Temptation

We have often hear many saints quote “Resist temptation and the devil will flee” Yet we never quite hear how to do so. I mean it sounds easy, but actions do speak louder than words. What are the necessary steps to resist the devil? Can man in his temporary state resist an eternal power like Satan? To best understand this look at James 1:13-14 “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”  As we see temptation comes from within a man yet it is possible that the devil places things in our lives to draw out that lust. For example lets say you had an issue with lust in the past, what the devil might do is place graphic images or have people say lustful things that might awaken or bring out that lust. But always keep in mind that being tempted is not sin, its when you fall victim to that temptation when it becomes sin. Jesus was even tempted, yet he did not succumb to those temptation placed in front of him by the devil. “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written: 'He will give his angels charge of you, and On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.‘” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;  and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”  Then Jesus said to him, “Begone, Satan! for it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”  Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him” (Matthew 4:1-11 RSV).” Satan did not tempt Jesus once during this altercation but three times and each temptation targeted a specific desire.

When Jesus was hungry Satan who is called the Tempter came and targeted his fast. Notice what he says “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread,” here we can see that two things are going on Satan is trying to see if Jesus really is the Christ and he is also trying to get him to break the fast and fall victim to his flesh. A fast in Isaiah is said to lose the bands of Wickedness and draw us closer to the Lord. Now Christ does something that people rarely do and that is quote scripture against this temptation but not just any scripture, its the perfect scripture against what temptation he was facing. Christ stated “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” In just a matter of seconds that temptation is destroyed and Satan is left to come up with a new temptation. Now Satan as persistent as he is goes on to take Christ to the Holy City and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and tempted Christ to throw himself down. All this was an attempted to get him to sin, to prove whether or not he is the true son of God, and to tempt God.

This second temptation may seem like suicide however Satan is really trying to quench his own desires and knowledge, and he goes so far as to use and twist scripture to do so.  But lets go on to see what Christ has to say. Christ quotes Deu 6:16 by saying “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Notice how quick Christ combats the Devil. His words are short and yet to the point. Now the last temptation is a tricky one due to the fact it revolves around worship. Now Satan takes Christ to a high mountain and there he shows him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them. Doing this he tried to give Christ a short cut to something that was already his, but by means of worship only and this has to be the worst temptation. As we can see Idolatry has been one of the main reasons for Israel troubles. Christ however comes back with one of the most repeated statements in the old testament and that is “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” This temptation also caused Christ to dismiss Satan by his name. In a way it shows the severity of the temptation and an anger must of been kindled by it. Christ gives us the clear answer to overcoming temptation and that is to quote the word of God. Some may not receive this answer but there is no other way. We can run from it but it will just come back at a time when we are more vulnerable. Yet knowing the bible is not enough, having the right scripture for that moment of temptation is key. This only comes by studying and allow the word to be rooted on your heart and allowing it to root on your heart can only happen if you truly believe that the word of God works. Without faith it is all meaningless.