In writing these blogs, I want to be real and transparent in my faith and my walk with God, which I call my pilgrimage. Pilgrimage (def) is an individual's journey through life. In the first 4000 blogs I wrote, I signed The Pilgrimage Continues because I was literally journaling my journey through life with the Word of God as my guide and my strength. As I continue to write these blogs, God has led me to preach in my writing. It sounds kinda weird and maybe even wrong to traditionalists. So, I have been signing the end of my blog "Vesselogical Out." That was apparently my attempt to be "cool" and edgy, and it worked. Still, God has birthed a new purpose and direction for me, leading me to look at these blogs as a vehicle to lead myself and others into a deeper walk with God and explore the mysteries of God through His living Word. Psalm 42: 7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have passed over me.
God is redirecting me to go to the Gospel of John beginning tomorrow. In the words of Jesus, I believe we will see life at a much deeper level and thus handle life as the Holy Spirit leads. My last entry in Acts will be today, and then tomorrow, I will begin in John 1. I look forward to the richness of wisdom and the life-sustaining words of the gospel, and I hope you will not only take this journey with me but invite others along as well. In reality, I am nothing special, but what I am is a seeker, and I am seeking God's will and His wisdom from His Word. I hope you will explore it with me by asking questions and commenting on the blog on my website. I will try to keep track of all this activity, and hopefully, we will become better disciples of the Lord and grow in our walk. I love the Word of God, and I know He has a great plan for my preaching while writing. I hope you will pray that I only use the Word of God as my wisdom and commentary. I will be using the New American Standard version as the Bible translation. There is a new 2000 version that is incredible!!
When Jesus went into the Wilderness before beginning His earthly ministry, God allowed Him to be tempted, and the temptation did come. Here is how the Word speaks to this Wilderness experience. Matthew (nasb) 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took Him along into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and he said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written: ‘He will give His angels orders concerning You’; and ‘On their hands they will lift You up,So that You do not strike Your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written: ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”8 Again, the devil took Him along to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” 11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to serve Him.
All great plans begin with preparation. God is all about preparation and the greatest preparation for the greatest plan in history begins with the Son of God being tempted by the devil himself. You will notice in verse 1 that scripture says Jesus was led up by the Spirit to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Jesus was led to a place where the devil would tempt Him, but God was not the one tempting. James 1:13 says 13 No one is to say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. The Son of God IS God and man, and He is about to be tempted by evil. Jesus meets that temptation after not eating for forty days. Where does the devil tempt him first? FOOD. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
Jesus is the Word of God, and the Word of God was speaking The Word of God to the devil, so the temptation would not work. But notice the scripture 4 But He answered and said, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’” Note to self: Get the Word of God in your head, in your mind, in your heart, and you will have all the firepower you need to resist the devil!! Jesus further emphasized this in Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ If a person really wanted to live an abundant life, I believe they would be totally immersed in deeper Bible Study. Just saying.
When we are trying to develop our faith we have to keep in mind that God is not going to be tempted by any of our games. God knows our hearts, and He sees intent and purpose. We do not manipulate God and the devil's next attack caused Jesus to bring out the scripture in Deuteronomy 6:16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah. You notice the word "Massah" here, and in Hebrew, it means "testing." The Israelites found fault in Moses because of a lack of water when they left the wilderness of Sin during the Exodus. Moses struck a rock with his rod, and water flowed out, so Moses named the place Massah. The devil was not able to goad Jesus into testing God; He is God!
Share the Word,
David Warren
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