Advent Words 2023 ~ Word 4: Prepare

 

Advent Words 2023
Day 4: Prepare

“In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’”

Matthew 3:1-3

 

The Advent season is a time of preparation for the coming of Christ. We don’t often think of the Advent season as a time for repentance. We associate that more with the Lent season. But at the heart of preparing for the coming of Christ is coming face-to-face with our own hearts. And that preparation involves repentance, for repentance prepares us to receive grace.

 

In Matthew’s gospel, right before Jesus will begin his ministry, we are introduced to John the Baptist. Matthew tells us that John came preaching. John was the prophet that was promised in Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:1-5, the prophet that would prepare the way for the Messiah. Isaiah tells us in 40:1-5 that the Messiah’s arrival will indicate that sin has been paid for and that the Lord’s glory will be revealed.

 

John the Baptist’s message of preparation was to call the people to repent. Repentance in the Bible means to change one’s mind or perspective and then to act on it. To turn from one way to another. Repentance involves action so that not just the mind is changed, but one’s lifestyle changes as a result.

 

Paul gave a picture of what this repentance looks like when he was on trial before King Agippa. He describes to them what Jesus spoke to him on the road to Damascus:

The Lord said, “I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ …So then…  to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.” Acts 26:17-18, 20.

 

Our changed life is an outward expression of the repentance and salvation that is ours through faith in Jesus Christ. When we turn in the baptismal pool, it represents our repentance and our acceptance of faith in Christ, as we turn from our old way of life to new life.

 

John preached repentance because, “The kingdom of heaven is near”. The King is coming. The way to prepare for his arrival is to prepare our hearts. Sin separates us from God and all he has for us. Repentance opens our hearts to God and to His grace and enables us to accept and receive His gift of grace, His Son Jesus Christ. 

John’s command to repent in Matthew 3:2 in Greek is a present tense imperative. Greek present tense calls for a continual, habitual action. Repentance, therefore, is not a one-time action but it becomes a lifestyle. It becomes a way of life where one continually looks at one’s heart and lifestyle and goes before the Lord, turning to Him and repenting of our sins, looking to the Spirit of God to bring about in us the character of Christ. Advent’s time of preparation helps us connect with our need to repent and to prepare our hearts for the coming King.

Share how you respond to today's word in the Words Facebook Group or on Instagram using #adventwords2023.

Advent Words 2023 ~ Word 3: Wait

 

Advent Words 2023
Day 3: Wait

“…while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13

“Advent is a season for waiting; we wait for the coming of God. We need him to come. Our world is messed up and we are messed up. We lament our condition and long for God to set things right, to make us better…we wait in hope…God is coming!” Bobby Gross, The Christian Year

The Advent season reminds us to look back and see God’s promises fulfilled in Christ while we wait for those promises to be fully fulfilled. There is still a reign that is yet to come, and a day of salvation that is still in the future, and a promise from Jesus that he will return one day on the clouds.

Paul implies in this letter to Titus that waiting it is a normal part of the Christian life. “In this present age” (Titus 2:12) we are called to wait, and we are called to a specific kind of waiting – we wait in hope. Because Hope is future oriented, it naturally involves waiting. Yet hope is also the very thing that sustains us while we wait. As we saw the other day, God has given us “new birth into a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). Our hope is active, and our waiting, while focused on the future appearing of the glory of the Lord, is not passive waiting. While we wait, we live for Christ - imitating His sacrificial love and his way of life as His people.

The Greek word used for waiting has a sense of expectant or eager waiting. This word is a verb in Greek that is present tense. In Greek, present tense describes an action that is continuing or habitual and often describes a lifestyle. (As a Bible study nerdy side note, always pause and take note when you find out the verb in a Bible verse is present tense because you are being called to make something a lifestyle, to live out the command continually.)

So, we live with a continual expectation of Christ's return. We are continually waiting; we have a lifestyle of waiting. The only way it is possible to live a life of continually waiting in expectation of Christ's return, is that we live with an eternal perspective.

In Philippians Paul reminds us that "our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ". (Philippians 3:20) We wait because our ultimate hope is beyond this world. If we stay focused only on what this world holds, only on the things we can see, then we will give up in despair. We will lose heart and fail to live as we are called to.

 Again, Paul calls us to live with an eternal perspective in his second letter to the Corinthians:

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Expectant waiting means we do so with our eyes fixed on eternity. We keep our eyes on God without losing sight of the fact that we live here on earth, in this present age. Our waiting is not to be passive, but active. While we wait with our eyes and our hearts set on eternity, we live with our hands active in the lives of those around us. We live in dependence upon God and obedience to Him.  Paul's challenge to us in Titus 2:11-14 is to live in obedience now, while anticipating Christ's promised return.

“I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his Word I put my hope.” Psalm 130:5

Share how you respond to today's word in the Words Facebook Group or on Instagram using #adventwords2023.

Advent Words 2023 ~ Word 2: Epiphany

 

Advent Words 2023
Word 2: Epiphany

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:11-13

If you saw this word on the calendar for Advent Words and thought I may have mixed up my holidays, don’t worry, I know it’s the Advent season! The word “epiphany” has many uses. When we suddenly have a burst of understanding about something, we call it an epiphany.  And there is also the holiday that some churches celebrate on January 6 to commemorate the wise men, or Magi, visiting the Christ child. Epiphany also appears in today’s passage, but it’s not quite so obvious.

In the New Testament the Greek words epipaneia (noun) and epiphaino (verb) mean manifestation or appearing and refer to the first and second coming of Christ. In Titus 2:11, he has appeared (epiphaino) refers to Jesus’ birth and life. Jesus Christ appeared as the grace of God bringing to all the salvation God promised. The angel proclaimed to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus,

“I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you: he is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11

John declares, “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John 1:16-17

The grace of God has appeared in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the first epiphany!

But Paul goes on in his letter to Titus that we are still waiting for another epiphany; “the blessed hope – the appearing (epiphaneia) of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). Jesus will appear again when he comes to judge the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1) and establishes God’s kingdom in its fullest expression.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “We stand between two epiphanies. Behind us is our trust; before us is our hope. Behind us is the Son of God in humiliation; before us is the great God our Savior in his glory. “

We live in this present age between two epiphanies: trusting in the grace of God's salvation through the life and death of Jesus Christ on our behalf and focusing on the hope of glory that will come to those who believe in and wait for His promised return. Grace to glory!

Share how you respond to today's word in the Words Facebook Group or on Instagram using #adventwords2023.

Prepping For Advent And Beyond

 Prepping For Advent And Beyond

I finally finished my journal for this year's Advent Words challenge. It's actually the second one I made. The first was made with old book covers and a few signatures, but it just wasn't going together right. So I put it aside and started over with a simple one signature pamphlet journal. I covered the pages with painted papers and some patterned papers. I decided to number my pages this year using gold painted paper. I'm ready to begin the challenge on Sunday! Would you like to join me? I will post daily devotions and art to go along with the daily Advent Words. I invite you to respond to the words and Scripture readings with any creative practice you choose. Post on Instagram using #adventwords2020 or in our private Facebook group: Words Art & Faith Challenge Group

This year's Advent Words calendar can be found at the end of this post.

I also added a list of the Advent Words to my Everyday Journal.

For some time I've been thinking about how I want to set up my Everyday Journal for next year. I haven't decided on a word of the year yet, but I did know that I wanted to do something with weekly page spreads. I didn't do much of that type of journaling this year because I just didn't find the right kind of set up. I don't connect much with doing the the planner style or something like a diary. I'm more interested in something like a visual commonplace book. A place where I record quotes I like and passages from books I'm reading and notes from Bible study or sermons, bird watching notes, and notes about things I find when I go thrift shopping, little bits of collage, things I'm grateful -  the things that make up MY life.

So I made a template to use as a guide for laying out my weekly spreads. 

Along with a monthly title page and various pages through out the year about my word of the year, I now have a plan for journaling in 2021. My Leuchtturm journal I used this year is only half full so I'm going to continue using it next year. As journaling and art challenges come up I'll make separate journals for those.

If you choose a word of the year or keep an Everyday Journal I am part of a group of women who share their art and their faith with each other. We supply ideas for helping each other live out our word of the year. Join us! Living Your Word of the Year Facebook Group

Click HERE for a printable version

A Time to Heal

A Time to Heal

I am slowly making my way through Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 this month. I'm using the contrasts found in those verses as a way to reflect on the season of life I am in at the moment. In a weekly newsletter I receive from Shelly Miller about Sabbath, she is slowly working through the 23rd Psalm. This morning I opened her email and read these words: 

"He restores my soul." Psalm 23:3

Did those words stop you in your tracks and make you catch your breath, as they did for me? God restores my soul. He restores me. Those are comforting, encouraging, hope-filled words.

I was planning on just skipping over the next line in Ecclesiastes 3:3 - "A time to kill and a time to heal." In my initial reading of it there just seemed to be so much that is similar to what I wrote about verse 2 "a time to be born and a time to die", that I simply thought it would be redundant. That is, until I read the words above from Psalm 23:3. How can I skip over a verse about healing and restoration, topics that are dear to my heart?

Last weekend my church held our annual leader's retreat. We began our day with a passage of Scripture to reflect on with the practice of lectio divina (a way to reflect and meditate slowly on Scripture). The passage used was Luke 9:23-25, a very familiar passage about denying self and following Jesus. But the leader of this session used an unfamiliar version, The New English Bible.

"And to all he said, 'If anyone wishes to be a follower of mine, he must leave self behind; day after day he must take up his cross and come with me. Whoever cares for his own safety is lost; but if a man will let himself be lost for my sake, that man is safe. What will a man gain by winning the whole world, at the cost of his true self." NEB

It can be a good practice to read passages of Scripture, especially familiar ones, in different versions. Many times we hear or see something in a different light. In Jesus' day, to take up a cross was equivalent to a death march. The cross in those days was a manner of execution. In this passage the thing being executed is self. As I reflected on this passage at the retreat I thought about another passage where Jesus says we "cannot serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24). There Jesus was contrasting the love of money and the love of God, but I think it can also be applied to anything that takes our focus and devotion off of God. So, here in this passage, it seems to be a question of mastery - who has control of your life, you or God? 

The next thing I notice is that Jesus says, "if a man will let himself be lost for my sake...". The words "let himself be" indicate two things to me. First, Jesus will not force us to give Him control of our lives. He prefers a voluntary sacrifice; an intentional devotion. Then I notice that these words also convey rest and trust - let yourself be - let go of control, loosen your grasp, release. Then lean on Jesus, depend on His control of your life. What do you gain by loosening your grasp on controlling your own self and turning control over to Jesus? Your true self. It is a burdensome weight carrying the yoke of our false self - the one trying to please the whole world, trying to gain more and more, trying to be more and more - more powerful, more successful, more beautiful, more accomplished, more _______ - you fill in the blank. Jesus gave us a glimpse of what life is like when we give Him control.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

When we release the burden of carrying around our false self and give up control of our life to Jesus, our load is light and we find rest. So, while we do need to die to self, as I wrote about a few days ago, we can take the steps necessary to do so knowing that God promises rest and restoration. Healing of our self comes as we place our-self before God and let our-self be lost in Him. He will heal and restore your soul.

Ask God to examine your heart and life and reflect on these questions:

• Ask God to reveal areas of your life where you may be clinging to control. Pray for His enabling power to help you let go and release control to Him.
• What needs to be put to death? What habits or attitudes?
• Where do you need healing and restoration?
• Where do you need to experience rest?
• What practices help you rest?
• Maybe you need to remind yourself today of places you have already released control and remember God's faithfulness in carrying you. What are those places? Celebrate them today.

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:

Bernice: http://www.newlycreative.com/

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/

A Time for Seasons to Change

A Time for......

I love the start of new seasons, both on the calendar and in life. I'm not one who fears change. Change is good. Change helps us grow. Without change life would become stagnant. I also don't advocate change simply for the sake of change, but if nothing ever changed, neither would we. And this is not God's plan for us. He desires that life in Him be marked by transformation - continuously. Why? Because transformation - change, growth, maturing - is a process. A life-long process. A process that we need to welcome and embrace, good and bad, joy and pain.

Leaving the season of Summer is bittersweet for me. School starts here in mid-August and the slower pace I experienced in July and early August is waning. I like the slower pace of Summer. The renewal of energy as the busyness of my job and ministry slows down for a time. At the same time, I am (or will be) overjoyed to leave the heat of Summer behind. I look forward to the warm days and cool nights of Fall - if the heat waves ever end!

I love the change of the seasons, especially Fall and Spring, when the change is vivid and visual. The change of season often stirs within a desire to reflect on where you are at in life, what you are leaving and where you are going. 

My summer was busy this year in different ways than it is in the school year. I launched my first online class in July, so June and early July held lots of prep and learning curves. We remodeled our offices at work, which meant lots of planning, packing, moving boxes and furniture - and the fun part - picking out paint and carpet and lobby furniture! I started exploring the possibility of writing a book about spiritual formation with a friend. We even took a writing retreat in July to brainstorm ideas. We'll see how that goes in future months. I held a Words challenge in August, the first that was not tied to a season on the church calendar, as Advent and Lent Words were. Using key words to go through the book of Colossians was at first a challenge, a different way to go through a book of the Bible. But as we went I really began to enjoy seeing how the words were woven through the book and often interacted with teach other. I think the Words challenges connect my passions of art and Bible study together in significant and creative ways and I will be exploring more challenge ideas in the future. In addition, the Words Challenge group is a vital, active and encouraging community and I have really enjoyed watching it develop and become a place of significance for so many people. I'm so grateful to everyone who participates there.

So, as we change from one season to another, we also begin a new theme in the Everyday Journals group. Our theme for September is "A Time for..." We want to take some time this month and examine our word for the year as well as look at seasons and change using Ecclesiastes 3 as our guide. In the weeks ahead we'll have some questions to help you reflect on where you are at in your journey with your word for the year. Watch for further blog posts from Bernice, Valerie and I surrounding this theme. Join us! Information about the group and links to our blogs is at the end of this post.

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:

Bernice: http://www.newlycreative.com/

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/

Welcome April!

I absolutely love the month of April! I love how Spring creeps in bit-by-bit each day. It is a month of growth, full of color and change. And the birds return! Another reason I'm excited about April is it is the first month we are having a theme in the Everyday Journals group. Our theme this month is VERSE MAPPING. Any time I get a chance to combine Bible study and creativity (plus colored markers) I am a happy camper!

Last week Bernice posted The Message version of Romans 12:1-2. That passage resonated with me for a few reasons. 1. I had just studied that passage in the Women's Bible study on spiritual formation that I recently co-led. 2. I have wanted to study the book of Romans for a long time but as I go along other things get in the way. I had already decided to start that Romans study in April and no matter how long it takes I'm going to get through this book. And I'm going to record my progress here so you all can keep me accountable.

During the month of April I am going to try a number of verse mapping methods I have found online. As is my nature, I will probably add my own twist to these methods and eventually end up with a method  that combines a few along with my style.

To begin with I tried following a method that was laid out by Kristy Cambron on her website: https://kristycambron.com/verse-mapping-101-steps-to-study-the-bible-like-never-before/

Here is my process:

• First I used some modified inductive Bible study steps to study the passage. Here is a link to one I designed for my recent study group: Simple Bible Study Steps
• I then followed the steps provided by Kristy Cambron in the link above. 
• I really like using Rhodia Dot paper, so I cut some down to fit into my Everyday Journal, which is a standard size Traveler's Notebook.
• Rather than write out the verse I printed it in order to fit it onto my page better.
• 
  
•  
• I marked key connectives, terms I felt were significant, contrasts, verbs, etc. on the printed passage. I then copied some parts from other translations that I felt expanded the meaning. I then wrote out some study notes about some of the words and the contrasting terms.
• On the opposite page I used Kristy Cambron's Actions and Outcome sections. Under actions I wrote down some of the significant things I learned, along with a quote I found while studying.
• Under Outcome I made some notes gleaned from this study that I felt were personally significant. Plus another quote found while studying.

Overall I enjoyed Kristy Cambron's method. I use colored pens when I do inductive study so adding the notes in color helped me correspond them with my markings of the passage. Plus using colored pens helped me feel like I was being creative while studying, and that I really liked! I also enjoyed adding the quotes. I love quotes and adding them into my verse mapping will help me remember them when I look back at these notes.

What you can't tell from looking at my photos is that when I glued my verse map pages into my Everyday Journal I didn't check first and glued them in upside down! 

Oh well, mistakes keep me humble!

We have just one rule in the Everyday Journals group which goes for our Verse Mapping theme as well: There really are no rules. We are each doing our journals in a different manner, using different types of journals. What makes them Everyday Journals is not that we do something in them every day, but rather, that we are using one journal for all of our everyday life things and combining those things with our word for the year. So as you participate with us know this: you do not have to do things in the way that Valerie, Bernice or I do them. Feel the freedom to add your own twist and style!

We have a Pinterest board for Verse Mapping ideas here:  https://www.pinterest.com/marynbtol/everyday-journals-group-verse-mapping-ideas/

Watch for more examples of verse mapping on all three of our blogs throughout the month. Share what you do in the Facebook group.

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:

Bernice: http://www.newlycreative.com/

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/

Products I'm using:
I'm loving these Sharpie Art Pens! They don't bleed through the paper, even in my Bible. There are 24 wonderful colors too.

A note about Amazon links on my blog:

I am giving Amazon affiliation a try, which means I may receive a small percentage off sales made through clicking on the Amazon links found on my blog. There is no additional cost to you.

Lent Words Day 23: Peace

"You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all."

Acts 10:36

The Hebrew word for peace is Shalom, often used as a greeting, it however holds a much deeper meaning. Shalom includes all of the ways we think of peace- the absence of war, the absence of conflict, strife and animosity, but it’s much deeper meaning is that of a sense of well-being and fulfillment that comes from God and is dependent on His presence. Shalom is peace and so much more, it is  wholeness, harmony, health, prosperity, security and fullness of life that only comes as a result of a restored relationship with God. God’s desire is that we know His shalom peace and throughout the Bible we see a story of a people who are longing for that restored relationship with God. 

In the beginning of the Bible we are given a picture of what a life of shalom looks like. It is the picture of life in the Garden of Eden before sin separated man from God. In Genesis chapters 1 and 2 we see life the way God created it to be. Man was in perfect, intimate fellowship with God, all their needs were met, they experienced no guilt and shame – life was pure bliss. But sin enters the world in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve choose to live their own way and break fellowship with God and Shalom peace between men and God was lost. The rest of the Bible is the story of God’s plan to have His peace restored with man.

Peter points us to God's peace plan in his sermon recorded in the book of Acts ~ "the good news of peace through Jesus Christ". This is God's plan for redemption, for restoring those who were formerly alienated from Him. Paul puts it like this in Romans 5:1-2,

“Since we have been justified [made right with God]  through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand….”

And in Colossians 1:19-22,

"For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Christ), and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in Heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation -"

Jesus is our peace. He is the instrument through which God brings us back – reconciles – us to Him. Through Jesus, God restored our peace with Him ~ in this we can find reassurance and rest in it. Through Jesus we can also find peace day-to-day,

"Peace I leave you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27

Rest in Him.

"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

1 Thessalonians 5:23

Lent Words Day 18: Temptation

Our words over the past few days have led us through Matthew's Gospel account of the Temptation of Jesus  -  Wilderness, Bread, and today, Temptation. And we will conclude the journey through this passage tomorrow with the word Worship.

Today's Lent Word is Temptation.

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

    and they will lift you up in their hands,

    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Matthew 4:5-7

The temptations of Jesus that we witness in Matthew 4:1-11 tell us about who Jesus is by the temptations the devil tests Him with, and by how Jesus responds. Some observations about the first few verses of this passage before we see the first temptation:

• We are told in verse 1 that Jesus was led into the desert (wilderness) by the Spirit. The same Spirit who appeared at Jesus' baptism in Matthew 3:13-17.
• He was led into the desert by the Spirit for the purpose of being tempted or tested by the devil.
• He had fasted for forty days and nights and was hungry.

Being hungry is where the devil begins his testing. He tries to get Jesus to meet his own needs by selfishly using His divine power. "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Mt. 4:3. It was not in Jesus' nature to use what He possessed divinely for his own personal gain. Jesus was always about doing the will of the Father and using His own Deity for that purpose. He responds to the devil, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

In the next temptation the devil uses Scripture to tempt Jesus to prove His Deity. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

    and they will lift you up in their hands,

    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Mt. 4:5-6

He tries to tempt Jesus to test God. But Jesus replies, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Mt. 4:7

Our passage tomorrow will look at the third temptation Jesus faced where the devil tried to lure him away from worshiping God. 

Author Ruth Haley Barton uses the temptations of Jesus as a way to examine ourselves during Lent:

"A true Lenten journey demands that we take a clear-eyed look at our lives and wonder, Where am I tempted to  “turn these stones into bread”—using whatever gifts and powers God has given me to secure my own survival?  Where am I putting God to the test—disregarding human limitations in order to prove something to others—and expecting him to come to my rescue time and time again?    When, where and how am I tempted to worship the outward trappings of success rather than seeking the inner authority that comes from worshipping God and serving him only?"

As we face temptations ourselves, whether in the Lent season as we struggle with fasting, or in life as we face trials, we can rest in Jesus who also faced temptation. Like Jesus, we can stand on God's word and His promise that we can trust in Him. God is faithful.

"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."

1 Corinthians 10:13