COME TO JESUS DAILY DEVOTIONAL
Contents
- Monday – Be lifted by recognising the tempter
- Tuesday – Be lifted by knowing the enemy
- Wednesday – Be lifted by fighting like Jesus part 1
- Thursday – Be lifted by fighting like Jesus part 2
- Friday – Be lifted by fighting like Jesus part 3
For links to the message and our blog which contains all of our studies, go to our website,
1. COME TO JESUS DAILY DEVOTIONAL
One of our goals as a church is to spend at least 20 minutes every day in prayer and worship out of the bible. I hope you find this devotional helpful toward that end.
This series, LIFT…
…is different to our usual practice for working through a book of the bible. I felt that, for this season, it would be refreshing to seek God for what He wants to say and to simply share that.
I trust that such an approach will help remind all of us to be prophetic - to listen to what God wants to say as a lifestyle.
These daily studies, likewise, are from my, and other church member’s devotions. I will also include devotionals derived from the various contributions that you share, as a church, in various settings.
Matt Beaney June 2019
MONDAY – BE LIFTED RECOGNISING THE TEMPTER
Genesis 3:1-3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”
Temptations are the devil’s enticements for us to sin. To sin is to do anything that is against God’s will. The devil hates God and has particular hatred for us who are ‘made in His image’ (Gen. 1:26-27). I’m sure that we are all guilty of not being as fully aware of the unseen spiritual realm, as we need to be.
Wayne Grudem has written,
‘However, if Scripture gives us a true account of the world as it really is, then we must take seriously its portrayal of intense demonic involvement in human society. Our failure to perceive that involvement with our five senses simply tells us that we have some deficiencies in our ability to understand the world, not that demons do not exist. In fact, there is no reason to think that there is any less demonic activity in the world today that there was at the time of the New Testament.’
RESPONSE
The accounts, such of Genesis 3, of demonic attack are included in the bible to teach us at least 2 things: Firstly, the world is as it is because we have listened, and continue to listen, to the devil. Secondly, the devil is real and attacks us to varying degrees of intensity. We will only be able to stand if we know he exists, trust God’s word, pray, and receive strengthening from our local church family.
TUESDAY – BE LIFTED BY KNOWING THE ENEMY
Genesis 3:4-5 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Today, we continue with our meditation on Genesis 3 and the Fall of Man. It is often said to soldiers, ‘know your enemy’. I understand that boxers, football teams etc. all study their opponents so as to understand and defeat them.
The devil, principally, attacks our thinking. He wants us to believe that God is a liar and, better yet, is a lie! The devil, subtly, slanders God to our hearts and, with great subtlety, we begin to slander God ourselves.
We begin to think, “Yes, God is wrong to say that…It’s wrong of God to control me like this…actually maybe what those teachers are saying, although contrary to scripture, seems very sensible…”
Jesus picks up the same theme when He says,
“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)
RESPONSE
How are your thinking and your conversations at the moment? Are you harbouring slander against God? Even more importantly, how is your personal relationship with God in prayer and worship? In the Garden of Eden account, a result of their sin was hiding from God. A sure sign of our falling into temptation is prayerlessness - we hide from God. We may keep up a formal Christian front, but the inner love for God is waning. Let’s go back to God in prayer and allow the reality of His presence to restore our souls.
WEDNESDAY – BE LIFTED FIGHTING LIKE JESUS PT.1
Matthew 4:1-4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said if you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Jesus was not spared from this universal human experience of temptation. In fact, all three of the synoptic gospels detail the account when Jesus was tempted by the devil while he was in the wilderness. We will look at each temptation over the next three days.
Jesus was tempted to misuse His authority
Firstly, he was tempted “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread” (Matt. 4:3). Jesus had the power to turn stones into bread. At the wedding in Cana we see Jesus turn water into wine, so why would it be wrong, on this occasion, to do something similar with stone? It’s interesting that something that is right is not right on all occasions - the Christian life is not a matter of following formulas. Jesus is tempted to use His authority as Son of God to go against the will of God that He fast in the desert. In 4:1 we read, ‘Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness’. It was the Father’s will, revealed by the Spirit, that Jesus fast. Not to do so would be an act of disobedience on this occasion.
RESPONSE
Jesus was the Son of God and as such we could presume that He had the right to use His authority and power in any way He desired. However, Jesus reveals to us that there is submission and authority within the Trinity. Likewise, we may be children of God, we may have authority to pray, but we must resist presumption, and seek to listen, Pray and act in accord with God’s will.
THURSDAY – BE LIFTED BY FIGHTING LIKE JESUS PT.2
Matthew 4:1-3, 5-7 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him…the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Jesus tempted to put God to the test
Yesterday we saw how Jesus was tempted to misuse His authority. Today we see that He was tempted to test God. Satan misuses the bible; Psalm 91:11-12, quoted by Satan, is a promise of protection. It’s wonderful to know that God is protecting us and so we need never be fearful. The imagery in this psalm reminds one of Jesus’ great promise, ‘no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.’ (John 10:28-29). The Christian is secure in this life and the next.
Such assurances over our lives, Satan will attempt to pervert, as he did with Jesus. Satan will attempt to use our assurance of salvation and God’s love to actually divide us from God as we presume His love and so no longer pray; we assume our salvation and so indulge in sin; we assume his protection and so become reckless…
RESPONSE
Jesus opposes temptation saying, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ (Deut. 6:16) Like Jesus, we must answer temptation with truth properly applied. For example, how would Romans 6:1 refute Satan efforts to pervert the grace of God?
FRIDAY – BE LIFTED BY FIGHTING LIKE JESUS PT.3
Matthew 4:1-3, 8-10 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him…Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
Jesus tempted to by-pass the cross
Today we will consider the Last of the three temptations that Jesus experienced in the desert. Satan offers Jesus the kingdoms of the world in exchange for worship. The temptation of this moment has been used by countless films and books down the ages. The hero is offered his ambition if he will compromise with evil in some way. It’s so tantalising. Satan is tempting Jesus. Satan is not completely clear on Jesus’ strategy for the restoration of fallen creation, but he knows that this is Jesus’ ambition. Satan knows, because he was there in the Garden, that if he can get Jesus, like Adam and Eve, to obey him, he will have won.
RESPONSE
After the Fall, God promises, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Gen. 3:15) Here, in the wilderness, Satan is ‘striking’ Jesus, as he offers him a victory by avoiding the cross. However, Jesus knows that He will can only provide forgiveness for sins and restored worship to God through His suffering. Likewise, Satan is always tempting us into rebellion - He wants us to dishonour the cross and fall into sin in any way he can tempt us. Like Jesus, we ‘crush His head’ as we recognise the devil’s schemes and stand on the truth.
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