Some of the learning from the temptation of Jesus recorded in Mathew 4.
1. Fasting is a personal choice in the spiritual battle.
We must understand that God has not placed a rule to fast when we are facing a spiritual attack in life, but its a personal choice to opt to fast and face the spiritual attack in life or family or ministry. Jesus Christ was willing to follow that willingly and therefore we find that many times He confined himself to mountain tops and solitary places to face the battles of His life.
2. Proving yourself as a Christian is a temptation in itself
One of the questions that the devil asked Jesus to do was to prove His divinity by turning the stones into bread. We may face this many a times in our life where we are asked to prove our faith instead of following and practicing it.
3. Our focus should not be on physical need/growth rather it should be on the growth of our inner man.
When Jesus was asked to feed His hungry flesh with freshly prepared bread-cum-food, He immediately won over the temptation by prioritizing the fulfillment of the spiritual need over the physical need, which teaches us to keep our focus on our priorities.
4. Worshiping your job/ministry/family/child is a temptation
It is very easy to fall prey to give too much of undue importance to job or ministry or family or child over God. When Satan asked Jesus to worship him, it was a clear substitution of anything over God, which Jesus clearly denied and took victory over the temptation.
5. Misuse of power is a temptation.
Jesus had all power to make the bread out of stones and every to keep Himself safe even while jumping from a cliff, yet He did not misuse it. It is very important to stop misusing our position, authority or power to show our spiritual capability.
6. Playing with the word or spiritual leaders or ministry is a temptation.
Satan was quoting the scriptures to prove his point. Many a times we get tempted to half quote the Biblical verses or even demean it. This may happen even in case of talking about or discussing about other men and women of God. We must stop doing that as such a habit is not from God but from the devil who wants to half quote or misquote or demean the word of God. It is a temptation and we must overcome it.
May the Lord help us to overcome the temptations that come in our life and help us to life a victorious Christian life.
Shalom!
Thank you pastor.
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