After fasting forty days and forty nights in the wilderness, Jesus was approached by the devil who said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones become bread.” Jesus replied, “It is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Then the devil took Him to the holy city; and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will give His angels charge concerning you,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Having failed to entice Jesus to lay aside His humble and obedient attitude toward God and lift Himself up against God by performing a miracle on His own initiative, and failing likewise to get Him to claim the promise that angels would bear Him up if He jumped off the pinnacle of the temple, the devil then showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory, and offered them to Him if He would fall down and worship him.
Dear friends, the devil tempts us just as he tempted Jesus, trying to entice us to act on our own initiative and make the promises of God come true. He tells us, “If you are a child of God, the promises of God apply to you. Do you need money? Claim it. Are you sick? Claim your healing. Jesus gave you all authority in heaven and on earth, USE IT. (Please bear in mind the devil is a liar). Your tongue has the power of life and death, speak things into being. Or, if you prefer, you can declare and decree whatever you want.” (The devil, and his servants, never mention that Job 22:28 is refuted in Job 42:7-9). And, if he fails with these schemes, he will appeal to lust, greed, sexual impurity, and everything else the human flesh is subject to.
Satan and his servants will go on and on telling us lie after lie just to get us to raise ourselves up to the level of God, thereby preventing us from humbling ourselves before God. But what do the Scriptures say? “HAVE THIS ATTITUDE IN YOURSELVES, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross,” Philippians 2:5-8
Resist the devil and he will flee from you, Matthew 4:11a.
Throughout His ministry on earth, Jesus maintained His humble and obedient attitude and did nothing on His own initiative, but worked as the Father worked, John 5:19,30 and John 14:10. Should we do any less
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
P.S. Please weigh everything I say on the scales of the Word of God.
jondavidbanks.com 