GOD AND 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

      Why was Jesus led out into the wilderness?  He was about to endure the most intense testing of the soul man could ever imagine.  Satan was going to exploit His vulnerabilities.  He was going to do his very best to sidetrack Jesus so He would not fulfill His role as the promised Messiah.

       Jesus had left the only dwelling place He had ever known, the dwelling place of God.  He had never been anywhere but in the presence of perfect holiness.  He had never been tempted with the allurements of sinful pleasure.  Satan thought he could get to Jesus and he threw at Him his best shots.

      Jesus spent 40 days and nights preparing himself for this day of temptation.  He fasted before God and did all He could do to be ready.  The spirit was willing to say no, but would His flesh endure the assault of Satan? 

       At the end of His time of preparation, Jesus was ready.  He was fresh off of time with God.  He had been immersed in the Word He knew so well.  He had been in sweet fellowship with our Father.  He was prepared for whatever Satan could throw at Him.  He would not cave in.

      It is imperative that we too live in a state of readiness.  We stumble and fall into sin because we have not prepared our souls for the battle.  We rush into our days with little time spent with the Lord.  We get preoccupied with earthly things and seldom take the time to think about the Lord.  We are not immersed in the Word so that we can readily bring it to mind when temptation comes.  Is it any wonder that we often fall into sin? 

      Don’t take for granted the state of your soul.  In order to be strong, you have to consistently feed it.  You must linger in the Word and in the presence of the Lord.  It takes time and effort, but you can do it.  You must do it if you are going to live right before God.         

     If you try to stand up to Satan on your own, you will soon discover you are overmatched.  We cannot resist temptation effectively without the Lord’s help.  Arm yourself with God’s Word, spend plenty of time in fellowship with Him, and you will find that you have a much greater success record than you ever had before.