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Thursday... Two different responses to two different challenges.


Thursday... Two different responses to two different challenges.

Matthew 4 shows us two different challenges. The first one is to Jesus.

Verse 1 (NLT) says, "Then Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil."  Now this was the beginning of His ministry and He started it with a time of prayer and fasting but it was also a time of testing and tempting. 

Here He was having not eaten for 40 days and He was hungry and I'm sure His desires were there to eat. And that is where temptation comes in. Verse 2 says, "For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry."

Temptation comes at the point of our desires. Verse 3 says, "During that time the devil came and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell theses stones to become loaves of bread." He was tempted through Jesus' humanness. And that is where we are tempted so much.  

So what did Jesus do? Verse 4 say, "But Jesus told him, 'No!'" We've got to say at the first wave of temptation, we've got to say emphatically, "No!" No chance, I'm not going to eat that cake, I'm not going to look at porn, I'm not going to flirt with that person who isn't my mate, I'm not going to take that drink, I'm not going to give in to that temptation.  We must emphatically say, "No!" 

And then Jesus quoted Scripture. Verse 4 says, "But Jesus told him, 'No! The Scriptures say, 'People shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " If you're reading the Bible on a regular basis and if you are going to church and hearing your pastor preach, if you're in a small group of fellow Christians, God will bring a word from the Bible that will reinforce your "No!" It will counteract the temptation. 

Now the devil come back two more times with two different temptations and Jesus responded the same way, No! and quoted a Scripture. and then verse 11 says, "Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus."

When you have a temptation that comes back on a regular basis strive to find a Scripture that will help you after your, "No!" And then say it over and over as the temptation comes to your mind. And also rehearse the emphatic, "No!"

Here is another challenge and another response. Verses 18-19 (NIRV) says, "One day Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee. There he saw two brothers, Simon Peter and his brother Andrew. They were throwing a net into the lake, because they were fisherman. 'Come and follow me,' Jesus said, 'I will send you out to fish people.' " Jesus asked them to follow Him and He will do the same for you. He could be right now asking you to follow Him and there needs to be a response from you. It is either, "Yes! I will follow You," or "No! I'm going to live out the life that I have planned for." 

Here is what these two brothers did and millions upon millions have done sense, verse 20, "At once they left their nets and followed Him."

So what will be our response to these two different challenges? And they will come. It's a very good question and our responses will make a major difference in our lives. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginnings

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