The Devil Tempts Jesus in the Wilderness

nJesus was tempted of the devil in the wilderness. Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights. You can imagine just how hungry Jesus was after fasting these forty days and forty nights. The tempter, who is the devil, went to Jesus and said if you are the son of God, make these stones become bread. The devil thought he for sure had Jesus stumped on this one. He thought Jesus would be hungry enough to just about do anything at this point. And if you think about it for a minute, sometimes when we are at our lowest points in life, the devil will come along and offer us some kind of sin or unrighteousness in hopes of seeing us lose integrity with God and fall from grace. God allows us all to be tempted and tried just as Jesus had to be. Jesus set forth an example for us to see and gave us the answer to be able to talk back to the devil during the hour of temptation. Always use bible scripture and quote back the laws of God to the devil when he tries to persuade you to commit sin. nnFor example, he the devil says to you, just look at how pretty your neighbor’s wife is. Would you not like to be with her just one time, for if it was just one time, you have a good chance of no one ever finding out about it, not even your own wife. You should answer back and say: But it is written, thou shall not commit adultery…… nnJesus said to the tempter, who is the devil, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. In other words, Jesus said I love the laws of God more than my own life and those things that will sustain my own life. Jesus had been commanded to go through these temptations so that all that come after him will know and understand how greatly he endured temptations. Men and women, however, will never be tempted as greatly as Jesus was. Jesus paved the way for us and in all he did left us with lessons to follow, but without the great pain and sorrow that he had to endure as he walked upon the earth. Although many times we do feel as though our burdens, trials and temptations are just to hard to carry, Jesus promised us, there would never be more put upon us than we could bear, and in humbleness and on bended knee to come back to the feet of Jesus for his mercies endure forever toward us.nnThe devil had another trick up his sleeve. He took Jesus into the holy city and sat him on a pinnacle of the temple. The devil said to Jesus, if you truly are the Son of God, get yourself down from there since it is written that God’s angels will take care of you and possibly catch you in their hands and keep your feet from even slipping and running into the stones on your way down.nnJesus then said to the devil once again, it is written thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God. Even though Jesus knew he had the power to do just as the devil was asking him to do, he did not intend to misuse this power just to prove to the devil that he was indeed the Son of God. God had not given him the order to do this, therefore, he would not.nnSo the devil then tried something else with Jesus. Every time the devil tries to get us to do something wrong and we don’t follow after his lead, he will think up another scheme to try and get us to sin against God. Now this time, the devil took Jesus up into a very, very high mountain and he said, “look at this world, look at all the kingdoms in this world and how glorious they are.” “I will give you all this if you will only fall down now and worship me instead of the Father in Heaven.” Jesus knew all these things already belonged to him and that the devil actually had no right or was not even in charge to give him all the kingdoms of the world. All the kingdoms of this world already belonged to Jesus, but the devil is so “stupid,” he thought he could convince Jesus that the entire world belonged solely to him and that Jesus would believe him enough to fall down and worship him (the devil) instead of God, the Father in Heaven. nnJesus once again answered the devil and said, the commandment of God is thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and him only shall thou serve. Finally, the devil gives up on Jesus, and left him.nnAfter these good works of Jesus was manifested before God the Father in heaven, the angels came and ministered to Jesus. With this, we should realize that there are people who try to worship both of these Gods, the Father in Heaven and the Devil. But Jesus is telling us, this is impossible; because if we are indeed worshiping the Father in Heaven, there is no way we are going to follow the lead of the devil. nnThe lesson we can learn from this story of Jesus is that the devil will try many, many ways to get us to turn from the righteousness of God and follow him down the pathway to an everlasting fiery furnace of hell. The devil is sly and intelligent, but he cannot outsmart a true worshiper of God, the Father in Heaven. nnAfter awhile, the devil will stop tempting and bothering us. He will leave us for a season. He will be back to tempt us again, however, after we have done the good will of the Father in heaven, let us look forward to the angels who will come and minister to us and comfort us just the same as they did Jesus in the wilderness where he was tempted of the devil for forty days and forty nights.nnThose who worship the devil do not receive ministering and comfort from the angels in heaven. They have to seek after the things the devil has to offer them such as a quick fix on some kind of a drug or drinks of alcohol or whatever else the devil can present to them as comforters.nnnnThis article is FREE to publish with the resource box.nn© 2007 Connie Limon. All Rights Reserved