Overcame

P 2705 On being tested.

/ DVH

Jesus Christ, God’s precious Son, became a man. He respected and obeyed what His Father wanted above His own personal needs and ideas. He lived, and then He chose to die, in accordance with His Father’s will. He is our example of how to deal with temptations. Right at the very beginning of His ministry, the Lord Jesus was thoroughly tested, under extreme circumstances. FYI, that is recorded in Matthew 4:1-11, and Luke 4:1-13. Jesus came through it all, despite the incredible hardship He faced. But He met with the Holy Spirit and POWER on the other side of that test. This is a great place to stop, and think about what that means to ME. 🤔

The Lord personally demonstrated and proclaimed during this testing time, that the way for human beings to live – is primarily by the Word of God. He did this, under dire circumstances, live and in person, in front of His enemy. That is when He put a stamp on the scriptures as our primary source of spiritual food and defensive weapons..

After that, in the second temptation, His enemy offered Him physical well being, protection and personal safety – for the exorbitant fee of worshippinghim. Jesus refused to have anything to do with getting where He needed to go using His enemy’s help. He responded to this temptation with another scripture. Making it clear that He was not going to trust in anything but God’s Word to care for Him. The truth set Him free. Another good spot to stop and think about what that shows me! 🤔

The last and final temptation was that His enemy would give Him everything He came to do, without making the ultimate sacrifice. Our enemy tried to blind the Lord with success, which included the price tag of saving the world … without Him having to die. It looked like an easy answer, but it involved putting this world into satan’s hands permanently. 

I believe we all face temptations, often we face them daily. We are tempted to lose heart, and put our faith and hope down. Sometimes we are tempted to live by what Brother so and so says, and when we do that means we have put the Word of God second. We are taking another man’s interpretation of the scripture over what God wants to say to US, personally. The most valuable thing we have is our bible… obedience to what is commanded in that book is incredibly personally powerful. When we choose to live by His words — instead of our circumstances, or experiences, or what someone else thinks — we elevate Almighty God in our lives to His rightful place as GOD!

Secondly, there are times when we too are tempted and tested regarding our participation in whatever needs to be done in His kingdom, by methods other than FAITH. Things like clever marketing, slick presentations, and popularity without us having to make sacrifices. The Word of God is powerful all by itself, it does not need to be marketed! In the hands of someone who is obedient to the Holy Spirit, His Word will cut between human thoughts and intentions and go right into the heart of any matter. On that day in Christ’s life – it cut the enemy to pieces! When we rely upon our own skills and energies we are succumbing to the temptation to help God out, and so the accolades may go to a person, instead of the One Who made us and deserves our worship.

I think Father God is very particular about where our worship goes, because: a/ He is a jealous God. And: b/ our frame is not strong enough to be able to manage the kind of praise and worship that belongs to Him – alone. However, His power will flow quite naturally through our lives as we learn to resist temptation and live in obedience. There is always a way through whatever is going on, we just ask Him for His help! Christ was led into the wilderness, by the Holy Spirit — but He came out IN THE POWER of the Holy Spirit. Facing temptation and overcoming it, is part of our growth process – it is meant to test and stretch our faith and resolve to rely upon God and His Word. That means it will hurt!

The bible says this about being tested:“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed.”1 Peter 4:12&13. And in James 1:2&3: “My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties, see it as a valuable opportunity to experience the greatest joy you can! For you know that when your faith is tested, it stirs in you the power of endurance.”

Let’s reflect for a minute – in Jesus, Father God finally had a man He could talk to and trust. Just imagine the depth and breadth of the Lord Jesus’ faith!! God’s will was His only aim! In this world we will face trials and tests, but we do not face them alone. Praise God, our knowledge of His Word is our personal shield of faith. Jesus Himself overcame our enemy, and because of what He did on the cross, we can too. Now we can walk forward like Sons and Daughters of the Most High God. Bye. 👋

“Let me emphasize this: As you yield to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life.”Galatians 5:16 TPT.

P 2554 Stuff happens.

/ DVH

I don’t think we should go about anticipating, or expecting trouble. However, if and when difficulties come up, we need to understand that living for Jesus in a corrupt world can put a target on our backs. It may not be our fault the sky just fell in! Yet we will have to respond somehow! Obviously the enemy wants us to live selfish, rude and uncaring lives … but now our sole desire is to do the opposite … so we can sometimes end up in conflict. Things happen. satan targets us, and at the same time he will actively discourage us through others and complicated situations. he can even use something that someone else says to cause more trouble. Anger and worry choke out clarity. 

James tells us how to deal with trials etc. Start by being glad! (No I am not nuts!) James explains clearly that stuff happening means Almighty God is doing something. The Lord is growing something spiritually. He wants to add to our existing faith, steadfastness. Immovability. The bible says that like this ; “…having done ALL (we can)… (then) STAND.”  Do whatever you can do, and then turn it all over to God. Then wait. Here’s James 1:2-4: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Standing still allows steadfastness to develop.

Living this life taking faith-filled risks is a scary premise. It is so much easier to live in the safety of our own known responses. We are personally familiar with our own reactions – changing them means taking a risk. But true faith takes risks even though it doesn’t know the outcome. Following Jesus means we will take every one of those risks, prayerfully. Jesus Himself faced trials, and misunderstandings. He was blamed for things He didn’t do. But He held firm to His faith in His Father’s goodness and committed His way to God. He went through the difficulties knowing God’s purposes would be achieved, and He put those purposes above His own personal comfort.

When trouble strikes and doubt comes at me, first of all I like to go back and check with the King and make sure I am currently doing whatever He wants. I usually ask Him for scriptures, because I don’t trust my emotions or my mind to give me the answer I need to hear. At the same time I am really bad at making good decisions when I am under pressure to get things right. It is good to wait and give yourself some time to calm down, and at the same time, actively listen for what He wants to tell you.

Investing in God in these moments of conflict pays huge dividends! You learn how to stand! My sole aim is to deal with how I feel, before I deal with the problem. At that time can seem like I am in a period of stretching and testing. The temptation is to do something, like explode, worry, or become anxious! Waiting seems counter-productive. But panicky, worried people make emotional decisions that create even more problems. 

Paul offers us an excellent solution.“Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell Him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ. Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honourable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising Him always.” Philippians 4:6-8 TPT. Paul is saying we need to go to prayer to get God’s PEACE in stressful pressurised moments. Peace helps us make clearer Godly choices.

Isaiah says this in Chapter 40, verses 28-31“The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

I have learnt to wait because otherwise the enemy plays with my emotions, and paints scenarios on the screen of my mind. At the same time satan will try to hand me reasons to get mad at other people. Waiting on God renews my strength to resist the devil. The biggest problem I’ve found in these difficulties is some of my reactions are almost automatic. Over the years I’ve cultivated defensiveness and fear to the point where it can overcome me. So I like to begin all processes with repentance. That means I’ve positioned myself to hear from the Lord, and removed any hindrances.

I love the line … “He gives strength to the weary.…” Trials and problems wear people out! If you get enough of them all at once you can feel like you are buried alive and you can’t manage anything that is going on. That is why Isaiah is so smart. He doesn’t try to think or psyche his way out – He goes to the One that he knows Who never gets tired and he WAITS. “In this world, you will have trials … don’t be afraid … everything that Jesus did for us overcame them all.” (My paraphrase.) Like I said, stuff happens! Bye 👋