Overcoming Temptation
Most of us would be familiar with the time of temptation Jesus had to go through in the wilderness. He had been baptised in water and the Holy Spirit had come upon Him to anoint His ministry. But before that ministry even began, Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tested by the devil.
The gospel writers record three temptations. Each temptation paralleled an aspect of the devil’s temptation to Eve in the Garden of Eden. Each temptation equally paralleled the three main areas the children of Israel failed in the wilderness.
But there’s something more we need to note. Jesus answered each with a scripture. The obvious lesson to us is to fight temptation with scripture. The lesson that isn’t so obvious is that Jesus spoke those scriptures out.
You and I are tempted to do, say or think things every day that are contrary to God’s character. When the temptation comes, what do you do? Most of us rely on whatever spiritual strength we can muster at the time. Jesus spoke scriptures. That’s how He defeated the devil. Jesus didn’t just think them in His mind. He spoke them out. We have to learn to do the same.
This is more than the old faith confession and more than just a technique. This is the clearest New Testament pattern for overcoming temptation. Speaking scriptures out in a time of temptation is the most powerful way I know of overcoming.
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