FIRST PREACHING: THE TEMPTATIONS AND THE PROBLEMS
The Temptation and Problems
all have problems in our lives, may be marital problems, financial problems, poor grades, self dissatisfaction, low self esteem, sadness, physical problems, serious illness, family ill, bad relationships, in short, can be many. And somehow we all try to influence them to lose the joy that Christ gives us to stop putting his eyes fixed on God and put our problems, to make the problem we get into your head and think that no a possible solution.
comes in 2 Kings 19:19 " Save me, I pray thee, out of his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that only you, Lord, are God . "
will always have evidence, we will have problems, difficulties will sometimes come out from the flanks least we think and will touch at one point we assumed as a strong but in fact, was weak. We will try to snatch calm, to flourish in us feelings of anger and helplessness, sorrow and tribulation, anguish and bitterness, but quiet, that for God everything is possible and everything has its time.
But apart from problems, we temptations, because there is someone you want to watch us fall and that is Satan. Do not know who is clever and knows how to deal with us, but we also know that we need not fear because we are with God and He gives us victory. The very word of God teaches us that Satan's temptations can make, and it is Jesus who teaches us how to fold your hand and make the devil flee from us.
For that, we'll read Luke 4:1-1 3
First Temptation: The Hunger
Jesus, filled with the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit the desert for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days, after which he was hungry. Then the devil said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command this stone to become bread. Jesus answered and said, is written, just not live by bread alone but by every word of God .
The desert is a desolate, lonely, and Jesus had not eaten since 40 days ago, so naturally he was hungry. Jesus could turn this stone into bread, but would not give in like Satan, because he had something to say.
Hunger represents those needs that we human beings, be it food, clothing, work, home, and we mean that we live for God and He who worry most about these things, because we live in the Word of God . Of course we worry about these things, but we will not let the importance we give overshadow our amor por Dios, a fin de cuentas, Él nos proveerá.
De hecho, en Mateo 6,25-34, Jesús nos habla sobre este tema en “El afán y la ansiedad”
Por tanto os digo: No os afanéis por vuestra vida, qué habéis de comer o qué habéis de beber; ni por vuestro cuerpo, qué habéis de vestir. ¿No es la vida más que el alimento, y el cuerpo más que el vestido? Mirad las aves del cielo, que no siembran, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are ye not much better than they? Who of you by a lot to be desires, add to his stature one cubit? And the dress, why do you afanáis? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, but I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of them. And if the grass of the field is today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, God clothes, will he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Do not worry, So saying, What shall we eat, drink or what, or what to wear? For the Gentiles seek all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added . So, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry. Each day has enough trouble of its own .
All things of this world when we're away from God because we absorb either too long or are against God's purposes, we can succumb to this temptation, since it concerns only basic needs, but also to things we do that, for some reason mentioned, make us turn away from God.
Second Temptation: Power Hungry
the devil took him to a high mountain, showed him in a moment all the kingdoms of the earth. And he said the devil: I will give you all this power and the glory of them, because to me has been delivered, and who want to give it. If you fall down and worship me, all will be yours. Jesus answered and said unto him thee behind me, Satan, it is written, worship the Lord thy God, and serve him only .
Once that we met our basic needs, we can try putting Satan in us desires of ambitions that go against God's purposes, these desires can be for power, recognition by others, and is not that power is bad, but that power is bad when you do not use it correctly and when you want to your benefit and nobody else.
This world, as you said the passage belongs to Satan. He showed him all the kingdoms of the earth, but as we know it is a liar and cunning, we assume that only showed relatively good things of these realms, ie, the power that they had and the great works that had left Humanity. And says, I will give you all this power and the glory of them ... that is, the authority was offering the whole world, but to do so, he must bow down to Satan and his power to recognize .
In Matthew 6:24 Jesus speaks of "God and wealth "
No man can serve two masters : for either he will hate the one and love the other, or the one and despise the other. You can not serve God and mammon .
When it comes to wealth, we refer to material and human wealth, they can be much money, lots of power, fame, among other things. And Jesus teaches us that only we must serve God and can not fall in contradiction to serve the world (to the glory of it) and our Lord.
Third Temptation: Pride
And he brought him to Jerusalem, and put on the pinnacle of the temple, and said: If thou be the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, it is written, shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep you, and in the hands you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. Jesus answered and said, This is: not tempt the Lord thy God . And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a while .
Satan had the arrogance to tempt Jesus, starting, and on top now uses the Word of God itself to tempt you. Many times man is proud, ego makes bad decisions and even God gets rebellious, ignores him, ignore their existence, challenges their authority and their own existence (that we see more in disbelief).
We should not tempt God or disobey because he is our father created us, loved us, chose us and we thank you for everything you gave us, it is tempting poor pay and questioning, Is not it?
How did Jesus overcome these temptations?
Jesus overcame them with two virtues will name only two areas because they must have to be overcome, Jesus had more. The first is the humility , and this means not overstated, that is, knowing our own limitations and weaknesses, and act based on these knowledge (that according SAR ), but the truth is that this definition falls short, because we can say that also implies a self the right size , gentleness and heart action, patient with respect for others and obedience . With humility we can beat the materialistic desires and hunger for power that usually dominates the human being.
And more importantly, with this virtue can overcome pride , because just a humble person is not proud of herself or what has done, nor is it a state or higher position than other people, but remains at the level it deserves and work for the benefit of others. And the second, which is an implication of humility is the fear of God . This virtue, rather than a virtue, is a gift of the Holy Spirit and is fear of offending God, implies a reverence and an acknowledgment of his power thus moves us obedience and act fairly.
With the fear of God, we are able to perceive when we are doing something wrong, and we are also able to discern between good and evil when making a decision, a small sum, is the one who tells us to go the way of God and we should not give Satan taste saying yes to his temptations and fall into despair over the problems, because fear of God is not afraid , is love for Him and know that He works in our lives and is always present, that is, we know where to look and walk.
So, returning to the first biblical text, when you have trouble and feel you do not have a way out or feel troubled, full of trouble and sorrow and pray to God and believe them to Him, for He will deliver you from that. If you are tempted by Satan, stay strong in your faith, trust God and remember the example Jesus gave you, because He is our example and we follow the Lamb of God.
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