Tuesday, 18 November 2008

The Temptation of Jesus by the Devil in the Wilderness


We don't know in full the anguish and suffering that Jesus felt after his 40 day fast in the Wilderness when he was tempted by Satan. One thing for sure, Satan did all in his power to seduce and bully Christ into subverting the will of the Father.This clip portrays at least a little bit of this! Regarding ourselves if we do not feel the power of temptation in our own lives we are perhaps either giving in to it that we don't notice it or Satan is happy with the way we are living and are not causing his kingdom much damage. Of course at times, as in the life of Christ,there will be times when we are not particularly battling and things are relatively calm perhaps when Satan will leave us to plan future assaults.We can also take encouragement from Christ here who did not give in but with a word was able to defeat the enemy of all our souls.Like Christ, our new nature does not want to sin (1John)though Satan will do all in his power to do his evil works. These can be most obvious things such as the sins of the flesh, but they will also include subtle sins, the greatest of which is probably spiritual pride!( By the way this was the one that got Lucifer himself). If this is our besetting sin we are in big trouble as it can often lead to justification of all manner of sins, such as the self righteous condemnation of people or groups, or even lead to so called 'holy wars' where we could feel justified in putting to death someone in the name of Christ( C.P. Crusades. What then is the solution to protecting ourselves from these attacks? My thinking is that we should stay close to Christ, watch and pray and put on humility and the whole armour of God so that we would be able to stand in that evil day.AK

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