Matthew 4:1-4

Key Verse: "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

This is a remarkable portion of Scripture and even though it's a passage I've heard my whole life I am still amazed and stop in my tracks everytime I read it. How often do we try to fill ourselves up with everything else but Christ? I'm totally guily of it more often that I wish to be. And, yet here our Savior, Jesus reminds us that we need God, we need His Word, we need His teaching, we need HIM above all else in order to live this thing we call life.

Jesus is being tempted by Satan in this passage to turn stones into bread. Satan knew that Jesus was in the desert fasting, preparing Himself for the ministry He came to earth to do. Jesus was hungry, he had not eaten in 40 days and Satan didn't spare any time, he went straight to Jesus' physical weakness and tempted him to prove that He was the Christ by turning stones into bread and to satisfy his physical need for food. Many of our desires are normal and good, but God wants us to satisfy them in the right way and at the right time. It wasn't the right time for Jesus to satisfy his physical need of hunger, instead he had different purposes for being in the desert and would not allow Satan to throw him off course or lose his focus.

How did Jesus resist this temptation?
1- He Knew God's Word
2- He Obeyed God's Word

Ephesians 6:17 tells us that God's Word is a sword that we use to fight these kind of temptations. We have got to know and obey God's Word. It's our only hope in this messed up world. How could we ever survive without it? I don't think I'll ever understand how people live their day to day lives without God being a part of it with them. I rely so much on my relationship with Christ.. to help me be a better mommy, a better wife, a better person all together. But, I could never fulfill my God-given responsibilities unless I knew for sure that He was with me and that His Word was my sword.

I am falling in love with God's Word more and more each and every day I read it. And, I'm learning what Jesus meant when He said, "man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."