Please choose the length of fast you will participate in, commit to it in prayer, and get ready for it appropriately as suggested and outlined in previous posts. For those of you participating in a 40 hour fast this week please take caution with the meals before and after your fast. It is especially important that you not have meals such as those outlined in previous emails (extremely fatty, containing a lot of meat, or containing a lot of dairy).
This week our readings will focus around the passage in Matthew 4:1-11 regarding Jesus, his 40 day fast, and his encounter with temptation. Please read this passage in your Bible, then read the excerpt from the blog provided below, and then journal about the questions that follow the reading below.
Throughout your week try to pay attention to the different ways in which you are tempted, especially during your time of fasting, and how you respond to those temptations, how you feel you can be better prepared in the future, and then journal and pray about these things each night of this week. It might be helpful to read the journal questions below before beginning your time of fasting so you will know what to be thinking about through that time.
Excerpt from Barefoot Soul Blog:
“In today’s reading from Matthew, we see Jesus confronting temptation and successfully resisting it. Since he is our great Exemplar, we want to be like him. Therefore it behooves us to notice what Jesus did in response to temptation from the Adversary. We must first note that immediately after his Baptism by John, “… Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness… [specifically] to be tempted by the devil (Mt.4:1). This was the way God wanted Jesus to begin his ministry – to be tempted by his enemy right off the bat. Fasting quiets the mind and the soul, making us more open to God and heightening our spiritual awareness. It gets God’s attention, because it lets Him know we are serious about our intention. Fasting also leaves us physically vulnerable. In a famous example of understatement, Matthew tells us that “…after fasting forty days and forty nights, he (Jesus) was hungry. (4:2). Jesus was spiritually in tune with God but physically hungry. The Devil knew that He was going to be a formidable enemy , so he was quick to try to undermine Jesus’ ministry with several temptations. As we begin to consider this in terms of our own lives, I think we need to ask ourselves some pointed questions.
Do we even believe in the Devil? – That he is real and personal, that he hates us and has a terrible plan for our lives?
Do we believe that the Devil tempts us to sin?
Do we even believe in Sin and its real effects upon our spiritual life?
Author CS Lewis tells us that: “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” (Screwtape Letters).
Most of us don’t have the latter problem so much. Instead we wrestle with actually disbelieving their existence. But to quote Hal Lindsey, “Satan is alive and well on planet earth”. He is a real personage. Lucifer, God’s worship leader, arrogantly thought he could take over God’s throne and rebelled against Him. War ensued and God tossed Lucifer – now Satan, the Adversary, out of heaven, along with a third of the angels – all of whom now serve Satan as underdevils. Satan and his minions are real and they “prowl around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour” (I Pet. 5:8).
We need therefore, to “Be sober-minded and … watchful…, mindful that the Enemy of our soul does indeed try to tempt us. For an interesting and entertaining study of the temptation tactics Satan and his ‘lowerarchy” employ read CS Lewis’s “The Screwtape Letters.” It will enlighten you as to how subtle our enemy really is.
Sin
In 1973, Psychiatrist Karl Menninger wrote a book called “Whatever Became of Sin?” He caused great consternation in many circles by asking whether we had become so psychologically oriented that the notion of sin had become passé. But I’m here today to tell you that sin is real and separates us from God. Sin is any action or thought that goes against God’s will for us. It’s not just our actions – though these are extremely important, but our thoughts as well – just as Jesus told us when he said that even to look upon a woman lustfully was sin (Matthew 5:28). Sin is birthed in our hearts and then comes to life when we give attention and energy to the desire of our hearts. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” says Jesus (Matthew 15:19). Sin grieves the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30) and Separates us from God:
“…your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (Is 59:2)
The Good News is that because we have been saved and adopted as God’s children, this separation is not eternal leading to damnation, rather it a temporary disruption of our relationship with God, that can be healed after we repent of our sin. Nevertheless, unconfessed sin in the life of a Christian can lead to very grave consequences, even death. (I John 5:16) “Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:15). So….Sin is real, and it has real impact in our lives. Satan is real and He really does tempt you to sin so that you will be at odds with God.
The Nature of Temptation
Let’s now think a little bit about the Nature of Temptation. James tells us that no one is tempted by God, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (1:14) Desire is what tempts me. And what do I desire? I want what I want when I want it! - Whatever makes me happy, whatever I think I want, whether that be an object, an experience or a relationship – or to put it crudely: ‘Money Sex and Power” (see the book by the same name by Richard Foster). Really, what we are talking about is Idolatry, that is: asking a thing or a person to do something for you that only God can do. This Idolatry has within it the seeds of self-sufficiency. I want to fulfill my perceived needs and wants my way – just like Frank Sinatra. I don’t’ care what God says, I want what I want when I want it! Temptation appeals to our basic desire to be self-sufficient and thus is a type of Pride.
The Blessing of Resistance
Now over against this basic desire to do things my way, God promises us something very good for doing things His way: “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:15). Successfully resisting Satan and his temptations brings us the Crown of Life – that is life in fellowship with God – Divine Favor plus human happiness, all that a human being could reasonably want. So with all that in mind as prologue, let’s consider how we imitate Jesus in his resistance of temptation.
How to resist temptation like Jesus: Fast, Pray, and Apply the Word
Fasting increases spiritual awareness – and as we observe with Christ, also opens us up to the attack of the enemy. Praying to God shows my dependence upon God. I’m not doing thing in my own power, but in His. Applying the Word correctly give us the ammunition we need to resist the Devil when he comes after us. ‘Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee” says Ps. 119:11. Satan twists the Word to His own purposes; he is a subtle and deceitful enemy and not to be trifled with.”
Author: Andrew Counts
http://bare-foot-soul.blogspot.com/2008/02/on-resisting-temptation.html
Journal Questions:
1) In what ways did Satan try to tempt Jesus in the reading from Matthew 4?
2) How did Jesus respond to Satan? What did He say to him?
3) How do you see fasting and prayer relating to temptation and our fight against it?
4) What temptations have you faced this week? During your time of fasting? What areas does Satan know you are weak in?
5) How did you respond to those temptations? What helped you fight them? When you gave in to them, why do you think you did? How were you weak?
6) Do you, for yourself, see how times of fasting and prayer can be a part of a spiritual process through which you grow closer to God and grow stronger at fighting temptation?
7) When we “fast” from being “of the world” in different ways how do we see ourselves being tempted and falling back in to the ways of the world? What are your personal areas of temptation or struggle? How will you plan to battle the temptations better?
May God bless your week and your time of fasting!