Matthew 4:10 - Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
I read this verse again recently and asked my self and I would like to ask you to ponder this for a moment, do we really realize the POWER of this verse? I mean is it just me or….
It is striking that Jesus, (The same Jesus), who later asserts that He could call down twelve legions of angels to assist him at any time, chooses to face the temptations of the devil in the wilderness with nothing but the Word of God -- which is the same, and only, weapon that we have against Satan's temptations, as well.
It is as if Jesus is showing us just how powerful, just how effective, God's Word is in the midst of spiritual battle, so that we will trust it's strength for our own struggles.
Jesus three times here, faces Satan's three temptations by quoting the Bible. What other tool could we hope for than the very one Jesus himself wielded in times of personal temptation? But….
These verses do not always just instantly appear to our minds in the moment that we need them.
We must be….
reading,
memorizing,
listening to,
absorbing God's Word in every way we possibly can. We must be people of the Book, Bible-steeped soldiers in the kingdom of Christ.
Jesus knew the right answer, from God's Word, at the right time for the right temptation; we must strive to know and do the same.
It is only then that we will be able to, with authority and conviction, repel the approaches of Satan effectively.
