May 10 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Matthew 4:1-11:

¹Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
²And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
³And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
⁴But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
⁵Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
⁶And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
⁷Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
⁸Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
⁹And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
¹⁰Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
¹¹Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Devotional

Is it not strange that James begins his letter with, "My breth­ren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations?" Therefore, when we are tempted and tried, when our faith is put to the test in various ways, we must not murmur, but we have reason to rejoice. Trials and temptations are for our spiritual good. They further our growth in grace. James says that the try­ing of our faith works patience.

Peter says when he speaks of the manifold temptations to be endured: "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Thus Abraham was tempted and came out vic­torious.

But there is another kind of temptation, when Satan tempts a person to sin against God, or the world tries to lead us astray, or man is tempted by his own lusts and enticed. Then, indeed, is the danger great. Because in ourselves we are "so weak that we cannot stand a moment." Therefore we must pray that God may preserve and strengthen us by the power of his Holy Spirit, that we may be enabled to stand against our enemies and at last conquer them. But we can conquer them only by faith. "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." And God will "with the temptation make a way of escape." He is faithful.

Prayer

Our Father, look down upon us in mercy. Since we are so weak in ourselves that we cannot stand a moment, and besides our deadly enemies, the devil, the world and our own flesh, assail us without ceasing, be pleased to preserve and strengthen us by the power of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may make firm stand against them, and not be overcome in this spiritual warfare, until finally complete victory is ours. We pray in Jesus' name, and for his sake. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: James 1:3; 1 Pet. 1:7; Gen. 22; Matt. 26:41; 1 Cor. 10:13.

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