In Luke 4:3 And the Devil said unto him, if thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. This is the first temptation of Christ in the wilderness by the Devil. Have you ever been tempted by the Devil ? Have you ever find yourself in the wilderness of temptation ? The temptations that Jesus went through are the summary of what we all go through at different points in our lives. The Devil comes to all of us. He comes to us during our youth, our middle age and before death. The Devil comes to us right before we enter into the Lord's work. If He sees God is calling you, He will come first to bring you down . Today we will look at the first temptation
We all find ourselves in the wilderness at some point in our lives. The wilderness is a time of testing to see whether you will obey God or not. The wilderness is a difficult time. Usually comes soon after God saves you. Soon after God saves you, the Holy Spirit will drive you into the wilderness to be tested of the Devil. It is of utmost importance for us to be tested and proven before God can entrust us with greater responsibility. And it is in the wilderness many Christians find their faiths destroyed and are led back to Egypt, to the bondage of the world by Satan. As soon as we get to the wilderness, the Devil will come to you and offer you to turn stones into bread 🍞
You may find yourself in the wilderness of singleness. After giving your life to Jesus, you may find it impossible to find a good Christian woman or man to court and get married to. You may have a hunger for marriage 👰🏽 and marriage is honorable but can't find the right person. It is at such a time the Devil will come to you and say if you are a son or daughter of God, surely the Lord wants you to be happy, surely the Lord want you to have someone you can share your life with, "love is love" , and the Lord is not so concerned with who you married, as long as you love each other. Plus there are not many available young men or women in the church.The Devil comes along and say there are no marital prospects in the church for you, why don't you turn one of these worldly women or men into a Christian? Why, let yourself starve for marriage? Matter of fact, these worldly guys are more honest, more loving and more faithful than the ones in the church. Get yourself a man, woman then ask God to help you make him or her a Christian. Turning stones into bread 🍞. How many of us fall for this temptation of the Devil . We violate God's will in order to satisfy our fleshly craving. A friend of mine says turning stone into bread is trying to change your circumstances. Trying to change your circumstances by not waiting on God to deliver you .
Then when in the marriage that man or woman now start showing their true character, stop coming to church with you, start doing all sorts of things that are contrary to the Lord, we blame the Lord for our misfortune and soon many get wearied and leave the faith all together. By listening to Satan's temptation to turn stone into bread we destroy our lives. We turn stones into break by having sexual relationships outside of marriage. The urges of the flesh are so powerful, the hunger so intense that we give in to the Devil when He comes by and say you are too young to be married, and you love him/her, plus you will marry each other anyway, go ahead enjoy sexual intimacy,marriage is just a paper .
Friends, anytime we give in to the desires of our flesh contrary to the Word of God, we are turning stones into bread. Using our abilities to do things God forbid. We must learn to resist Satan's first approach by quoting the Word like Jesus and say it is written, man shall not live by bread 🍞 alone but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God. The only way to resist Satan's temptation to turn stones into bread is to eat the Word of God daily. God's Word is the bread of life, by feasting on His Word daily we will gain the spiritual discernment to know when we are under temptations and will use the scripture weapons to resist Satan's power .
Remember friends, it was right after Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit drove Him to the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil. Before God can entrust you with greater responsibility, He will lead you to the wilderness. But in the wilderness do not despair, do like Jesus did, fasting and praying. It is in fasting and praying we gain the strength to master the appetites of the flesh. It was after 40 days of fasting and praying the Devil came to Christ. Jesus was physically hungry but He was spiritually strong and was able to overcome the Devil.
In your time in the wilderness don't spend it worrying and panicking but spend it in prayer, drawing nearer to Christ, asking for the victory of the sinful desires of the flesh. Whether your wilderness is singleness, a sickness, joblessness, a difficult marriage, school problems etc.. whatever it is, cling to Jesus and His Word and when the Devil come, and trust me, He will come to ask you to change your circumstance, you will by the grace of God be able to tell him, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God. Let us humble ourselves before God and resist the Devil daily 🙏🏾.
Luke 4:4
And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
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