Fasting Devotion Day 9
READ
“Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ””
Luke 4:1-4 NKJV
THINK
Sometimes as a pastor I convince myself that if I walk with the Spirit I somehow will be immune to temptation and trials. However the older I’m getting (and I know 43 is still pretty young) the more I see that its often right in the center of Gods will that we will be tested and tried. Jesus was bathed in, filled with, and led by the Holy Spirit and He taken right into the heart of temptation. We must always remember that temptation and testing are often precursors for God working a mighty work.
I truly believe that as we move into 2024 our influence in the community will multiply. As it does I know temptations and tests will come and we must be ready. We are the church and we exist for the world!
1. What deserts do you believe the Holy Spirit may be leading you and Ignite into? What temptations are waiting there for us?
2. What bread is the devil trying to get you to consume? How has this time of fasting increased your ability to say no to the world so you can say yes to Jesus?
PRAY
Today please join with me in specifically praying that as we are tempted and tried we will choose a lasting bread over what this world has to offer. I know that to Jesus the bread Satan offered seemed reasonable and we must pray that we can see beyond the physical!
“Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ””
Luke 4:1-4 NKJV
THINK
Sometimes as a pastor I convince myself that if I walk with the Spirit I somehow will be immune to temptation and trials. However the older I’m getting (and I know 43 is still pretty young) the more I see that its often right in the center of Gods will that we will be tested and tried. Jesus was bathed in, filled with, and led by the Holy Spirit and He taken right into the heart of temptation. We must always remember that temptation and testing are often precursors for God working a mighty work.
I truly believe that as we move into 2024 our influence in the community will multiply. As it does I know temptations and tests will come and we must be ready. We are the church and we exist for the world!
1. What deserts do you believe the Holy Spirit may be leading you and Ignite into? What temptations are waiting there for us?
2. What bread is the devil trying to get you to consume? How has this time of fasting increased your ability to say no to the world so you can say yes to Jesus?
PRAY
Today please join with me in specifically praying that as we are tempted and tried we will choose a lasting bread over what this world has to offer. I know that to Jesus the bread Satan offered seemed reasonable and we must pray that we can see beyond the physical!