"I planted, Apollos watered, but
God gave the increase. So then
neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters,
but God who gives the increase.
Now he who plants and he who waters are one,
and each one will receive his own
reward according to his own labor."
1 Corinthians 3:6-8
***********
Let's pray..........
"Thank you, Father, for being the one who controls salvation from Your wrath. I, for one, am glad that one's salvation does not depend on me otherwise no one would ever be saved because my judgment is tainted and finite. But Your judgment is eternal and just and perfect. I praise You for ordaining who would receive Your grace from the beginning of time.
I ask forgiveness of my sins because I know my sins keep me from You. I pray that You will wash me clean with Your precious blood and fill me with Your Holy Spirit this day.
I pray for each lady reading this study that You will be with her and strengthen her walk with You. I pray that You will call her to Your word each day and renew her spirit.
In Jesus' name.............amen."
****************
John 4:32
"But He said to them, 'I have food to eat of which you do not know.'"
We have studied here how at this historical moment for this Samaritan city, the disciples were missing it because they went for food to feed the body, but Jesus was more interested in the feeding of His lost sheep who were now coming to Him for eternal food. Jesus would plant, the Samaritan woman would water....but God would give the increase.
Jesus was more interested in saving lost souls from God's wrath than His thirst or His hunger. He knew which was more important: the eternal rather than the temporal.
Let's look at how Jesus was put to the test on this topic:
Please read:
Matt 4:1-4
Jesus, being led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, was being obedient to God. There, He fasted for 40 days and nights, then He became hungry.
So, I think it is safe to say, that Jesus knew how to control His bodily needs of shelter, climate, food, water, and oxygen. He knew how to obey without letting these needs overtake Him.
Deut. 8:3
Jesus quotes this verse in scripture accurately to thwart the wiles of the devil. Because Jesus knew that the Words of God are more important than food for the body, He has given us that perfect example for us to follow: yes, we have needs (Jesus became hungry) but we are not to let those needs come between us and God.
Notice how Satan came to Jesus to tempt Him only after Jesus became hungry. Why didn't Satan come to tempt Jesus just as soon as He entered into the wilderness?
Could it be because Satan knows when we are at our weakest to his temptations? When we are at our lowest point....that is when he strikes.
Learn your enemy's ways. You can only defeat your enemy if you know their ways. General Patton read Nazi Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's book, "Infantry Attacks", before they met in battle. As a result, Patton knew his enemy's ways and was able to plan his attacks accordingly. While in battle, Patton looked through his binoculars as his tanks defeated Rommel's. He yelled, "I read your book, I read your book!" as he watched his brave soldiers defeat the enemy. He knew his enemy well.
How can we defeat Satan?
We don't have to......Jesus already did it for us. He is a conquered foe. We have the whole book written before us: Satan loses, Christ wins! We must remember this. Jesus already bested him, but he still tries to tempt us away from following our Shepherd. Why? Pragmatism: because it works.
So, how can we stay near our Shepherd?
John 10:27-30
Hear His voice....follow Him....and be safe in His hands.
Jesus clearly demonstrates this for us:
Matt 4:10-11
Soon the disciples would learn that the food of this earth is only temporarily satisfying. It goes in, nourishes the body for awhile, then it comes out. That's it. But the food of God (His words) is eternal and eternally satisfying. It goes in and stays there for us to live off of eternally. It keeps us close to God and safe in His hands so He can use us in the labor of His harvest. We are one with the Lord who plants, then we can water, and, finally, we can see God give the increase....then we will be rewarded for our labor.
***************
Life Application
Jesus was tempted by Satan with food, with conquering death, and with ultimate power.
Matt 4:1-11
Is this similar to the ways Satan tempts us even to this day?
So many people have turned away from God after a loved one has died a horrible death. They want death to be stopped forever. I know of one atheist whose wife almost died from a heart attack and he has turned to technology to stop death once and for all so he won't have to see his wife die.
How sad to put all your hopes on the technology of man.....who is dying.
That is why Jesus left us with an example to follow: do not put all your hopes on the temporary things of this earth, but on the eternal things of the Father:
Matt 6:19-21
Do you think Jesus knew what He was talking about when He gave us these instructions? He was tempted by Satan at His weakest moment....starvation! Yet He knew that when He was weak, God the Father was strong.....
I was able to teach the 4th graders recently about the Donner Party tragedy that occurred in the Sierra Nevadas in the 1840's. These poor people traveled from the Great Plains to as far as the Sierra Nevadas in search of a new life in California only to become stranded by snow storms.
Some went for help to a nearby Army fort, but they got lost and began to eat their dead. Those originally left behind also began to eat their dead after they ate their oxen. One young girl kept a journal account of what happened and she described the madness she saw when people began to starve to death: A form of insanity sets in before death.
These people succumb to the horrors of starvation. Only a few members of the Donner Party survived to tell their tale.
Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days and nights of fasting. Imagine the hunger He felt. Yet He did not succumb to the temptations of Satan. He held fast and continued to quote Scripture to remain safely in His Father's hands.
We have an example to follow no matter obstacles we may face. Jesus set the path for us to enter into and His path is safe.
Follow Him............
********************
Until Next time...........
"The Spirit of Christ is the same Holy Spirit who is working in your life. You can do all things that God commands you and calls you to do. You can live a quality of life that is the same as that lived by Christ Jesus. You can live a life free of sin and bold in speech and action because you are empowered by the same Holy Spirit who empowered Jesus.
Paul encouraged the Corinthians along these lines by reciting for them a long list of troubles he had experienced and then concluding, 'Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me....For when I am weak, then I am strong' (2 Cor, 12:9-10)."
-Charles Stanley
(Relying on the Holy Spirit, 1996. p. 23)
Blessings,
Ruth
No comments:
Post a Comment