Friday, December 27, 2013

Prepared


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Friday, December 27, 2013   Jeff Lampl 


“The Holy Spirit compelled Jesus to go into the Wilderness where he was tempted by Satan”
Mark 1:12, 13
 

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2  where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 
3
 The devil said to him, 

          “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4  Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
5  The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.  And he said to him, 

          “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can
          give it to anyone I want to. 7  If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

8
 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
9  The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here10  For it is written: 

           “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;
               11  they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a
              stone.’” 

12
 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
13  When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
14  Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.        Luke 4:1-14 (NIV2011)
 


January 5 we begin our 21 day fast.   Typically a fast is from some sort of food.    Fasting is a spiritual discipline which trains us that “man does not live by bread alone”.    Although it doesn’t feel like it, it drives us to depend on God, a source of strength other than that which I can obtain for myself.   As in the above passage, it is a tool used by God to strengthen us to trust God and reject temptation to trust in something else.  

One popular fast for Christians is the Daniel Fast  http://danielfast.wordpress.com/daniel-fast-food-list  You may want to make this plan your fast.  

The Holy Spirit does empower us.   However He does so not infrequently through hardship.   Let Him train you as you begin your journey with the Lord in 2014.

 

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