"It is written"

 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness

 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.

 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”

 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,

 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.

If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”

 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
  “‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
  and him only shall you serve.’”

  And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,

 for it is written,
  “‘He will command his angels concerning you,
  to guard you,’

  and
  “‘On their hands they will bear you up,
  lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

  And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

(Luke 4:1-13 ESV)

OTHER VERSES TO REFLECT UPON:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 , Psalm 119:105, Joshua 1:8, Hebrews 4:12, Acts 17:11,

Ephesians 6:10-17

Well this passage of scripture has been on my heart to write about for 2 weeks now.  I kept neglecting it but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I need to write about what the lord put on my heart concerning this scripture. So I am sorry if it comes out as a jumbled mess of thoughts, but I will try my hardest to make it make sense

My 2 biggest challenges since becoming a Christian 2 and half years ago has always been Prayer and staying strong in my daily devotional bible reading. I get so distracted by all of the other things of life that I neglect these 2 most important things. I know I am starving myself spiritually, not reading The Bible or spending time in prayer is a lot like going days without eating, it is starving yourself spiritually of the "nutrients" most important to your soul. Listening to a sermon on Sunday or saying a little prayer every once in a while throughout that day are like little snacks, but they can never take the place of the "meals" that is spending time daily in The Word, and spending time specifically with God in a dedicated prayer session.

Since I have gotten to this deployment my bible reading has grown a lot stronger, there is less here to be distracted by and I find it easier to take time right before bed to get in a good session of reading. However, my prayer life is still struggling. I have an hour set up every morning specifically for prayer, but I end up staying up to late at night, then not getting up in time to go pray before going to work. I keep telling myself I am going to change this, but then I just do the same thing over and over and over again. 

So in my bible reading I recently read this passage, and it struck me in a way it never had before. I have probably read this passage 10 times before in my previous times of reading through the Gospels, but before I always thought "oh it’s pretty cool that he was able to resist the temptations of the devil" and that was about the end of my thought process on the matter. But this time as I read through it, I noticed something unique about how Jesus resisted the devil. He didn’t do it by his own power, or by any sort of strength he had, but instead he was able to resist the devil because he knew the scriptures. We see three specific examples of Jesus being tempted by the devil and all three times Jesus uses a Quote from The Scriptures to specifically stop the devils temptation. Now, obviously, we know that Jesus is God so he actually has power over Satan because he created Satan. But I think he put these into scripture to show us how important it is to know the scriptures in order to help defend against the spiritual attacks we receive every day. Ephesians 6:17 makes it clear that the Word of God is more than just a way to help us; it's actually the sword use to fight the enemy. All of the rest of the spiritual armor is defensive but the Word is actually an offensive weapon that puts us in a position of power over the temptation of the devil.

The last of the 3 examples of Jesus being tempted in this passage really stuck out to me. The devil in this example actually USES the scripture to try and tempt Jesus. That means that Satan knows the bible. In fact, I would say he probably knows it better than a lot of us do. But notice how he uses it, He takes 2 random verses, completely out of context, then twists them to fit his meaning. It’s amazing how often we see that happen in our lives. We take scripture and twist it to try and justify some sinful thing we want to do, or to justify not doing something we don't like or don't want to do. There have been whole Cults and False religions such as the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and others that have been built around twisting the scriptures and misinterpreting the Word. Now as you can see, Jesus uses a different verse, in its proper context to actually refute the devil's attempt. As it says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 , Psalm 119:105, Joshua 1:8, and Hebrews 4:12 the Word is what guides us, it is used for reproof, for teaching, it is a light for our feet, it will make our way prosperous, and it discerns our thoughts. Therefore if we are using it in context of the passage and the Bible as a whole we can be assured it will guide us to truth and will overcome the attempts of the devil to use it to harm us. This is even more of a reason why we need to be STRONG in our bible reading, because if we aren’t reading the bible, we are more likely to fall prey to false religions, teachers, and thoughts.   

So let me use this to encourage you. Take time EVERY day to sit down with your bible and spend time in it. Read it, Study it, Live it. When you are going through the temptations, struggles, and battles we face every day, reflect on the scriptures and use them to fight back against every advance of the Devil. Never listen to what any preacher, prophet, friend, book, or thought says, unless it specifically agrees with the Bible. Remember the Bible alone is the ONLY revelation God gave us, it is Gods only and full revelation to us and it tells us EVERYTHING God wants us to know about him, about how to be saved, and about how to live, no other book, pastor, priest, or prophet has any other revelation besides what is stated in the bible. Anything that does not line up exactly with the bible should not be followed. So in closing please take time and be like the Bereans in Acts 17:11, study the scriptures daily, learn what is true, and how to follow God more closely.