It just struck me as I was sitting and reading, how telling the temptation of Jesus was. This chapter tells us so much about how the enemy attacks us and how we are to defend ourselves. "The tempter came to him and said, if you are the son of God tell these stones to become bread." If you are the son of God - he questions our identity. He waited until Jesus was hungry, he was in a weakened state; that can be hunger that could be a weakened state of our mind where were having anxiety or fear or stress. Jesus uses the word to counter the word that the enemy gives him. This is really eye-opening for the believer; when the enemy attacks a believer the lies are based on truth. What the devil says to Jesus is from the Bible. But the devil uses the word of God out of its proper context as a weapon. So if the enemy can use the word of God to tempt or to lead astray, then we can too. If we use the word of God out of the context that God intends for it to be used, we become the tempter, we become the enemy.
The Devils next trick was to ask Jesus to prove himself. "If you are the son of God, he said, throw yourself down...." He took him to the highest point of the temple in the holy city. The enemy tries to get us to perform for something that's already ours; our identity, our giftings, our anointing. Again Jesus uses the word to override the word. If we learn anything from this it should be that every truth is held in tension. There are moments in our lives when one truth, although true, is not meant to be applied to this moment in this situation. We open ourselves up at that point to what the enemy is saying because it sounds like the word of God, it is the word of God, it's just not God's word for us in that moment; there's a higher truth God is wanting us to hear for that moment, but we don't hear it because we're distracted by what we think is truth.
The last temptation is when the devil takes him to a very high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor and offers it to him. We have really got to get this. The devil had legal possession over everything that he had offered to Jesus, but Jesus knew a higher truth, and that truth was that he would die and be resurrected and would take back the authority that man had given the devil over the earth. Jesus knew who he was, he knew his identity, he knew how he was going to take possession over the earth. But the devil offered him a shortcut. We can often be presented a shortcut to fulfill the things that God has for us, and it's a test. If we are not listening to the Lord every step of the way as we process information, opportunities, and concerns, then we will get tripped up on the promise and forget to follow the one making the promises.
Truth can be truth, without it being the truth we need in the moment we're in.
Thank you Lord for the truth. May you guide us into all truth for every moment of our lives. Amen
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