, he worked on Jesus to divert the attention of Jesus from the purpose of His fasting to see the special offer that Satan was presenting to him. Day one, Satan saw that Jesus was alone. Satan started right away. Second Day, Jesus was still alone, Satan was there again. Every single day of the forty days that Jesus was in the wilderness, Satan bombarded Him with temptations. The nature of the temptation, the special offer may have been the same, but the frequency was based on the fact that Jesus was alone.
At any time we are alone, and the solitude is not used properly, Satan comes into the picture and confronts us with all kinds of temptations, all the purpose of driving us to submission to his will and not God's will. Remember what God has said in Genesis? It is not good for man to be alone. There is one thing we can do to help each other avoid dangerous solitariness which is different from productive solitude.
A dose of GOD'S word and teaching a day will surely lead us to the right track and path.
make it a habit to draw our lives near closer to God for surely we may experience a better life with Him.
God bless you all and have a great sunday.
more devotional teachings to be posted daily for may we be enlightened through the days that may pass by.
Posted at 2:00 PM | tag.lang.ng.tag daily devotions, God, God's word, Jesus, sober, spirit, teachings |
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