Loving The God of Truth

Welcome to all those in the ODM who desire to know and to love the God of Truth through the faithful study of His Word. Please feel free to share your comments, insights, questions, concerns, words of encouragement, thanksgiving, praise, and prayer requests with all of us.

May God most richly bless the reading of His precious Word to our hearts this year.

"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;
They are sweeter than honey from the comb.
By them is your servant warned;

In keeping them there is great reward."

(Psalm 19:7-11)

Friday, January 22, 2010

The tempation of Jesus

This passage is another "familiar" one. I'm sure all of you have read it and heard messages on it multiple times. This time around, the thing that stood out to me the most is the supremacy of God's Word. While Jesus was hungry, He refused to turn stone into bread but leaned on God's Word to overcome the devil's temptation. The passage Jesus quoted, Deut. 8:3, alone declares the supremacy of God's Word. Though food is so essential to human survival, Jesus lifts up God's Word as the supreme means of Life.

Thereafter, with each attack from the devil, Jesus strikes back with God's Word. We see Jesus not only know the Words of God but literally living by them.

5 comments:

eullie said...

Thanks for your post Lynn!
I was thinking while reading the passage and your post that it is really important to memorize scripture as much as you can so that you could come to a ready defense like this when tests and temptations and trials come your way.

Have a great weekend everyone ! :)

helen_W said...

so, when we are tested/attacked we are to use the word of God as a weapon... Ephesians 6:13 says...
"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground..." as Christ so perfectly demonstrated. thanks lynn, for pointing out the supremacy of God's word!

Eskeelo said...

Christine, I definitely agree with you! After reading this passage, I realized how it's so imperative to memorize and know the scripture especially during times of temptation. As Helen mentioned, thank goodness we have access to the most powerful weapon...God's word.

darlayoo said...

thank you, lynn, for a wonderful post! i think you are absolutely right in emphasizing the power and supremacy of God's Word in overcoming temptation.

i can't help thinking how physically weak Jesus must have been after 40 days of fasting. at His very lowest point, the devil comes to tempt Him.

the 40 days in solitude must have seemed endless. i wonder, too, if God withdrew, not His actual, but His conscious presence from Jesus during His time in the desert.

in His weakened state, Jesus must have been sorely tempted to doubt, even apart from the devil's provocations.

we learn, however, through this passage, that even at your lowest and weakest point, that it is possible to resist temptation, whether it is from the devil or otherwise.

how often we make excuse for giving into temptation! we are "too tired" or "too upset" or "too whatever" to resist. in other words, we often sin when we are physically very weak or at our lowest emotional point.

Jesus shows us that we can resist
the temptation to sin even in that condition. how? not by some superhuman discipline and willpower,

but "by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (matthew 4:4).

Anonymous said...

jesus fought the tempter with not only scripture memorization, but by living out the words. i believe his words had power to fight off the tempter because he really lived to not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from god. the scripture has its most power when we obey it and live accordingly and make it our "tried-and-true-customized-weapon".

thanks for your post lynn~