Author: David Short

James 1:12-15

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full- grown, brings forth death.

Personal Challenge

I love how the New Testament writings almost always give me a warning that the sledgehammer is about to fall by inserting “therefore” or “but” into the middle of a passage. It is so easy to blame my sin on a temptation, and then blame God, the devil, or someone/something else for bringing the temptation into my life. Yes, temptations are out there in the world, and sometimes the enemy tries to trip me up with them. However, it is usually my own desires and thoughts that create the temptation. Then if I am not living a life constantly on the guard of this the temptation which I introduced into my life gives birth to enticement and then to sin. It is so much easier to say, “No!” at the beginning of this progression than it is to wait until the sin is in the process of being committed. I cannot blame this on anyone or anything for it is my own doing. Lord, help me to say, “No!” sooner and to stick to it more strongly.

Hebrews 13:17

Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

Personal Challenge

It amazes me how some people in one moment proclaim how much they love Christ and desire to be like Him, and then in the next moment rail against the leadership and authority of their church, whose authority they have been placed under. We are called to be submissive to those in authority, to be humble servants of our Lord living lives that magnify Him and not our personal preferences. It is not really possible to be both of these ways at the same time. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Hebrews 11:17-19

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

Personal Challenge

God works so far outside of our meager way of thinking and by doing this He continually tests and stretches our faith in Him. When we decide to constrain Him, and put Him in a box defined by doctrine and dogma, then we also constrain our faith and therefore begin to miss out on His mysteries and miracles. One way He does this is by answering our prayers and petitions, giving us what we have been asking for, just to take it away. We see this with Abraham, Job, and many other patriarchs. However, He so often restores what He has taken away commensurate with our faith and trust in Him. Through all of this I find that there is no such thing as a static Christian life. The currents of the stream that we are taking our journey in is full of eddies and currents, storms and calms, joys and sorrows. So my growth leads me to learning how to be at peace in the presence of my Lord…no matter what He asks. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Isaiah 6:8-10

I also heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people?” Then I said, “Behold, here am I, send me.” So He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You shall hear indeed, but not understand; and you shall see indeed, but not perceive.’ For the heart of this people has become insensitive, and their ears hear with difficulty. They have closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return, and I should heal them.”

Personal Challenge

I usually go to the first part of this passage and ask if I would be willing to go do God’s work as willingly as Isaiah was. But maybe the real question to be pondering is where I fit in with the people that Isaiah was being sent to. Do I close my eyes, ears, and heart to the true message of God because I want to do things my way? Do I hold my beliefs, my understandings, my knowledge and earthly wisdom in higher regard than God’s? If the answers to any of these questions come anywhere close to a yes, or even a maybe, then it is time to repent and flee into the arms of my Lord. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Hebrews 11:8

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Personal Challenge

Psalm 104:33-34 (103:33-34 LXX)

I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing to my God as long as I exist;
May my words be pleasing to Him,
And I shall be glad in the Lord.

Personal Challenge

If I am living my life this way, singing pleasing words to Him continually, then there is no reason in my life for personal gratification and self-centeredness. If I am always focusing on me, my wants, my desires, my feelings, then I am not singing to the Lord all of my life. There is no room for both of these ways of behaving for they are mutually exclusive. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Mark 8:11-12

Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation.”

Personal Challenge

Am I as bad as the Pharisees? Do I keep looking for Jesus to perform signs and miracles so that I can believe in Him more? There are over 2,000 years of signs and miracles that prove who He is. There is an untold amount of times that I have seen His hand at work in my own life. And yet, I still find myself faltering in true, total faith in Him. This not due to any lack in who He is, but in lack of my own faith. Christ has trampled down death by His own death. He has opened the doors to His kingdom in this age and the age to come, by rising from the dead. He has saved me from the grip of death. Now I must choose, over and over again, to put my total and complete trust into Him and put sin to death in my own life. Glory be to God!

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.‘”

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,‘

and,

‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.‘”

Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.‘”

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.‘”

Encouraging Words

I don’t think there is an event in the life of Christ that shows that He was fully man more than this passage does. Jesus voluntarily went out into the wilderness after His baptism by John. He chose to fast for forty days, and He was hungry. Then in that hunger He was tempted greatly by the devil. Here He shows us what we can do and how we too can defeat temptation. He chose to rely on the bread of heaven, the teachings of God to say, “No!” to sin. This was not the “fully God” nature of Him denying to sin. It was Him as “fully man” saying, “No!” By this act, and the continued refusal to sin, that He opened the way for us to also exercise our free will and to choose not to sin. Glory be to God!

Luke 18:40-41

So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.”

Personal Challenge

Jesus wants me to call out to Him. He wants me to stop Him in His tracks and petition Him with my needs and even my desires. He wants me to be healed of my blindness so that I can see Him and how much He loves me. His desire is that all will call out to Him in blind faith. Glory be to God!