Christ Triumphant - A Devotional by E.G. White
| Constant Prayer Needed to Resist Satan's Cunning |
|
|
Today's Text:
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Luke 4:1
|
|
The Message:
Why was it that at the beginning of His public ministry Christ was led into the wilderness to be tempted? It was the Spirit that led Him thence, and He went, not in His own behalf, but in our behalf, to overcome for us. There was no compulsion about it. He was led by the Spirit, His humanity to be proved, as one who had undertaken to stand at the head of the fallen race.
Christ had been, and was then, in perfect harmony with the Father. He was to be tried and tested as a representative of the race. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to meet the foe in personal encounter, to overthrow him who claimed to be the head of the kingdoms of the world.
While in the wilderness Christ fasted, but He was insensible to hunger.
Engaged in constant prayer to His Father for a preparation to resist the adversary, Christ did not feel the pangs of hunger. He spent the time in earnest prayer, shut in with God. It was as if He were in the presence of His Father. He sought for strength to meet the foe, for the assurance that He would receive grace to carry out all that He had undertaken in behalf of humanity. The thought of the warfare before Him made Him oblivious to all else, and His soul was fed with the bread of life, just as today those tempted souls will be fed who go to God for aid. He ate of the truth that He was to give to the people as having power to deliver them from Satan's temptations. He saw the breaking of Satan's power over fallen and tempted ones. He saw Himself healing the sick, comforting the hopeless, cheering the desponding, and preaching the gospel to the poor-doing the work that God had outlined for Him; and He did not realize any sense of hunger until the forty days of His fast were ended....
Christ is in the wilderness, the wild beasts His only companions, and everything around Him tending to make Him realize His humanity. Suddenly an angel appears before Him, apparently one of the angels that He saw not long since, and addresses Him with the words "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." "If thou be the Son of God" here is the insinuation of distrust. The words rankle with the bitterness in his [Satan's] mind. In the tones of his voice is an expression of utter incredulity.-Letter 159, 1903 (Manuscript Releases 21:8, 9).
|
|
|
Commentary:
My friend, while the Son of God was in communion with His Father, He was shut in from the wiles of Satan. In the same way, as we are in communion with God, we are protected against temptation. We must realize that the agency of evil is ever trying to separate us from the one power that can give us victory over sin. Thus those whom Satan can get to neglect prayer and the searching of the Scriptures will be overcome by him.
The sophistries of Satan are deep and interwoven together. One deception will lead to others and still others until our souls are enshrouded in darkness. The only thing that can free us from this darkness is the light of truth. Jesus says "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6). If we will continually look unto Jesus, our guide and mediator, we will be freed from the deceptions of Satan.
The whole of the Christian world is enshrouded in darkness. Since their rejection of the ministration of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, they have not been led by the Spirit of Christ. By accepting the doctrine of the trinity they have accepted the spirit of the adversary of souls. In the same way the Seventh-day Adventist church has turned away from the One true God and unto the false god of the trinity, and as such have been enshrouded in darkness. Though the church has been given great light, by accepting the doctrine of the trinity the light has been turned to darkness, for Jesus says "If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matthew 6:23).
By accepting the doctrine of the trinity the fallen churches of Babylon and the SDA church have accepted the spirit of another mediator in place of Jesus Christ, and as such are being lead by another spirit. Satan has long desired to be worshiped as God, and by leading the Christian world to worship the trinity, he has artfully placed himself into the Godhead and is now worshiped as God. This representation of God does not honor God and those who worship the god of the trinity are worshiping God in vain, for Jesus said "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Matthew 15:9).
My friend, if you are worshiping God through the doctrine of the trinity, you are worshiping Him in vain, for you are not worshiping the One true God, but the god of Babylon. If you are to be shielded from the temptations of Satan, you need to be continually connected to the Only true God through His Son Jesus Christ, for He says "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3).
May you be enshrouded by the Spirit of God through His Son Jesus Christ today.
God bless,
|
|
|
Video of the Week
Matt Dooley of Line of Truth Ministries traces Satan's desire for worship from heaven to the end of time, and how he has accomplished this through the trinity.
|
Comments
Post a Comment