The Stalker, Part 2

And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You’, and ‘on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ 

And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘It is said, ‘you shall not put the Lord Your God to the test.’ 

When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time. 

 

It’s time for Jesus to go into His public time of ministry; to fulfill the mission that He was born to accomplish. Jesus first went public and was baptized. He then was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for a private time of confirmation. The primary purpose of this confirmation was not a time of tranquility and meditation. It was to be tempted by the devil. 

Three Elements of Victory

There are three elements of victory for this 40-day run of the gauntlet:

• Fasting: I wrote of the benefits in my last post
• Walking in the Spirit and being led by the Spirit: Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit 
• The Word of God: and Jesus answered, it is written… 

Temptations follow us everywhere because we live in a body of flesh. Biblically, the word flesh usually refers to our propensity to sin. It’s always a battle. If we have the right mindset, fasting can make us keenly aware of the power of the flesh and drive us to prayer and dependence upon the Spirit. 

In addition to the temptations of the flesh, there is the added temptings of the devil. 

 

…for we are not ignorant of the schemes of the devil. 2 Corinthians 2.11b 

 

The devil seeks to capitalize on our vulnerabilities as fleshly human beings. He adds temptations on top of our natural vulnerabilities to sin. He kicks us when we’re down. He seeks out the vulnerabilities of people, just like any predator would do. The devil sucks! 

His schemes using come to us as speaking into our mind. In our text, it’s says all three times, and the devil said… 

 

Three Areas of Temptation

The devil appeals to the 3 main areas of temptation. Consider I John 2.15: 

1. The lust of the eyes – what we see 
2. The lust of the flesh – what we feel 
3. The boastful pride of life – what we want 

John says that these three temptations are of the world, not from the devil. The schemes of the devil involve tempting us and magnifying these three areas of temptation in our life.  

(There are three areas of temptations. The devil tempted Jesus three times. Is there a connection here? More on this later.)  

 

The temptation process goes something like this:  

1. our flesh, eyes or pride is tempted  
2. then devil speaks into our minds 
3. we mentally process and consider the temptation 
4. then we make a decision. 

 

Sin does not occur during the 1-3 steps of the process. Number 4 is the defining moment. Living Scripture Daily comes down to improving our ability to choose wisely at the point of decision. 

Next time, we’ll consider the amazing example Jesus gave us to win and be victorious at the point of decision. As a hint, remember that the devil spoke to Jesus with three temptations and every time Jesus responded with It is written… 

 

Father, the reality of the devil can be a little scary sometimes. Remind us that You are fully in control and that You will not allow the devil to tempt us beyond what we can endure. Lord, keep us from evil, strengthen our minds, fortify our souls, that we might live a life in You of victory and spiritual success. We are not victims but we do allow ourselves to sometimes be weak and unprepared. May we take up the armor of victory that you have given us and live! You came that we might have life abundant! And by Your grace, we are victorious. Amen!