Temptation Episode
Luke 4:1
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness and being forty days tempted of the devil.
If Satan would be so bold as to tempt Jesus, then he will tempt anybody.
If he will approach the Son of God, the Holy God, then he will certainly work on you and me.
Jesus had just received his spiritual credentials.
He had been baptized in the River Jordan,
proclaimed the Son of God by God's voice from heaven
while the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove descended upon him.
Jesus was led by the Holy Ghost into the wilderness. So he was in the right place because the Holy Ghost had led him there.
Then the devil showed up.
Whenever the Lord rises to bless us, Satan rises to blast us.
Jesus, the Christ, was in the will of the Father and he was still tempted.
I know many of you think because you're in the will of God you are safeguarded from temptation, but Satan cruises around to find people that are doing God's will.
The devil doesn't bother you that much when you're doing nothing.
But when you make up your mind that you're going to
make a difference for good;
win somebody for the Lord;
live a life that's pleasing in his sight,
you're upsetting the devil.
And so he sets up traps to try to destroy you - to distract you.
He tries to damage your testimony.
No person is exempt from temptation; you never reach a point in your life when you are no longer vulnerable to its appeal.
And there is no place you can go where you can escape temptation.
Adam was in the garden.
Jesus was in the wilderness.
You can be tempted in any environment.
Temptation itself is not wrong.
However, yielding to that temptation is wrong.
The devil will attack; he will approach every last one of us sooner or later.
Jesus was prepared for the attack.
Are you?
Adapted from 365 Days in the Presence of God: Daily Devotions from the Sermons of Dr. Frank Ray.
Prayer:
Loving heavenly Father,
thank You so much that the Lord Jesus experienced all the kinds of temptations that I will meet as I walk with You.
Today I set my heart firmly in Your direction, so that I will come through successfully, every temptation placed before me with Your help.
Thank You, Lord Jesus Christ for going before me, even in this,
Amen.
