Luke 4:4 …It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
Luke 4:8 …it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Luke 4:12 …It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Defense Against the Devil
Our Lord was tempted of the devil for forty days in the desert. He had a strong defense planned against the devil before he went on that journey, however. When that journey was over, the only thing that got him through it was the word of God. We will face many temptations in life as our Lord did. We can win, like our Lord did, if we use His tactics. The devil only left Jesus for a little while after this incident. He never gave up trying to get Jesus to quit on his mission in life – going to the cross of Calvary. I think there is a lesson here in what it takes to win against the devil. It may be only for a short time, but any victory over the devil is a great victory in the life of a Christian. We will be assaulted by him until the day we die. We must fight to win.
The Word of God
The first thing we need, to be able to win the fight against the devil, is the word of God. You are not going to reason your way out of a conversation with the devil by using worldly arguments or common sense. The television or modern philosophy is not going to help either. The devil wants to convince you that the flesh is the most important thing and you will die of starvation if you don’t please its every whim. God’s word is the only thing that can bring reason and practical application to the problems of life. You need to use the word, as an experienced warrior uses the shield of faith, to quench those fiery darts. The devil is going to put ungodly thoughts in your mind each and every day. You must fight back with the word. That is why it is important that you hide it in your heart.
Holy Worship
The next thing we need to fight the devil with is worship of the true God. The devil wants our attention and worship. He is the wrong god. He wants us to bow down to him. We do that when we succumb to sin. When we have anger, wrath, malice, bitterness, hatred, variance, murder, adultery, etc. in our heart; we are worshipping the devil, in a sense. We are ascribing honor to the author of sin himself. Instead, we should praise and honor the Lord. We need to worship the Lord in song, in praise, and in thankfulness. When we become unthankful, we show we are not content with what God has given us. We need to be thankful if we are going to truly praise God. You need to count your blessings and thank God for them daily. Don’t let the devil talk you into praising him with a bitter, unthankful life. Praise God instead.
Winning Against Temptations
Last of all, we need to win against temptations that the devil brings into our life. It is the devil, not God, who tempts man to evil. God makes it clear that he does not tempt us for evil. It is when we are led away by the lusts of our own heart. Our vile heart can deceive us into thinking something is good when it is wicked. That is why our compass always needs to be the word of God. Don’t let temptation take you out. Seek the Lord when the devil comes knocking and tries to draw you away with the lusts of your heart. There are many temptations a modern Christian faces in this life that must be overcome if they are to survive. The modern devices and the media are full of temptations that the Christian must overcome.
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