Matthew 4:8-10
8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
10Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'// THOUGHTS:
.. This was during the temptation of Jesus after He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights
.. Of all the 3 explicit temptations, the 3rd one is when Jesus said "Away from me..."
.. On the other 2, He only quoted Scriptures - defended Himself with Scriptures
.. My thinking is that, it maybe because the 3rd has something to do with idol worship
.. God is a jealous God and want us to only serve Him - ALONE!
.. When satan tempted Jesus to worship him - to serve him - then Jesus told him to stay away!
.. Idol worship - when we put other things or people on top of (or in first place of) God and our worship and service to Him
.. Once we are tempted to do this - when things in our lives or people in our lives tend to rule over us and we start to "worship and serve" them more than we do to God, we need to rebuke and say "Away from me satan!"
.. This is one important command of God - Deut 6:13 "Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name."
.. Fear is our worship to Him - our reverence to Him - God honors it when we fear Him and actually let Him know that we are putting Him first
// BELLE:
.. What temptations are there that put their place first before God?
.. When I wake up - I gotta think about God immediately; to make it a habit again as I used to and not think about other stuff that ruins my mind in the early morning
.. When something or someone is getting my attention away from God, I must recognize it as a temptation that's try to pull my worship away from God
.. How? When something or someone makes us not fear or revere God anymore - and we put more attention to them first more than we do for God
.. "Away from me satan!"
// LORD, please help me to stay away from these situations immediately. I pray that you will empower me to do what is right and not think of excusing myself in situations where I know could keep away from my fear and worship of God. Please reveal to me when they come; to recognize and discern which ones are causing me to be tempted. I need Your discerning power to be over me daily Oh Lord. Guide me, please. In Jesus' name, amen.
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