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

Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do

Psalm 8:3-4 (NLT), "When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you set in place - what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?" Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do. No, not the fact that I can go out my front door and look out at night at the marvels of the sky. I can do that and it is amazing and it takes my breath away each time I see it. Yes, that is a fact but the reality of who did that and the wisdom and the faith that I have to believe that and to marvel that the one who did that cares about me makes such a difference in how I live my life. Yes, God really does. That is so wonderful for us to believe. And that is why faith and wisdom are so important. Now whatever belief you have at how that marvel happened must also be believed through faith. And the sad thing to me is that more and more people have been taught that there is no God and therefore he did not have a h...

Monday... Three ifs and two thens. They go together!

Monday... Three ifs and two thens. They go together! They really do. And this is what caught my attention this morning as I was reading Proverbs 2. Verse 1 (NRSVUE) says, "My child, if you accept my words and treasure my commands within you." Verse 3 (NIV), "Indeed i f you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, Verse 4, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, Verse 5, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." And verses 9-11, " Then you will understand what is right and just and fair - every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you." There will always be some effort we must do, some ifs for the thens to be realized in our lives. So many of us want to understand without the ifs. But the thens are so worth, so very worth the effort. Verses 5-6 in the Ampli...

Wednesday... Our unless can turn into useless.

Wednesday... Our unless can turn into useless. It really can. I have found that unless I give the correct email of my wife then I can't get what I wanted. I put an extra i in her email and I have been working for 5 days to get it changed. Unless has been useless. The writer of Psalm 94 uses this word and shows how important it is. Verses 17-19 (NLT) says, "Unless the Lord had helped me, I would have soon settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, 'I'm slipping!' but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer." "Unless the Lord had helped me." So many people go on and on and on striving to live their life on their own but they keep slipping and doubting and living without hope and cheer. Yes the Lord has such unfailing love for us, he really does but unless we have a relationship with him and we turn to him and ask him for help then the unless turns in to useless because h...

Todays Beginning

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