Spiritual Warfare - Facing Temptation

This blog is about Chapter 2 of the Bible study Spiritual Warfare by Jack Kuhatschek.

Matthew 4:1-11

1. "Looking through these verses, what clues do you have as to what Jesus would have been thinking and feeling?" Verse 2 says He was hungry. The only other verse where I see Jesus feeling anything is in verse 10 when He tells Satan to go away. He seems tired and angry that Satan is trying to lead Him astray.

2. "Verse 1 opens at the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry. Why do you think the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil?" I know from my personal experiences that when I am tempted and resist temptation, I feel the bond grow stronger between God and I. Jesus had to be tempted so He would grow even more with God, and be strengthened and ready for ministry.

3. "If there's nothing wrong with being hungry, and there's nothing wrong with bread, then what was the temptation (vv. 3-4)?" The temptation was to use the abilities God gave Him to do something that was not in tune with God's will, or wasn't what the ability was intended for.

4. "When we fail to trust God, how can we be tempted to meet legitimate needs in illegitimate ways?" Like Abraham in the Bible, we may try to make what God wants to happen in ways other than what God wants. Abraham took his wife's slave and got her pregnant, because God said that his decendents would be as many as the stars. God rejected this way of doing things because it wasn't what He had in mind. Sometimes we want to take short cuts or make things happen instead of waiting for God to do what He has promised us.

5. "In the second temptation (vv. 5-6), was the devil misquoting Scripture, as people often claim? Explain." He didn't misquote it, he quoted it perfectly. But He took it out of context and didn't look at the whole picture. When using Scripture, we need to remember the big picture, and not focus on the words of one little part and let that blind us from the other things God has for us.

6. "Jesus responds in verse 7 by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16. How does testing God differ from trusting God?" When you trust God, you're looking to do His will. When you're testing God, you're making Him prove Himself to you, and you shouldn't have to do that.

7. "What is wrong with demanding 'right now' that God prove his presence, power or care?" If we demand these things, we aren't focusing on His will and His plan, and we're trying to make Him show Himself to us in the way we see Him, which may not always be what He really is. I've found that when God speaks to me, it's through little things when I'm not demanding He prove Himself to me. We need to open our eyes and listen to Him instead of demanding Him to prove Himself to us.

8. "In the third temptation, the devil promises to give Jesus 'all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor' (vv. 8-9). If Jesus would eventually receive all of these kingdoms anyways, then what was tempting about the devil's offer?" The same reasons we sin now are why Jesus would have fallen into that temptation. We want things on our own terms, and that was the appeal of this temptation. Satan was offering those things at that moment. But Jesus resisted temptation and chose to wait for God's timing.

9. "The devil offers us shortcuts in contrast to what Eugene Peterson, quoting a phrase from Friedrich Nietzche, has called 'a long obedience in the same direction.' Why are these shortcuts really spiritual shortcuts?" When we take shortcuts, we aren't seeing everything God wants us to see. It's like choosing between the beautiful back roads around town or the highway: God wants us to take the backroads and see all of the beautiful things along the way, but we want to just take the highway and get right to what we view as the end. It isn't the end result that God cares about as much as what we learn. "How do these shortcuts tempt us to bow the knee to Satan--even when that's not our intention?" Satan offers the fast road and the fast results that we sometimes look for. We may not intend to bow the knee to Satan, but when we don't take the road God has put us on, that is exactly what we're doing. If we aren't seeing the things God wants us to see and learning what He wants us to learn, we are more likely to bend that knee to Satan.

10. "Throughout this passage, Jesus demonstrates trust, obedience and true worship. How can we make these our ultimate weapons against the devil's temptations?" When we trust God, we know that our needs are being met, so we don't chase after the things of the world. When we aren't chasing after the things of the world, we are obeying God. And when we truly worship Him, we have our eyes on Him, and nothing else, which is what He wants from us.

Closing thoughts: I have been trying to reach some of my legitimate needs in illegitimate ways, and I need to just let God and His timing happen. I've been trying to hurry up and get to the end goal (in my mind), which is missions in Africa. But I have SEVEN YEARS of school ahead of me. God wants me to take that time to grow closer to Him, and become the woman He wants me to be. I need to slow down and enjoy where I am now.