Thoughts From the Bible

Read Matthew 26: 36- 42-   Jesus knew what was going to happen to Him. His disciples thought they knew but they lacked the intensity of knowledge that Jesus  p ossessed . The words to Peter were  very interesting  and a lesson for me for today.  Verses 40 and 41 say,  ‘And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And  he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with  me  one hour? Watch and pray that you may not  enter into  temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”’   I know I need to be prepared to stand for Christ at any  time,  but I also need to understand there will be temptations in my way.  Jesus said to watch and pray. I need to be alert to what is happening around  me,  so I am not blindsided by temptation and fall when I should be standing tall. I need to pray so  I will be actively listening for the  H oly Spirit  to alert me when Satan is worki...

Read Matthew 18: 7- 9- Our world is full of temptations. There are more temptations in our world t oday than that probably ever before in history. Jesus is wanting us to see we all have a responsi bility to work to not succumb to temptation. Jesus wants to see us strengthen our weaknesses. As we review the Bible and the principles we learn , we develop a strong sense of what is right and what is wrong. As we grow and learn, we can recognize temptation.  In verse 7, Jesus says this, “Woe to the world for temptation to sin! For it is necessary that temptations, come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes .” The person who authors these temptations will not be welcomed by Christ. We have a responsibility to resist temptation but those who present the temptations will feel the wrath of God. We need to realize Satan wants to see us fail and Jesus is telling us we need to do whatever is necessary to resist Satan so we can present a better testimony of Jesus Christ.  ...

Matthew 6: 13- “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” I think this is one element of prayer we need to do more than we do. This world provides so many temptations that are not good for us as individuals. We need to be aware of the temptations, and we need to pray for God’s strength to refuse those temptations.   Our world continues to provide mor e and more temptations to us, and we need to understand Satan wants to use those temptation to cause weakness in our lives and separate us from God, even if it is just a small separation. Over time, succumbing to these small temptations create greater space between us and God. We need to take this short sentence and incorporate it into our daily prayers so we can be closer to the person God needs for us to be.  

Read Matthew 4: 5- 11- Jesus is in a weakened physical state and Satan continues to tempt him. We need to know Satan will do the same to us.  He will tempt us and attack when we are weak so He can win in our lives and point to our failures hoping our faith in God will weaken. Again, we see Jesus living out a lesson we need to learn. In verse 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.’” ’   We need to guard very carefully who w e actually serve but we also need to be bold, even in our weakness, and tell Satan to who we serve.  We also need to be bold enough to tell Satan to leav e in the name of Jesus. Jesus will continue preserve us in our battles against Satan just as God preserved Jesus.

Read Matthew 4: 1- 4- We have heard preached and taught how Jesus was tempted greatly by Satan before Jesus’ ministry began. Jesus was preparing Himself to begin His ministry by fasting and prayer.  Satan knew who he was confronting wh en he told Jesus to turn the stones into bread.  I think this may have been a desperate attempt by Satan to find a weakness in Jesus when Jesus was at His physical weakest. We need to learn how to stay strong in the face of the temptation s Satan brings against us and Jesus tells us how to do this.  In verse four Jesus says this , ‘ But He answered, “it is written , “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”’   This is a big reason why we as Christians must continue to read and study the Bible but more than just that, we need to meditate on what we read.  We need to give time to thinking about what we read and how we can apply the principles to our lives.  Yes, it takes time ...

Read Revelation 12: 10-17 - We live in times filled with high temptation.  God has said He will be with us through those temptation just as He was with Jesus in the wilderness when Satan tempted Him.  We do not have to leave our homes without temptation being there in our faces. No one is immune from temptation as we have learned but the church as a whole is being tempted. Church leaders are being tempted to spend time trying to decide what they think the scriptures say rather than asking themselves what was Jesus saying in the scriptures.  What was God saying in the scriptures? It is not so much what we think but what was God or Jesus thinking. The church is being attacked today somewhat as it is described in these verses in Revelation. We have the sins of church leaders on display. The motivation is not to discredit a leader as much as it is a way to discredit the chur ch as a whole in the eyes of non-believers. That is Satan’s greatest move. In this passage however...