Note: I made a bit of a mistake, I had prepared this post but the scripture is from yesterday's reading. Keep in reading down, so you'll find a bit on today's reading.
Through Luke 4:1-12 we see Jesus being tempted by the enemy in all possible ways.
We sometimes think that Jesus’ temptations were not real because they were not exactly like ours. There was never a sinful pull or a sinful memory inside of Jesus, like in us. But in many ways, Jesus’ temptations were more real and more severe. For us, often times the pressure of temptation only relents when we give in – and Jesus never did. He had to withstand a much greater pressure of temptation than you or I ever will.
Nevertheless Jesus answered every temptation the devil used against him with God's Word.
In this passage we read how Jesus repeatedly said "it is written..." and quoted scriptures that directly addressed the enemy's lies and schemes.
What about us?
Quite recently I had a chat with one of my mentors. An elderly woman, who's passionate about God and His word. And as I confessed the struggles I had recently gone through and how I was a bit concerned, anxious and stressed to try again, to persist into the same situation I failed before, she encouraged me with this passage.
She encouraged me to speak back at the enemy with the truth...with God's word and the most important thing... to persist.
We may start strong fighting the devil with the Word, truth is that when we don't see quick results, often times we stop speaking the truth and fall into talking, believing or accepting what our feelings or our circumstances dictate us.
Let me encourage you today to be persistent as you wage war against the enemy by speaking the word.
Let us take the example of a stonecutter. It may take ninety-nine times without making a crack in the rock but at the hundredth strike it may split the rock in two! Each little strike weakens the rock, even though there are no visible signs of it.
Persistence is vital if we want to achieve victory in our lives just as it is in the stonecutter's work.
Let us not slow down or give up on speaking the word of God against the enemy.
Today's reading- September 28thLuke 4:14- 5:39
Stepping out to find out!
I believe the only way to ever fulfill our destinies and succeed is to take many, many steps of faith.
But stepping out into the unknowns and longing out into the deep water can be frightening, don't you think so?
Unfortunately many people never step out out of fear, and therefore never get to find out what they are capable of.
God's desire for us is to take us from Glory to glory, from victory to victory, but that does not happen just automatically...without us having any input, without us taking active steps.
God wants us to step out into something new or challenging, what? to be glorified in our lives. To prove that without him we can't do anything (John 13:35)
Let us not join the people who miss God's will for their lives because they like to play it safe. The phrase "better safe than sorry" doesn't apply in God's economy.
Seeds of obedience produce a blessed and prosperous harvest. Nothing is better than knowing you are operating in God's will at the same time, nothing is worse than knowing you are not.
Warning- while we should step out and respond in faith and obedience to what God is leading us to, we should not act onside wild thought we have or on a lie satan tries to lure us into destruction. It is always important to learn to be led by discernment in the inner man (the spirit) and not by our own carnal minds or what other people suggest to us.
Let us be willing to go into deep waters for God. Let us ask Him to make clear what He wants us to do and then obey!
Have a lovely, blessed weekend.
with love, from Botswana
Angie