We have a G-d who encourages us. He is One who "knows how we are formed,'' and "remembers that we are dust'' (Psalm 103:14 NIV). Therefore He has compassion on us. He makes His compassion known by giving us encouragement. It comes in a variety of ways. Like one of my favorites, Jeremiah 29:11 says that they are plans not bad, or not of evil but good fortune, to give us good fortune and hope. That is enough to go right there, but I'll also tell you no matter the temptation, G-d is right there.
There is no doubt that we need encouragement from G-d to overcome temptation. One way to be encouraged is to see what happens when we try to say no to the devil. The Bible does not speak much about this. But there are two quite different stories that reveal to us the ministry of angels in this regard.
The first reference is found in Matthew 4:11. Here it says, "Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.'' The second reference is found in Luke 22:43. It says, "An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.''
The first instance is Yeshua overcoming temptations with The Word then being comforted by angels. Like after being baptized He was placed on a mountain top and tempted by satan and when satan said, "all this could be yours if you just bow down and worship me."
You'll notice in both instances, whenever Yeshua was tempted, He used Bible scripture as a way to say "no."
The second one is found in I King 18:40 and 19:4 In an act of vicious religious intolerance, Elijah ordered 400 priests of Baal executed. Ahab went to Jezebel, telling her that Elijah had "executed all the prophets with the sword." She swore to kill Elijah within the next 24 hours. Elijah fled for this life to Beersheba, went into the wilderness, and "prayed that he might die." He said, "It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!"
Rather than him kill himself while Elijah had fallen asleep that night an angel came to rescue him, rise Elijah up into a great chariot of gold as he was a great man.
Think about that. You also have an angel army to protect and comfort you!
No comments:
Post a Comment