Life Capsule for Today Date 13th June, 2024
Theme: Appreciating wilderness experiences (5)
Memory Verse: Isa 43:2 When you go through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not go over you: when you go through the fire, you will not be burned; and the flame will have no power over you.
Topic: The devil suggesting alternatives to Us (B)
Today’s Reading: Mat 4:5 – 7
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Words of the Ministry:
Yesterday we saw how the devil tried to provide alternatives to Jesus by suggesting he helps himself. We did learn that the devil was particularly attacking his sonship and the word of God concerning him. From yesterday’s lesson, we saw that those so called fast paths to testimony may just be a temptation waiting to destroy us. While the devil uses our natural needs as a bane to tempt us when in the wilderness, from today’s lesson, we would be seeing how he also uses religious and psychological needs to tempt us with the same aim of attacking our sonship and our testimony before God and Man.
Yesterday, Jesus quoted the scriptures against the lies of the devil so this time around, the devil decided to also go to the word to tempt the saviour. Still not satisfied with Jesus’ victory, he felt if he raised the bar a little further, he may Just fall. So he said, if you are the son of God, why not cast yourself down to test the validity of God’s promises but Jesus again answered with the word that we must not put God to a test. We immediately see that true victory during temptation is from the word and secondly the devil may take advantage of us if we don’t have a proper understanding of scriptures. The devil may even quote scriptures, but the general test should be why do I need this thing, is it to glorify God or self, would it satisfy God or me. Like in the case of Jesus, it was to prove he was a son of God, that is to glorify and satisfy self, the old man. Once we see the old man finding expression, we must apply the word, the sword of the spirit.
Dear saints, for Jesus he was the son of God, he knew it, God confirmed it, and the devil also knew it. Trying to prove it was a temptation, it would have brought psychological satisfaction but that is not from our Spirit but the self. Today many of us too are in such situations, our wilderness experience may not be related to physical needs, it may be psychological, we feel unsatisfied, the devil suggests God’s goodness is inadequate, he needs to do more to prove he is God, some of such dissatisfaction could be because of what others have achieved, the fear of what tomorrows brings, the impression people have about you or the societal values. Many suffer deep emotional pain because of this and at times attempt to force God to prove himself in a bid to convince those around that they are truly God’s children. That is the flesh and we must remind ourselves that we must not tempt the Lord our God. The general question to ask ourselves is why do you want this need met or situation changed, who receives the glory and why now? May the Lord grant us light.
Bible in one year: Esther 4-5. or further fellowship send us an email on godmanvideos@gmail.comor visit our youtube channel: @godmanmedia. You can also interact with us by dropping your comments on our facebook page. Our physical meeting, Word feast comes up every Wednesday by 5pm and Prayer Gym every Saturday by 7am while PENIEL comes up once a month, every last Sunday of the month from 4pm to 6.30pm at Suite A10, Ahser Office Complex, beside Living Faith Church, Opposite Hassan Stores, Arab Road, Kubwa Abuja.