Matthew Chapter 4 and Luke Chapter 4 record the story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. There are many things we can learn from these stories, and I would like to point out a few.

First, Matthew 4:1 says, “Jesus was led into the wilderness by the spirit to be tempted there.” Sometimes even when we are doing the right thing and following the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we will be brought to a situation where we will be tested. I wrote in a past post “Self-Inflicted or a Test” that I believe we experience challenges and tests in our lives for one of two reasons, either we bring it on ourselves, or God is testing us to make us better.

Second, The story lists three specific temptations, hunger, protection, and power. In each of these temptations Jesus resists the temptation with scripture as his weapon to fight back. For instance, Matthew 4:10 writes, “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” The more scripture we know and remember, the more ammunition we will have to resist our temptations.

Third, after Jesus resisted the temptations, the devil went away. Matthew 4:11 writes, “Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.” If we resist, with God’s help we can over-come all temptation. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”

This story is great demonstration of how Jesus was truly a man and faced temptation like us, and also how we are to deal with the temptations that attack us.

Dear Lord, We know that all temptations can be overcome if we rely on you. Help us build up our ability to resist temptation with knowledge of your word and trust in your power to overcome any temptation we may experience. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

James writes in James 2:20 that, “Faith without works is dead.” This passage is often discussed as an argument to protestant perspectives that Grace alone through faith is all we need for Salvation. Fortunately, my message today is not to discuss this issue, but to look at this passage a little differently.

Tony Robbins, the popular personal development author, speaker, and coach says in his book. “Never leave the scene of a decision without taking a specific action toward it’s accomplishment.”

You might ask what these two things have in common?

Jesus says in Matthew 17:20, “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Similar to the Tony Robbins perspective on decisions, Having faith that God will take care of us, and answer our prayers, is great, but he expects us to take action that shows we expect he will do so. We could kind of think of it like a modified version of the Tony Robbins quote, “Never have Faith without taking action that demonstrates it.”

In every Christian’s success we see them putting their faith in God, then taking the step forward in that faith. Their success happens when they take that first step demonstrating their faith.

Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.” Key word, “actions.”

Dear Lord, we believe in our hearts that you care and are there for us. Help us to show our belief by taking actions that rely on your involvement in our lives. in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

“The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.” ~ Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis”

We all get our physical traits from the genes and DNA we receive from our parents. Our hair color, eye color, height, and even many of our personality traits come from the DNA we receive.

Paul writes in Ephesians 1:5, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.”

He says we are God’s “adopted” children, but we are more than adopted in the natural sense, we have God’s Spirit in us. I like to think of it like we have God’s spiritual DNA. With the Holy Spirit in us, we take on traits God desired for us replacing our wrong natural behaviors.

John 1:12-13 “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.”

Paul writes more about being God’s children in Romans 8:9, “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you….8:11, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.”…8:14, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”

The more we replace our human will with God’s will from the Spirit inside us, the more our traits will be God’s traits.

Dear Lord, We are so blessed that you have given us your Spirit to live in us, and to be your children. Help us submit ourselves to your Spirit so that we may live as your obedient children. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

This is one of those “counter-intuitive,” opposite of secular understanding, things about Christianity. The knowledge that when we honestly lay all of our disobedience to God out in front of him with honest remorse, God forgives us the moment we ask.

Psalm 103:12 writes, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

The challenge many people have is that they have trouble accepting the forgiveness God is offering,, for the simple act of sincerely asking.

Carrying the guilt and shame of un-confessed sin can make people physically ill as they dwell on it and are unable to overcome.

Psalm 32:1-3, says, “What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven! What joys when sins are covered over! What relief for those who have confessed their sins and God has cleared their record. There was a time when I wouldn’t admit what a sinner I was. But my dishonesty made me miserable and filled my days with frustration.” TLB The NET version translates the last verse, “When I refused to confess my sin,my whole body wasted away,while I groaned in pain all day long.”

And Paul writes in Romans 3:3, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

It is so important for each of us to spend time confessing our disobedience to God’s will and just as important, to accept the forgiveness that God promises.

Dear Lord, We are sorry that we constantly fail to live up to your standard. Give us the strength to strive to do what you would have us do, and forgive us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

We all have occasions when our faith loses some energy. For some people, this occurs when something bad happens. They wonder “how could God have let that happen?” and their faith weakens. For others, they have been hoping and praying for something for a long time, and their faith begins to weaken waiting and wondering.

One of the great aspects of the Bible is that it usually contains an example that compares to most anything we encounter in our lives today.

Paul wrote the book of Romans about 20 years after his conversion from a persecutor of Christians, to a leader of them. Even he after spreading the news of Jesus Christ throughout the region for 20 years, he needed occasional encouragement.

He wrote in Romans 1:12, “When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.”

Paul is showing us that even he needs support in his faith journey. If Paul needed that, undoubtedly so do we. This is one of the reasons it is important to have Christian friends and regularly attend church where we can get the support and encouragement, to help us through those times our faith is challenged.

Dear Lord, Thank you for the opportunity to associate with other Christians to whom we can provide encouragement, and from whom we can get encouraged. Help us remember how important this is. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.