It Is Written

Devotion

3-26-10

It Is Written

 

Oh boy I am excited to share with you what the Lord is showing us in Luke 4 when He was faced with the temptations of the devil.  It is exciting to know that our Savior and Lord, God Himself faced the same temptations you and I face every day and the way He commanded the enemy to depart is so powerful for us to learn.  So let’s get right to it.

Take a look at Luke 4 again today.  Let’s start with verse three.  I am going to type the entire scripture out for you today because as I do I want to highlight what the Lord is teaching us.

Luke 4:3-13

3-4 “And the devil said to Him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread’ and Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

Notice that before Jesus quoted scripture He said, “It is written.” Why do you think He did this? It is important to understand that Satan knows who Jesus is and is doing everything he can to cause Him to stumble because he wants to deny the power of God and His word. So Jesus is reminding Satan that he knows the written words of God and he can not stand against them. He is showing him that the written, and now spoken, word of God gives Him power to overcome him. Yet, watch what Satan does.

 

5-7And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”  Here Satan is telling Jesus that he is more powerful than Him because he was given the domain of the earth by God when He cast him out of heaven as a fallen angel. He thinks he has the power of the earth and can tell Jesus he is the one who chooses the ruler of the earth. But once again Jesus is going to remind him of where the real truth comes from, the scriptures.

 8. Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” Jesus once again reminds Satan that God has the power to give someone domain over the earth and that He alone is worthy to be worshiped. Satan cannot fight the truth of the Word. Yet he tries one more time to tempt Jesus with his lies.

 

9-11 And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’” OK, pay special attention to what Satan did here.  He not only tempted Jesus but he tempted Him with scripture. Now he has taken the very words Jesus spoke, ‘It is written,’ and trying to use them against Jesus and make Him look wrong and stumble.  How many times do we see this in our lives? Someone will use scripture to try and prove to you that you are wrong in what you are saying or doing as a Christian.  For example: One of the scriptures used all the time is, “Do not judge least you be judged.”  People (both believers and unbelievers) who don’t want to change their ways will use this verse as a means of trying to say that we are being self-righteous and judgmental.  But is that the truth? It is very important to understand, not only the scriptures thrown at us, but also the scriptures we need to speak which will reveal the real truth of what God says about judging.  I will explain more about that in just a minute. First look at what Jesus says to Satan when he uses the scriptures wrongly.

12. And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

We must be careful not to do what Satan did in questioning Jesus.  We must not misuse the scriptures to meet our needs and desires and not care if we are using the scriptures correctly.        2 Timothy 2:15  “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”

 

Now let me ask you a question. Do you know what the Word says about judging?

Have you ever made the statement, Do not judge least you be judged, to any one?

Do you know how to respond to someone who uses that scripture on you?

 

First we must know, memorize scripture so we can recall it. 

Next we must pray for discernment so we can recognize when the enemy is tempting us with misusing the word of God.

Third, we must be willing to speak the word and allow the Lord to use us to fight the good fight of faith before the enemy to make him flee.

Here is the scripture I use when someone uses the “do not judge” verse on me.

John 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” 

So when someone tells me I am judging them because I tell them Jesus is the only way to heaven I can recall the scripture that tells me I am not the one who makes this judgment.  It has already been judged by God according to God’s word.

Note: the “do not judge” verse is Matthew 7:1 and the judgment being talked about here is when we think we are better than someone else.  That is as simple as I can put it.  We all make mistakes in our Christian walk and the Lord is telling us to be careful not to be too hand on one another’s faults because we have faults too and however we treat others concerning their faults we will be treated in return.  He wants us to show one another mercy through this verse.

 

Do you see now why it is so important to know the word of God and to rightly divide it? We can be guilty of misusing God’s word if we are not grounded in its Truth and seek the Holy Spirit’s understanding.  Some things in the Bible have been prejudged by God and there is no altering them whatsoever. But, there are other things in the Bible, God gives us freedom in and wants us to be merciful to one another about them.  However, if we do not study the Word we will not be able to know the difference.  But when we do know the Word and are able to recall it and use it in those moments of temptation, then my dear sisters and brothers we will receive the power of God and the enemy will leave us for a while and we will be ready the next time he returns to tempt us again.

 

13. When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

 

God has provided each of us, His children, a way to make the enemy run, He has given us the power of His word. He proved it worked for Him and it will work for us, He says it in His word, for it is written. 

He Used It, Shouldn't We

Devotion

3-25-10

He Used It, Shouldn’t We

Luke 4:1-4

Joyce quietly walked in the brisk evening air as she looked to heaven for the answers of her heart. It seemed that every day that passed was filled with unexpected heartbreak and in moments like that she felt completely alone.  She didn’t want to talk about it because she didn’t want to overwhelm others with her self-pity, yet she longed for a friend to walk beside her and listen to her cries. Suddenly she stopped and watched the water softly flow in the pound beside her as she listened to the sound of birds singing and fluttering from tree to tree.  She looked up towards heaven and began to talk to God.

 

Father, I don’t know why I feel this way.  I can’t seem to figure out what is bothering me and why I feel so alone and on the verge of depression.  I know what Your word says.  I know that You are in control.  I know all things work to the good to those who love You.  Yet, this feeling is pulling me down.  I am tired, worn out, and just want to be still and not even think of anything.  But I know the ache inside me right now is overwhelming to my soul and I need Your help.  Joyce fought back the tears and had to stop talking because of the lump in her throat.  Suddenly she recalled a song she had heard on the radio and sung many times when she had felt this way in the past.  So, through the tears she began to sing. “When you’re up against the wall…” she swallowed fighting back the deep seated tears and then continued. “…and your mountains seem so tall, and you realize life’s not always fair.  You can run away and hide, let this old man decide, or you can change your circumstances with a prayer.” Again Joyce stopped. She thought about the words she had just sung, looked up to heaven and a small smile etched her face.  A little sparkle came into her eye and she continued to sing starting from the beginning.

 

“When you’re up against the wall and your mountains seem so tall, and you realize life’s not always fair. You can runaway and hide, let this old man decide, or you can change your circumstances with a prayer.  When everything falls apart, praise His name. When you have a broken heart raise your hands and say, Lord, You’re all I need, You’re everything to me, He’ll take the pain away. When you feel you’re all alone, praise His name, when you think you can’t go on raise your hands and say, greater is He that is within me, He will take the hurt away, if you’ll just praise His name.  Oh… you can overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the words of your testimony.  You will see the darkness go and your faith begin to grown, oh you’re not alone so how can you be lonely?  When everything falls apart, praise His name.  When you have a broken heart raise your hands and say, greater is He that is within me, you can praise the hurt away. Greater is He that is within me, you can praise the hurt away, if you’ll just praise His name.” 

Joyce was recalling a song that was scripturally sound.  We can overcome the situations we are facing when we know where to turn for help.  In yesterday’s devotion we saw how Jesus recalled words that helped Him.  He recalled the scriptures and quoted them.  Joyce did the same thing as she talked to the Lord and then sang a song that reminded her of His faithfulness to calm her ache as she praised His name. 

 

Take a look at Luke 4:1-4 again.  The Lord wants us to see that He was at a very difficult time.  He had fasted in the wilderness for forty days and now He was hungry.  We all know that when we are hungry, really hungry, that it can be hard to think rationally.  We might become frustrated, impatient, or even selfishly angry because our bellies hurt from emptiness.  The enemy will use all those pains in our bellies to cause us to lose sight of God’s faithfulness to provide.  But, Jesus, the very Son of God, God in man form, who could have made bread appear out of nothing, stood before Satan being tempted to turn a stone into bread but He didn’t do it.  Why?  _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Do you think that it is important to know God’s word during times of frustration and trial? ________________________________________________________________________

 

Do you think it is easy to overcome the struggles of depression, loneliness, or sadness? ________________________________________________________________________

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Think of a time when you were hurting, hungry, or alone.  How did you respond to that moment? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Do you think just praising the name of Jesus can make a difference in your life? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Joyce recalled the promises of God and the importance of praising Him in her lowest moments.  It took a little time but it lightened her heart, made her smile, and gave her a feeling of hope again.  She was strengthened through her praise of Jesus because His power and peace poured over her through it.  In praising Him she overcame the enemy trying to keep her focused on self.  

 

We all need to know more of God’s word so that we have the sword to pierce the enemy when he attacks us with the lies of depression, bitterness, loneliness, etc.  These are real emotions and issues we all have dealt with in some way or another, but when we have received Jesus as our Savior and Lord, His Spirit dwells within us and greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. With Him in us we have the power to overcome.  Jesus, God in man’s form could have done anything to defeat the devil, but He used the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. If He used it, shouldn’t we?

Know the Word

Devotion

Know the Word

Luke 4:1-13

 

Yesterday the Lord showed us that we must be on guard because the enemy is waiting to make us stumble by testing our faithfulness to the Lord. Knowing the weaknesses of the flesh he is able to put ideas before us that are very tempting and even sound right, that is why we must be prepared to defend our faith and stand strong on the word. Jesus knew this and was fully aware of the schemes of the devil because He faced them himself while on the earth.  Let’s take another look at Luke 4 and see how Jesus was able to guard His spirit against the devil.

 

Open up to Luke 4 and read verses 1-13.

 

Notice that in verse one Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit. This is when He is returning from the Jordan where He was baptized.  (The receiving of a blessing) Note: This is often when the enemy comes to tempt us with pride. Right after a blessing.

 

Jesus is then led by the Spirit into the wilderness for fasting and praying.  (The wilderness is often the place in our lives when we are facing challenges, but they are what the Lord uses to strengthen our walk with Him which prepares us for the coming blessings.) Note: This is a second time the enemy uses to tempt us with giving up. Notice how he tries to tempt Jesus during this time.

 

Read verse two again. What happened at the end of His 40 days of fasting?  ________________________________________________________________________

 

Do you see that? It says that when the fasting had ended, THEN He became hungry.

 

Go to verse three. What does the devil do knowing Jesus is hungry? ________________________________________________________________________

 

What does he say to Jesus? ________________________________________________________________________

 

So what we see is the devil trying to tempt Jesus to create a miracle of turning the stones into bread so He can fill the emptiness of His belly.  Satan knows Jesus is hungry for food and uses the food as a means for wanting to make Jesus stumble.  I think this is an area most of us can relate to at one time or another in our lives.  Knowing that food is an area of weakness for most humans, what can we do to fight the temptations?  Let’s look at what Jesus did, how He replied to the temptation. 

 

Take a look at verse four.  What is Jesus reply? ________________________________________________________________________

 

With His reply what do you gain from what He said? ________________________________________________________________________

 

It is important for us to notice that Jesus was not just being clever here with His words.  Jesus was fighting the enemy with the Word.  As we continue to study this chapter we will see over and over again that Jesus was able to stand firm by knowing the Word and knowing how to use the Word in times of testing.

 

Think about your own life right now.  What areas of your life are being tested?  Do you wonder how you are going to overcome? Well the first step we each need to take is to have a relationship with Jesus by asking Him to be not just our Savior, but also the Lord of our lives.  Next, get in His word.  We must do as Jesus did.  We must know the word so that we can recall it in our times of testing.  The sword of the Spirit is the word of God (Eph 6:17).  It is the sword that pierces the enemy. 

 

Jesus is our example.  Know the word; know what it says and how to quote it.  In order to recall it, to quote it when you need it, you must hind it in your heart.  This means we must memorize it.  When you memorize it, meditate upon it, and apply it to your life you will be equipped as Jesus was to fight the temptations of the enemy.  In fact you will not just know how to fight you will know when the enemy is setting a fight before you.

 

Read Ephesians 6: 1-20 and which ever verse stands out to you, memorize it.  Let the word strengthen you.  Know the word and you will be able to overcome the temptations of the devil upon your flesh and spirit.

 

Write the verse you want to memorize

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Now write a letter to the Lord asking Him to help you recall it when you need it.

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Just the Right Moment

Devotion

3-23-10

Just the Right Moment

 

Every business knows just the right moment to present their new idea or product so that you and I will be more likely to buy them. Every government knows when the timing is right to draw the attention of its people in a different direction so they don’t notice what is really happening. Moms know the right moment for telling their children no to something that may hurt them. Every military strategist knows the right timing with the right moment for sending in its troops or making an attack.  There is always an opportune time for things to happen and the one thing you and I as believers must understand is that the enemy also has an opportune time to attack us when it is least expected. 

 

This past week, I went with the youth choir from my church on a choir tour through Oklahoma and into Texas. Needless to say, we came back on a high.  God showed up in a powerful way and we all saw Him reveal Himself and cause us to evaluate our walk with Him.  So when we got back everyone was talking and so excited to take what they had gained from their time away with the Lord and use it as they returned to work, school, and play.  Every heart touched was so sincere about the change that took place within them.  Oh the blessings we each received and oh the desire to keep the fire burning within us. However, it is also a time we must be on guard.

 

Satan has three moments in our lives that become opportunities for him to discourage us and draw us away from the Truth.  The first opportune time is when we have just come out of a blessing, like the choir tour, and we are feeling really good about it all.  Yet, it is just when we have received a blessing that we must be on guard because the enemy knows that as believers he can not indwell us but he can cause us lots of trouble and right after a blessing in our lives is when he likes to send in his little evil worriers to pull us down. (Please note: Satan cannot be everywhere all the time, only God can, so he will use his fallen angels called demons to do his dirty work.) So we as believers, as followers of Jesus, we must be prepared and aware of the schemes of the devil. We must be prepared to fight the battle and not lose our focus on Christ.  We must guard our hearts and minds during this time or the enemy will feed us lies that we have done something good so that we become proud and think we did a great thing, when in reality it was God who did all the work in us and through us which provided the many blessings.

 

The second opportune time is when you are about to receive a blessing.  The enemy, Satan, his demons, or just our sinful flesh, will often jump in right at this moment to mess up the good things, the blessings that are coming.  Oh he may not know what the blessing is the Lord wants to give you, but he does know that he can discourage you and cause you to cast your eyes down and not see God’s promises.  You must be aware during these moments and ask the Lord to give you discernment so you will understand. You must hold on through the challenges you are facing because God has a blessing just around the corner waiting for you and the enemy wants you to doubt God and to give up so you don’t receive that blessing or that it takes longer to receive it.

 

The third opportune time is when we are physically, mentally or emotionally tired. When we are not rested up our bodies become weak and our minds don’t want to think. We want to cover our heads and turn away from the idea of having to study, talk, or do anything.  These moments can be very dangerous in our spiritual lives because if we are not careful we will use our tiredness as the reason for not reading God’s word, not praying, and not fellowshipping with our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we do that we become prime targets for the enemy to grip us with his lies. 

 

It is very important to understand that no matter whom we are or how strong a faith we believe we have, we can still be faced with the temptations of the enemy just like our Savior was in Luke 4.  The difference is that Jesus knew what was going on and He knew how to fight it.  So let’s learn from Him and apply what He did to our own lives so that we too will be equipped in the battle against the enemy and the flesh. Then when we have been given a blessing, when we are about to receive a blessing, or when we are tired and worn out we will not be misled by the enemy and we will instead embrace the truth of God’s word and His promises for us.

 

Please take time today and read Luke 4:1-20. Tomorrow we will examine how Satan used the opportune times in Jesus’ life to try to make Him fail.  But we have a Savior who did not fail and has provided us the way to overcome the enemy.  To enjoy the blessings, to look forward for more blessings, and to rest in Him when we are tired and worn out, because just at the right moment He gave His life for us so that we could enjoy the moment He embraces us into His family. 

 

Below, write a letter to your Savior and thank Him for overcoming the enemy, for giving you life and for providing a way for you to not give in to the lies of the enemy.  This is just the right moment for you to praise Him and tell Him how much you need Him and love Him.

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Eyes Wide Open

Devotion

3-22-10

Eyes Wide Open

Matthew 24:4

“And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘See to it that no one misleads you.”

 

Today’s devotion is a word of encouragement to all the sisters and brothers who are reading this.  Yesterday our country passed the health care bill and so many Christians are broken and upset.  But I wanted to share the scripture above with you today because the Lord wants to remind us that His return isn’t that far off.  Yet, as we wait for His return we are to stay alert and to make sure we are not misled by the world’s lies.

 

It is so easy to get caught up in the busy life of work, school etc, but we have to get to a place where we realize the seriousness of what the world is doing and how they want to eliminate Christianity.  But we as believers have a promise from God, a promise that He will never leave us or forsake us.  A promise that He is with us every step of the way and will give us the strength to press forward in whatever He calls us to do.

 

 The Lord doesn’t want us to be taken in by the lies of the world or to be misled by someone who calls themselves Christian just to meat their needs.  So it is my prayer for each of you, and for me; that we will focus our eyes on the Lord in such a way that nothing brings us fear; that we will see the truth of those around us and not be misled by them. 

 

God is faithful and one thing we know is that He promises to come back and take us to live with Him in heaven.  The health care bill may have passed but it cannot take care of us like God’s care can.  He knows what is happening in this country and the world and it all must take place for the fulfillment of His word and for Him to come and take each of His children to heaven for eternity.  Do not fear, do not be misled.

 

Whatever we face in the days ahead in our own personal lives, within our country, within the world and within the family of God we can be sure of this.  Our God is faithful to His children, He will never leave us or forsake us, He will continually give us a way out and He will always give us the discernment of who to trust and who not to trust.  The key is that we must ask Him, we must allow Him to work in us and through us.  We must take our concerns to Him and then trust Him with them.  There is nothing our God cannot do. No one He cannot change.  No situation He cannot use for His glory.

 

Keep your eyes wide open to the truth of God’s word, study it, memorize it, meditate upon it so that you will be equipped to not only know the truth but to discern lies.  Then and only then will you be able to withstand the enemy and not be misled by his lies.

Read Matthew chapter 24 this week.  Read it every night and meditate upon it.

 

Write Matthew 24:4

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How can you apply this verse to your life today?  Think of a situation you are dealing with and apply this verse to it and see if it helps you see a clear picture of what is happening.  ________________________________________________________________________

 

Are you concerned about what you see happening in our country and the world?  Are you prepared to make godly decisions concerning the issues before us? Are you willing to do what it takes to educate your children (or someone younger than you) with the truth of God’s word?

 

Write a letter to God sharing your thoughts about what is happen in our country and the world.  Ask the Lord to reveal to you the truth of those around you so that you will not be misled by false teachers or the lies of the world.  God loves you and wants you to love Him completely, trusting Him with your life. Now write your letter conveying what is on your heart.  The Lord is listening and He will give you eyes to see truth so no one will mislead you.

 

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God bless you on your journey, as you travel with eyes wide open you will see and know God’s truth. With His heartbeat, your sister in Christ, Bunny