January 11, 2010: The Journey 25

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, it is Monday and the day we pray for our leaders, our military, our police and our firefighters. Please add extra prayers today for the Perdix (PA) Fire Department and those firefighters. Also please keep praying for Skip Shoemaker. I will send you an update on him separate from this. Please pray for people that are having the severe cold weather, including those temps that might not seem cold to us, but folks, 28 in sunny south is cold. (Could this be God showing those people that support global warming that He is in charge?) I think so.

Another note, and I would like to hear from you. I am now working off my new computer, I have been up all night trying to get it to work. I was on the phone last night from 11:00 PM till well after 2:00 AM and it was still not working, I ran updates all night. Now what is not working you might not see, but I cannot get the printers to work off the old computer where I do all my pastor notes for messages. I am 100% sure that God will help me get this worked out or send me someone to help.

The Journey 25: Matthew 4:1 - Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty day and forty nights he was hungry. (NIV)

This week I have asked Jesus to give me messages on these scriptures, so let's get started.

Why in the world would our Lord Jesus be led into the desert to be tempted by Satan? We know right from the start that Jesus could just walk right over top of Satan and indeed would not even need to give this master of evil the time of day, so to speak. I feel this was done to show the human side of Jesus and that regardless of what was thrown at Him, He would be able to handle it without doing one of His miracles. Then to top it off he fasted for days and then He was hungry.

Folks, let me look at this being tempted. How often are we tempted by Satan and how often are we tempted by things that are wrong that maybe Satan does not have his hand on? Do you think sometimes we give this evil leader all too much credit? I think we do! We were all given free will to choose things on our own, we really were, but we really need to include our Lord Jesus in the things we do and that way we will not be tempted, or not be tempted as much, and when we are tempted we will have the power of our Lord Jesus to block the temptations that do come on us. Remember, my dear brothers and sisters, we do have the power of Jesus when we call on Him in faith. He said we could move a mountain if we have that faith and we need that faith many days, in fact most all days, to block those temptations that lead to sin, and as we know, sin will lead to our downfall.

Now Jesus did go to the desert to also fast for that is what He did for forty days. Now if you are like me, I have trouble fasting for an hour!! And when I am told to not eat after midnight because of going for a test at the doctors or going to the hospital, it is hard. What, nothing to eat or drink after midnight? Do you know how many times I had a meal at 11:30 PM? Now I seem to always eat at night, and even more so since that weight loss surgery that I had, but the fact remains I have trouble fasting. Folks. there is power in fasting and going to the Lord in prayer, but I am going to say this and some might get upset. Some people who have medical conditions and need to eat at least something to keep the system in balance need to be aware of that. However. with that said, those people could cut back. One time when I was about 240 pounds years ago. I went three months and ate nothing, I drank diet soda, I drank water and coffee, but ate nothing. I went through a very bad time and just stopped eating. I was down to 165 Pounds when my daughters came to stuff food in my mouth. And I worked those days also, never missed. Now please do not do this, but if you do not have medical conditions and you really want to fast and pray, please by all means do it, be it for a day, or two, or three. Stay in contact with the Lord all the time, pray and pray and pray. Go to your room, close the door, and pray. Fasting is not easy folks, it takes a lot of prayers to get through it, but it is in the Bible as we see today. Maybe we should have a day of praying and fasting on this line. How many of you would join me in that one? One 24 hour period of praying, even if you go to work you could fast and pray. Center on God and not food. I do suggest we drink water during that time, but again I say, be aware of your medical conditions before fasting.

Tomorrow we are going to talk about some of the ways Jesus was tempted. Let's pray!

Dear Father in Heaven, we need You to block temptation from our lives, and Lord, we ask that today, block the evil ones, Satan and his workers, from getting to us. Lord, help us to not center our lives on food and center them on You, for You always provide for us, always. Lord, please bless our president and his family, bless all of our military and all others who work so hard to take care of us. Thanks for prayers answered with Mr. Shoemaker and please keep your hand on him. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

Go forth sharing your blessings. love ya, dan.