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God is able; and in His Name we overcome, for He has made a way. May our hearts burn with holy fire and enlightened zeal and let there be a specific word to minister and bless you this day, as we continue to meditate upon His promise – The Lord will build Zion, And He will demonstrate His glory. [Psalm 102:16] And the Almighty God, becoming your Father, in a relationship with Him, that is made possible, by your faith in Christ Jesus His Son, is how it works out in your life. You are built up, as the Lord Himself helps you to overcome the challenging temptations that the devil brings in your path. For, He became flesh and blood, and suffered, facing every temptation to overcome it all, that in Him you may now overcome to be built to become a spiritual palace that is His abode. Temptations that arise may appear colorfully different but are essentially rooted either in the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life. And the Lord was tempted on all the above accounts, that you may now boldly approach the throne of grace, and receive grace and mercy to help you in your time of need.
Learning from the Master –
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 command His angels concerning you, and, on their hands, they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’. [Matthew 4:6,7] Wanting due recognition for who you are, from the eyes of the world, is not necessarily wrong. But what is your path to it? The devil asked the Lord to prove who He was to the world by doing something that would have been very obviously spectacular, and more importantly, it was not what His Father wanted Him to do at that time. And what was paramount to the Lord, was being obedient to His will.
Self promotion & popularity:
For, a temptation to seek self-promotion and popularity is what it was, in practical terms. And the devil is no stranger to it, for it is how he fell from being an angel to being what he is now. But having been created in His own image, and blessed with free will, it is God’s desire that you may use your free will to choose His will for you, which is always and forever incomparably higher and better than what you can think or imagine. The devil can tempt you though, to think that you need to grab the attention of God towards you or force Him into action on your behalf, by doing something that He has not spoken to you by His word, in your situation. It is what he tried to do, in tempting the Lord to jump from the pinnacle of the temple, that the world may see that He was the Son of God, even as the angels of God came to bear Him up. It showed very clearly, that there is always a godly way and a devilish, self-oriented way when it comes to accomplishing the good purposes of God.
Not pressure, but His pleasure:
Sometimes one can get carried away in the wrong paths, by thinking wrongly even about matters that are essentially spiritual and godly, like fasting or giving to God. But the wonderful and glorious truth is that you do not need to apply any such pressure on yourself, thinking that you need to pressurize God, for it is His pleasure to bless you. You do not have to jump, bowing to the temptation of the devil, for He has already seated you above, in the heavenly realms.
“It is also written”, the full counsel:
The Lord overcame the tempter’s trap by declaring God’s full counsel, saying, ‘It is also written…’. He shows very clearly, that one needs to have a full and not incomplete understanding of the truth of God’s word, to overcome the devil’s craftiness, and not fall for religious jargon that has the mere appearance of truth. And taking one point to the extreme will invariably lead to error. Women being silent in the church, has to be studied in its context, with a full understanding of the truth of the word of God, which includes other scriptures that teach about women’s role in a church. And the scriptural approach to all that you do, is simple but profound. It all needs to start with God
It is God who takes the initiative:
In the beginning, was the Word; the Word was with God; the Word was God. [John 1:1] ‘You did not choose Me; but I chose you’, [John 15:16] the Lord has declared, establishing the truth that needs to be your guiding light, that you may not fall prey to the temptation of the evil one. You were chosen by God, even before you were formed in your mother’s womb. And the salvation that you enjoy is the greatest blessing that one can ever receive, the sum total of all the blessings of God. And, He has chosen you, that you may choose Him. It is God who takes the initiative.
HE first loved us:
We love Him because He first loved us. [1 John 4:19] And it is how you can experience true love in your relationships, to also be able to express it, especially in your marriage, when it then becomes a foretaste of heaven, here on earth. Discerning between love and lust becomes possible, in a world that is riddled with parallelisms, and the counterfeit runs very close to the original when you know that the love that is true and never fails, is the love of the One who has proved His love for you, by giving Himself for you, to die on the Cross of Calvary. And He rose again, that in Him, you too may live, abundantly, victoriously, and eternally. That it is He who makes the first move, is the lesson we learn from the life of the prophet Elijah. Led by the word of God that came to him, to the brook of Cherith, and the widow at Zarephath, he experienced the miraculous provision of God, until he chose to run away in fear, to become lonely and discouraged, as he sheltered under a broom tree. And the loving and faithful God spoke to him in a still small voice, to bring him back to the long way that he had yet to go, doing what proceeded from God, in Him taking the initiative.
God’s Positioning System-His GPS:
Faith comes by hearing His word continually. It is present continuous, so that you may know how it becomes applicable in your present tense situation. And though the devil may tempt you to jump, leaning on your own understanding, to see God’s promises come to pass in your life, you will be empowered to wait on the Lord, as long as it takes until God takes the initiative, for He has made all things beautiful in His time. It is how the GPS from above, God’s Positioning System, by His word will go before you, even as you wait upon the Lord, to be renewed in your mind with your thoughts replaced by God’s thoughts that are higher. And it is how His understanding, His full counsel comes to you, to know that the Lord bidding you pluck your eyes out if they cause you to sin, is about putting to death, the deeds of the flesh. [Romans 8:13] It is the principle, the procedure, and the practical application of the truth of God’s word, that comes by listening and doing what the Spirit says to you, through the scriptures. It is trusting God’s revelation to you, and not trying, to act upon what is not His specific will for you. The Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry land, for the Lord, the Great I AM had spoken it to them, while the Egyptians who did it in presumption, perished in the very same waters. [Hebrews 11:29] Just as faith without works is dead, works without faith that comes by hearing from God will lead to disaster. For Godly blessings come in godly ways. Christ did not exalt Himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by Him who said to Him, ‘You are My Son; today I have begotten You’. [Hebrews 5:5] And so it will be, even in your life.
Your promotion comes from HIM-
He who has promised it to you, will Himself bring about the right kind of promotion in your life, at the right time, for you serve a righteous God. Therefore humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He may lift you up in due time. [1 Peter 5:6] And when anxiety threatens, foisted in you by the devil, instead of stooping to his ungodly but seemingly plausible tempting ways, all you need to do is to cast all your cares on the Lord, for He cares for you. Pass it on to Him. He can deal with it all. And He will safely carry you through, to be lifted up in due time, for the glory and honor of His Name. You will rise up to soar with Him in the power of His love. In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
