MARCH 9 READING…Luke 4
Luke records for us that after His baptism Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where He would spend 40 days alone, except for the devil who would be there to tempt Him. We are told in Hebrews 4:15 that Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, yet He never sinned. Temptation is not a sin…sin is giving into temptation. Satan tempted Jesus in three way in the Lord’s time in the wilderness. He tempted Jesus to not rely on His Father’s provision...Jesus refused and answered with Scripture. Then Satan tempted Jesus worship him in order to have all things…Jesus refused and answered with Scripture. Finally, Satan tempted Jesus to test God’s protection…Jesus again refuse and answered with Scripture. After this Satan left Jesus to wait on more opportunities to tempt Him in the future. Satan will offer us just about anything and everything if we will reject God and follow him…sadly, it doesn’t take much to get people today to follow Satan, many are already doing it for nothing. Temptation will come, pray and stay in the Word, trust in the Holy Spirit, and you will be able to stand up against it.
The rest of chapter 4 concerns the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He receives a great response in the region of the Galilee, while He was rejected in His own hometown. Nazareth. Jesus went to the synagogue in Nazareth and read from the book of Isaiah. When He had finished reading the passage, He closed the book and declared the what He had read was fulfilled that day. They refused to believe, as they only saw Jesus as Joseph’s son. Jesus likens their unbelief to the unbelief in the time of Elijah, and how Israel missed the blessing that were then given to foreigners. When they understood He was talking of their unbelief, and that they would miss the blessings of God, they became enraged and wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff. But Jesus just walked through the crowd, untouched, and went His way. Jesus returns to the Galilee where He casts out demons, heals Peter’s mother-in-law, and continues through the communities preaching the kingdom of God.
Please share your thoughts from today’s reading.
TOMORROW’S READING…Luke 5
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