Friday... He will return.

Luke 4:13 (NLT), "When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity."

Friday... He will return.

Over in Luke 4 he says in verse 1 (NLT), "Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry." And when he was hungry was a great time for the devil to tempt Jesus.

My Temptation

Now as you would suppose, Jesus handled the temptation. Yes he was filled with the Holy Spirit but he also was hungry, so the devil wasn't successful at this time. But verse 13 says, "When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came." In other words, he will return.

Yes, it always feels so good when we handle a temptation moment but this is important for us to see, he will return at an opportune moment. If you read on you will read about the night before Jesus was going to face Calvary he spend time in praying in great agony. It seems that he was going through a time of temptation by the devil on his human side. Satan saw this as an opportune moment.

Now Solomon over in his book of Proverbs in 11:2 (AMP) says "When pride comes [boiling up with an arrogant attitude of self-importance] then comes dishonor and shame. but when the humble [the teachable who have learned to walk humbly with God] there is wisdom and soundness of mind."

Let's says we have an area that we are always fighting temptation and we know that we are weak but let's say that we have handled it by self-control. We congratulate ourselves. This pride comes boiling up with an arrogant attitude of self-important and the devil steps back waiting for an opportune moment. Our pride says we've got this handled but the devil knows he still has a chance because we are handling it on our own.

Now God sees that when we have humbly learned to walk dependent on him these are teachable moments. Yes the devil will be back but our humble dependence on wisdom and soundness of mind from God knows we can't handle it alone. But we have God. We are humbly dependent on him.

Satan knows there will be more opportune moments and probable success if we in pride are handling it alone.

Verse 3 says, "The integrity and moral courage of the upright will guide them, but the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them."

Yes the devil will be back. He also knows our weakness.

Back to Luke 4. In verses 42-44 (NLT) it says, "Early the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place. The crowds searched for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave. But he replied, 'I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other towns too, because that is why I was sent.' So he continued to travel around, preaching in synagogues throughout Judea." The devil was tempting him to get off track but Jesus knew why God has sent him to earth. "I must... so he continued."

Yes the devil will return but we don't need to handle life alone. Let's learn to humbly walk with God and his plan for our life. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit?

Nehemiah 6:16b (NLT), "They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit? Over in the Old Testament in the book of Nehemiah it tells of a major task that through the leadership of Nehemiah was accomplished. The walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and God had laid it on Nehemiah to build those walls back up. It was definitely an almost impossible task but Nehemiah 6:15-16 says, "So on October 2 the wall was finished - just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Now, we so many times want to take credit for doing the impossible. It would make such a difference for us. But I wonder what would happen through us if God got the credit? Psalm 96 tells us what we are to do. Verses 2-3 says, "Sing to the LORD; praise his name. ...

Tuesday... We just have trouble listening.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Tuesday... We just have trouble listening. Over in Jeremiah 25:4 (NLT) it says, "Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention." And Jeremiah went on to tell what was going to happen. There will be consequences if we do not listen to what God says through his Word. Now the Apostle Paul over in 1 Corinthians was having a problem with some professed Christ followers who were having trouble at listening. And we too can have problems at listening. We can think that being a Christ follower means we do a lot of finger pointing and we give up on people who don't do what we say. We can even do that in our families. But Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." In verse ...

Thursday... Yet, now this is true.

Colossians 1:22a (NLT), "Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body." Thursday... Yet, now this is true. Now Paul a prisoner in Rome is writing a letter to a church in Colossae. And in Colossians 1:21 (MSG) he says, "Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds" The NLT says "This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated by your evil thoughts and actions." And that is where so many in this world live today. They are blowing it and they don't know what to do. Yes, they are hostile in their minds and they are engaging in evil deeds but there is Good News. Now Paul in verses 19-20 sets the stage for an answer to those who don't want to live that way. He says, "For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and earth b...

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