PREPARED FOR TEMPTATION

 

PREPARED FOR TEMPTATION

Matt. 4:1-2 Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted there by the Devil. For forty days and forty nights he ate nothing and became very hungry. NLT

Have you ever wondered why Jesus was led into the wilderness and why it is important for us to know? I believe that it was important for Jesus so that He would be properly prepared for what was to come. Jesus was about to go through the most intense period of temptation that anyone would ever know. He was going to be offered all that Satan had to offer. He was going to be tempted on the deepest levels of His soul. God knew what was ahead for Him, and so the Holy Spirit came alongside of Him and led Him to a place where He would be prepared to handle the temptations.

Often we face our temptations and fail so miserably because we are not prepared to handle them. We usually go with the flow of life and deal with things as we face them instead of taking a proactive approach and live in a state oF readiness for whatever we face. We then are blindsided and caught off guard. Instead of having our spiritual defenses in place, we are vulnerable and often fail to withstand the temptations to sin.

Being prepared means we take our relationship with God seriously. We take the time to be alone with Him and draw from Him our strength and wisdom on how to resist Satan. We arm ourselves with the Word of God so that we can refute Satan’s assault. It is what Jesus did. And when Satan tried to twist the Word to accomplish his goal, Jesus properly handled the Word and shut Satan down. It takes time and focus to be able to effectively deal with temptations with the Word of God, but it’s our only hope of being victorious.

Don’t wait until temptations strike to try and overcome them. Arm yourself well beforehand with the Word of God and fellowship with Him. You cannot defeat Satan on your own; he is far too crafty and knowledgeable. Wait on the Lord and He will renew your strength and equip your soul for what is ahead.