Sunday, May 10, 2026

“The Postmortem of the Battle” (Luke 4:13)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/10/2026 8:17 AM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  “The Postmortem of the Battle”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                       Reference:  Luke 4:13

            Message of the verse:  When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.”

            As we have studied each of the three temptations that Satan had for Jesus we know that the Lord won all three of them, and so he can now get some food and go on to begin his ministry.  MacArthur states that he believes that these temptations happened over His 40 day ministry.  So Satan left Him until an opportune time.  Such times of temptation occurred throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry.  In Luke 22:28, Jesus said to His disciples, “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials.”  Satan would through Peter tempt Jesus once again to avoid the cross, resulting in the Lord’s stern rebuke, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s” (Matt. 16:23).  The devil would successfully tempt Judas to betray Christ as seen in John 13:27.  “27  Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.’”

            “Several lessons may be drawn from observing Satan’s assault on Christ” writes John MacArthur.  “First, he uses the same strategies to tempt believers that he used on Christ.  He attempts to get them to distrust God’s love, doubt His plan, and presume on Him, and will twist Scripture to do so.  Second, Satan takes advantage of specific circumstances to launch his assaults.  He was physically weak after forty days without food and isolated from other people.  Finally, along with watchfulness and prayer (Matt. 25:41), Scripture is the essential weapon believers must wield to defeat temptation.  To do so effectively requires both knowledge of the Bible and a commitment to obey it.

            “To be successful in their struggle against temptation, believers must follow the pattern set by the Lord Jesus Christ.  They must trust God’s love, submit to His plan, and refuse to presume on His promises and grace.  By doing so, they will successfully ‘resist the devil’ and see Him ‘flee from [them]’ (James 4:7).

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  These are directions that I must follow when being tempted by the devil.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Follow the steps give in this SD to have victory over Satan.

5/10/2026 8:37 AM

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