TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Matthew 4:2-3
Read: Matthew 4:2-3
Listen: Matthew 4
TODAY’S MESSAGE
Just a couple of chapters before The Lord’s Prayer, we find the story about Jesus’s temptation. Jesus spends forty days without food and is on the brink of starvation. It’s in this place of weakness the devil comes and tempts him. It is no accident the devil starts by tempting him with food. The devil tempts him first by attacking his weakness.
The same can be true of us. We are often most tempted by the things we are starving or longing for. We think these things will give us life, even if only briefly. We may be starving for love but try to find it in an inappropriate relationship. We might be hungry for approval, but try to find it by using a classmate’s answers for an exam. Or it may be we are starving for recognition and try to find it by inflating our resume, taking credit for work we didn’t do, or putting down our co-workers to make ourselves look better.
Jesus’s temptation reminds us he is the only one qualified to take our place. He lived a life without sin and even passed this direct temptation by the devil. Pastor Jeff mentioned a double transfer happens between Jesus and us. He takes our debts, and we take his goodness for ourselves. We have a relationship with God not because we are good but because he is good. Despite our failing, we are saved by his goodness. May this great truth draw us to worship our Savior and run to him for guidance and deliverance when we are starving and tempted. Watch this video clip as Pastor Jeff Manion describes how Jesus is our substitute.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
When you have finished praying The Lord’s Prayer, spend a few minutes in a personal prayer of gratitude. Thank God for sending his Son as your substitute.
40 DAYS OF PRAYER
Join us for 40 DAYS OF PRAYER where all of us will find a quiet space and slowly read The Lord’s Prayer. May forty days of praying like Jesus prayed, and desiring what Jesus wanted, make a big difference in our hearts and our communities.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.
NEW TESTAMENT READING PLAN
Join us this year as we read through the New Testament.
Today’s reading is Acts 10.
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
