Luke – Page 101 – I'm Following Jesus

KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Friday, October 05, 2018
Chapters: Luke 4-5, John 1:15-51
Message: Tempted By The Devil, Delivered By God

Hello My Friend,

I have been talking a lot about the devil this week so it is fitting that we come to the testimonies of Jesus being tempted by him. People do not realize that when Jesus was here in the flesh, God gave Him the same emotions and likenesses that we have, while He was not born with a sin nature that did not mean He was not capable of committing sin. The devil actually tempted Him more often than you realize, yet He overcame it by keeping His eyes in the Word of God and applying it daily. You know, the biggest reason people fall into the temptation has nothing to do with our being born with a sin nature, or the devil tempting us, but everything to do with what we desire in the flesh. Remember, the devil cannot make us do anything no more than God can, but does know our weaknesses and desires, and will use them to try to get us to turn to him, anytime we fall into temptation it is because we took our eyes off Jesus and allowed the devil’s influence to take over. “And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” – Luke 4:5-8.

“If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.” You see, the devil’s biggest tactic is to get people to worship him, and let me tell you, a lot do, our governments, and quite frankly, churches are swarming with people who got their power under the hand of the devil, and it really does take the more powerful hand of God to overcome his power. The biggest problem is, people want God in their lives, they just do not want to worship Him as He instructs. After Jesus endured the temptation of the devil He immediately began His ministry, He arrived home, went into the synagogue, sat down, listening, only to have the Scriptures handed to Him, He opened the scroll and began reading, and while they were intrigued, they would not accept His teaching.

“And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son? And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.” – Luke 4:17-24,28-29.

“And rose up, and thrust him out of the city,” The religions that are controlled by the devil do not want to hear the truth nor do they want the truth of the Scriptures to read. They will throw you out before they let people see that they cannot get to heaven by their church laws, but by Christ alone. People who are stuck in religion or themselves are too proud to admit they need a Saviour to keep them alive beyond this life. It is in our nature to want to fight with anyone or thing that messes with our egos. The news of Jesus preaching and healing people got around quickly, people flocked when they heard that He was in their town or close by.

“And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.” – Luke 5:17-24.

“that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by,” Do you see who always showed up? The religious and scientific groups. God actually sent them there to show them the true Physician, and that His power could heal even them, meaning their souls. However, these were the skeptics, the religious, the ones who made up their own laws and called them God’s, and just like Jesus said that it was easier to get a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to believe in Him, the same it pretty much true for the religious who are depending on their own works to heal (save) them from their sins. When a person lets go of their pride and realizes how sinful they are their first reaction is to hide from Jesus, but that is the amazing thing about Jesus, He accepts all who come to Him, regardless of their past. Praise God! “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” – Romans 10:9-10.

The nature of true believers is following Jesus, devoting ourselves to Him, and walking in His steps. Most of the Jews denied Jesus as the Messiah, but those who did believe followed Him and He accepted all who followed Him, including a man named Nathanael, who became one of His disciples.

“Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” – John 1:45-51.

“Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” Guile; trickery or deceit. Jesus allows all to willingly follow Him, He also knows those who truly believe or are just tricking or deceiving others. A believer of Christ must not let anything come between their faith, they may not perfect, but they must be willing to learn, grow, and pick back up where they left off. Many churches claim to believe in and teach Christ, but refuse to believe He is God, and always has been. If we are going to worship God we must come to Him through the Son. The animal sacrifices that came under the Law of Moses to redeem a soul was not the actual blood that would provide permanent redemption, it was merely a visage to hide sin. Jesus does more than hide sin, He completely and utterly removes it once we receive Him. And there is nothing the devil can do about that. Praise God! “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” – Hebrews 10:4,19,20,22.

Jesus Christ Magnified: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” – Luke 5:32.

Today’s Prayer: Jesus, I want You to be more than my Saviour, I want You to be LORD of my life. Lead me, and guide me, give me Your strength to walk and talk as You do. Put Your hedge of protection around me, and keep me looking to You, let me not fall into the temptations of the devil as tries to get me to take my eyes off You. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus, Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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