POWER OF THE WORD

Matthew 4: 8-11

Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceedingly high mountain, and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and saith unto Him, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith JESUS unto him, Begone, Satan; for it is written, "Thou shalt worship the LORD, thy GOD, and Him only shalt thou serve". Then the devil leaveth Him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.

THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD VS. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

The devil tempted JESUS, the Son of GOD, to abandon His Kingdom of GOD, in order to have power in the kingdom of the earth. The answer of JESUS was "NO". The devil tempted JESUS to bow down to him as ruler of the world and worship him as god, JESUS said "NO".JESUS was tempted by the devil to look at the glory of the earthly kingdom and to be impressed by it; JESUS knew that the glory of the earth kingdom was filthy dirty, compared to the GLORY OF THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM. JESUS said, "NO".

The devil will try to tempt us with earthly power, if we will give up our obedience to JESUS; we must say "NO". The power of this world is feeble,weak and powerless compared to the vitality and strength, power and might of the Kingdom of GOD. Earthly power is foolish and feeble.

We must say, with JESUS, "Begone, Satan; for it is written, "Thou shalt worship the LORD thy GOD, and Him only shalt thou serve." Remember the commandment that says "Thou shalt not bow down to them (idols), nor serve them; for I , the LORD thy GOD, am a jealous GOD, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep My Commandments" (Exodus 20: 5,6).

Since JESUS refused to bow down to Satan, mercy was granted to Him and to the generations who follow Him and love Him.  REMEMBER, THERE IS VICTORY IN JESUS.

Today's confession:

I confess that I possess yoke destroying results by the anointing ( Isaiah 10: 27)

POWER OF THE WORD

Matthew 4: 5-7

Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him, " If thou be the Son of GOD, cast thyself down; for it is written, 'He shall give His angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone'. JESUS said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not put the LORD, thy GOD, to the test.

THE POWER OF THE WORD OF GOD

The devil didn't quit his assault on JESUS, he tried to get JESUS to show off His power. The "if" indicates that the devil also tempted JESUS to doubt His relationship with His Father.  The devil quotes Scripture - sort of; he miss quotes it in a number of ways; look up Psalm 91:11, 12 to see the real quote. The devil tried the quoting of the Word of the LORD on Eve in the Garden of Eden and it was through his misquotes that he persuaded her. JESUS stood His ground again, by speaking the Word of the LORD, exactly, in response to the devil's maneuvers. 

When we are tempted to show off how great we are, we can do what JESUS did, resist the devil by giving voice to the Word of GOD. Yes, when we speak the Word aloud, we are giving voice to the Word of GOD, that voice rings throughout the Universe and is a sound that causes all heaven and earth to listen.

SPEAK THE WORD OF THE LORD ALOUD, AND RESIST THE DEVIL WITH THE POWER OF THE WORD OF GOD

POWER OF THE WORD

Matthew 4:4

But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of GOD.

THE POWER OF THE WORD

When JESUS was confronted by the devil, He did not waver or doubt, He stood His ground on the Word of the LORD. Satan was attempting to upset the mission and ministry of JESUS by undermining the relationship between JESUS and His Father, through disobedience. JESUS did not listen to the pangs of the human flesh that were hungry, due to 40 days of fasting, instead, He listened only to the Word of His Father through the living Word of GOD. 

The "Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of GOD" is on the breath of GOD. When GOD breathes, there is creation and newness of life; the Word of GOD is breath and life. Look at what happens to the dry bones in Ezekiel 37; the breath was blown into the dry bones and they lived.  This is what happens when the Word of GOD is spoken, it lives to create and to give power.

We, too, have the power of the Word of GOD. When we speak the Word, there is action from GOD and there is redemption and renewal. There is 

POWER IN THE WORD OF GOD, speak it and believe it.

Today's confession:

I am encouraged, never discouraged (1 Samuel 30:6)

POWER OF THE WORD

Matthew 4: 3

And when the tempter came to Him, he said, "if thou be the Son of GOD, command that these stones be made bread."

IF??????

Satan knew that JESUS was the Son of GOD, he knew JESUS before JESUS came in the flesh. JESUS said that He watched Satan and his angels expelled from heaven, so why did Satan say "if thou be the Son of GOD"? 

The enemy will try to through doubt into your mind about who you are and to Whom you belong. JESUS was physically hungry, therefore, He was weak in the flesh; Satan tried to inflict doubt in JESUS. This tactic had worked in the Garden of Eden when the serpent inflicted doubt in Eve; but Eve was not the only begotten Son of GOD. 

JESUS knew who He was, His mission on earth, and His status as GOD. JESUS was very man and very GOD - Human and Divine. JESUS suffered as a human being and suffered as the Divine One; but He never doubted either.

When the enemy comes to us and tries to inflict doubt in our mind about who we are and to Whom we belong, we have a word for him; "I Am a child of GOD, joint heir with Christ and redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb" "I have been bought with the price of the Blood of JESUS and am saved."

Today's confession:

I am favored not cursed (Proverbs 8:35)

POWER OF THE WORD

Matthew 4: 1,2

Then was JESUS led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward hungry.

THE LAST ADAM IS TEMPTED LIKE THE FIRST ADAM

Notice that the Holy Spirit led JESUS into the wilderness right after He was Baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit.  This is a normal occurrence for those who are Born-again and Baptized; it is normal, because the devil hates the followers of JESUS. The devil will try to snatch the new-born from their new life in JESUS and he will hit them when they are filled with joy and expectation. The devil will also hit the new-born Christian at their weakest point; for JESUS it was hunger.

JESUS is the Son of GOD, the last Adam. The first Adam was tricked into disobedience by the hiss of the serpent working his trickery on Eve. Eve was Adam's weakest link and the serpent knew it. With JESUS, fasting for forty days had left Him very hungry for human food. The devil tried the same trickery with JESUS as he did with the first Adam.

Stay tuned for the unfolding of the victory over the devil and see how JESUS defeated him with the Word. Can you hear the hissssssss of the serpent?

Today's confession:

Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world. (1 John 4:4b)

POWER OF THE WORD

Daniel 10: 12

Then said he unto me, "Fear not, Daniel; for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy GOD, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words".

SPEAK THE WORD OF THE LORD.

It is a truth that all the angels have been created by GOD and will respond to His Word.  When we speak the Word of the LORD, angels do what the Word says for them to do. Notice when the angel heard the Word; it was when Daniel set his heart to understand and to chasten himself before GOD.  A right relationship with GOD, opens the door to the response of the angelic host.

JESUS spoke the Word of GOD and demons fled; JESUS always spoke the Word of GOD and His Word was true. We will look at the temptations of JESUS in the wilderness this week and see how JESUS used the power of the Word to drive out the hiss of the devil.

Today's confession:

My ending is better than my beginning ( Haggai 2: 9)

POWER OF FAITH

I Peter 5: 6-9

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of GOD, that He may exalt you in due time. Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour; whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

RESIST THE DEVIL AND HE WILL FLEA FROM YOU

The key to winning the battle over the assault of the devil is found in verse 6: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of GOD, that He may exalt you in due time. Resisting the onslaught of the devil is not accomplished by the weapons of the flesh, but our weapons are mighty and victorious through JESUS. The greatest weapon that we have is the weapon of humble access to the Throne of Grace. The "roaring lion" can not find us, when we are under the shelter of the Almighty, covered with the Blood of JESUS.

To be sober and vigilant, we must be focused on the One who is Almighty; JESUS Christ. If we allow our sight to be drawn to other things, we loose power and the covering. Our focus must remain on the Word of the LORD; speaking the Word of the LORD to every circumstance and then standing on that Word without doubting.

"Faith is the victory that overcomes the world." 

Today's confession of faith:

I am encouraged, never to be discouraged ( I Samuel 30:6)