Peaks and Valleys
How does Jesus fight?
Verse of the Day
‘Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.’
Today’s Devotional
We all want mountain-top spiritual experiences, right? We want to be overwhelmed by the Presence of God so that there is no mistaking His power, His love, and His grace. I can’t imagine a more mountain-top like experience than hearing the Father say, “This is my beloved daughter who brings me much joy.” Can you?
As we study the life and teachings of Jesus, we see that the “peak” was followed immediately by a valley. A difficult time. After His baptism, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days of fasting. During this time, probably because He was physically weak from hunger, the devil came to tempt Jesus.
As I read this story yesterday, one thing that jumped out to me was that every time the devil tried to tempt Jesus, he used the same word.
“If”
“If you are the Son of God.”
“If you will worship me.”
It makes me wonder if the devil has tipped his hand to us and shown us his “ace”. He uses doubt to try to scare us. And sadly, it works more times than any of us would care to admit. But Jesus didn’t fall for it.
The devil tried to question Jesus’s identity, His Power, and His purpose. And each time, Jesus fought back with Scripture. Interestingly, all three verses Jesus used were from the book of Deuteronomy.
“People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) (Deuteronomy 8:3)
“You must not test the Lord your God.” (Matthew 4:7) (Deuteronomy 6:16)
“You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” (Matthew 4:10) (Deuteronomy 6:13)
Imagine for a moment that someone offers you a physical tool that has the power to defeat everything difficult in your life. Picture a complicated power tool, like a drill with lots of attachments. What would you do? Would you learn how to use this tool? Would you learn all about the attachments, even the ones that seemed less likely to be needed? Would you keep it easily accessible at all times or would you pack it away somewhere? Would you use it often even when you didn’t have to?
Is that how we treat and use the Bible?
Jesus is teaching us that the Word is a powerful weapon against the devil. Pauls tells us in Ephesians that we are to put on spiritual armor, and the only offensive weapon we are given is the Word.
If Jesus uses the Word to fight against the devil, shouldn’t we? Do we know the Bible well enough to wield it against the powers of darkness? Deuteronomy is not high on my list of Biblical favorites, but Jesus quotes it three times.
Jesus is teaching us today that there is power in the Word. What are we going to do with that information?
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
What is Jesus teaching you today?
How well do you know the Bible? How often do you study it? How could you learn even more?
How could you better use the Bible as a weapon against the powers of darkness?