Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee
from you. James 4:7
Life Question: Do You Have the Armor to Face Temptation?
After fasting forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry. The tempter
came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to
become bread."
Jesus answered him, "It is written: 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but on
every word that comes from the mouth of God."
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest
point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down.
For it is written:
"H will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their
hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."
Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the
test.' "
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms
of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.' "
The devil left him, and angels attended to him.
The story of our Lord's temptation by the devil has been told to us in just this way from the beginning of time itself. So.....what have we learned from his experience
in the wilderness?
Can any one of us imagine the immense pressure he felt? Yet our Lord stood firm in his ground. He wasn't shaken. So.....the question becomes.....why, when we are met with temptations of all sorts, no matter what they may be, do we not follow in our Father's example and confront it head-on instead of giving the tempter what he
wants?
*We have to fit in...right?
*We have to live like everyone else...right?
*We have to keep up appearances...right?
NOT!!!!
Lent is yes, a time of self-reflection, self-denial and repentance. It's also something else that is important in the life of every believer. It's a time of HUMILITY! We must during the 40 days humble ourselves before our Father and tell him not what we think he wants to hear, but tell him exactly how we are feeling about where we are
in our lives now, and where we really want to be.....WITH HIM.
Lent, in some ways reminds me of the song Mac Davis wrote, 'Oh, Lord It's Hard to be Humble(When You're Perfect in Every Way). I remember listening to the lyrics as
a kid and laughing at some parts of the song because to me, it was funny. Truth is,
some people in the world in which we live do feel about themselves just the way that song is written. That's why Lent is so important in the lives of every believer and those who are struggling in their faith.
If we take the step to humble ourselves before our Father, our minds and hearts will then be open to receive his direction and wisdom for our lives.
There are sixty-six Bible verses pertaining to humility, so we know from this how important it is to Jesus that we approach him as well as each other in this fashion.
Jesus knows that coming from a place of humility builds strength and character(after all we are supposed to have character not just act like one!),
it gives us integrity and credibility.
Though our Lenten journey has ended for now, we should not lay aside our humility for our next Lenten journey, but ask in prayer or conversation with God how we can
become a more humble servant for his kingdom? How can we be more effective as sharers of His truth and wisdom? How can we be more effective fishers of souls for his ministry? Then we must listen with our hearts for his voice to tell us the great and unsearchable things we do not know, so that through us His will be done.
Blessings,
Liz Ciccone
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