forty days and forty nights

How To Use The Word Of God To Endure Temptation?

The Temptation of Christ, 1854

The Temptation of Christ, 1854 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Everybody faces temptation. It pursues you like a predator stork its prey. Young or old, temptation entices your wish. It follows you wherever you go. It enters into your thoughts, your dreams, and even into your prayers.

In the book of Matthew 18:7-9, Jesus warns that temptation to sin is sure to come:  He says:”Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or disabled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.  And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than  to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”

There is absolutely no doubt that God could spare you from such enticement, but He has decided not to. Instead, He uses Jesus as an example for you to emulate. According to Matthew 4:3-7, He endures temptation after He had fasted for forty days and forty nights.

“Now when the devil came to Jesus, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

However, Jesus answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’

 Then the devil took Jesus up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you.’

And,

‘In their hands; they shall bear you up,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.’

Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

So when temptation comes, do as Jesus did. He uses the Word of God to turn back every sinful challenge the devil throws at Him. He knew the flesh by itself cannot endure temptation. Still temptation is sure but yielding is sin.

Walking in the perfect will of God

The Temptation of Christ, 1854

Image via Wikipedia

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, comes in the flesh, bringing the character and nature of God into every aspect of life. Jesus came in a human body and with human needs. He walked in the perfect will of God, even when times were difficult.

When facing persecutions and suffering, Jesus endured them; when facing the temptations of life, Jesus resisted them; when facing the attacks of the devil, Jesus overcame them; when it came to the sins of others, Jesus forgave them.

Jesus is our example. He took on the human nature so that He could teach us how to live the Christian life. He lived a perfect life, despite the trials and tribulation the enemy put Him through.

There is not one thing we Christians face today that Jesus did not face. The enemy tested His morals, His knowledge of the law, His commitment to God, and the devil even tried to entice Him with things but He never yielded to temptation. Instead, He used the Word of God as a weapon.

Jesus used the Word of God to defeat the devil (Matthew 4:1-10)

1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.

3And when the tempter came to him, he said if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

4But he answered and said, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.

5Then the devil takes him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

7Jesus said unto him,  it is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

8Again, the devil takes him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9And saith unto him, all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Some people will argue that today’s world is vastly different than that of Jesus’ time, and that Christ never faced the kinds of distraction and temptation today’s Christians faced. But while that argument is true; His nature and characteristics were adamic and the same as ours are today. Hence, there is no excuse for us not to walk in the perfect will of God as Jesus did.