1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit  into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

4 But he answered. “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone’”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test,’”

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and they glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you fall down and worship me.”

10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

1. How did Jesus overcome temptation and defeat the devil? (Lesson 2 #4 in Purple Book)

2. Why should we desire God’s word?

3. How can we get into the habit of experiencing victory over sin and benefiting from the word?

When I was preparing today’s starter, I found it hilarious that I was tasked with talking about spiritual hunger. Although it may be the most important part of living out your faith as a Christian, it has been THE HARDEST spiritual discipline in my walk with God to develop and nurture. When I first became a Christian, I thought that only full-time ministers deeply studied the word of God; I thought I was in the clear. As I started discipleship, I quickly learned that it was it was my responsibility as someone who loves God and desires to grow in relationship with Him to read the word of God because it is His main way of communicating with us. Besides, even if that weren’t true, 5 years later I was entering into full time ministry, ha! All that to say, don’t get stuck thinking that it is someone else’s job to build your relationship between you and God. That is essentially what we are trying to task our pastors, mentors, leaders, etc. with when we leave it to things like bible study, and Sunday service to be the only time we hear the word of God.

Besides growing in relationship with God, why should we desire God’s word? Because we need it to experience victory over sin. In the scripture above, Jesus is tempted by the devil. Jesus defeats the enemy’s schemes to ruin God’s plan for our redemption and disqualify Him as a sinless savior, by using the word of God. He combats him by saying three powerful words “it is written” followed by God’s word. How amazing is that? Psalm 119:9 and 11 prove to us that if we store up God’s word in our heart that we have the power to stay pure! The only way to do that is if we READ the word of God ourselves and practice communicating with Him this way. The scriptures in your purple book on page 52 #6 show you other ways that the word benefits you.

Lord I pray that you convict our hearts to desire your word. Show us how wonderful and marvelous it is to communicate with you this way. We thank you for fighting on our behalf and defeating the enemy for our redemption. Teach us how to experience victory over our sin by using your word. Bring people alongside us that can show us how to fight our laziness and lack of time that we spend with you. Allow us to lead someone else in this spiritual discipline as well. Keep our hearts in awe of you, Jesus. In your name, Amen.