[Discoveries] 03-09-07 Opportune times

[Inspiration in Your Inbox]

/*When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left Him until an 
opportune time. -- Luke 4:13*/

Exactly what is an "opportune time"?

Well, first of all, forget about the devil fighting fair. It isn't going 
to happen. He doesn't shake hands like a gentleman and wait until you're 
ready. He looks for the weakest moment, the time when you're defenses 
are down.

My strongest temptations come in the middle of the night when I'm trying 
to get back to sleep. I'm tired, and the last thing I feel like doing is 
fight a spiritual battle. But that's when the battle comes -- when I'm 
weak.

Did Jesus have weak moments?

Let's look at this occasion. Jesus had fasted for forty days and nights. 
Now he was ravenously hungry -- His body was tearing apart internal 
organs to find the nutrients to survive. Food was not a luxury for Him 
in this moment -- it was a necessity.

Along comes the devil. "So, you're hungry, huh?"

(Does the devil care whether Jesus is hungry? Of course not.)

"Try my solution. Turn these stones into bread."

What's the temptation? To get Jesus to act independently of the will of 
God. To separate Him from His Father. To get Him to doubt the 
loving-kindness of the Father. To get Him to doubt His own identity as 
the Son of God.

Jesus got hungry, tired, angry just as we do.

If Jesus, in His humanity, had weak moments like we do, then the devil 
ran into something he did not expect: God's strength is made perfect in 
weakness; God doesn't need our strength to win the battle.

Be encouraged!
Dwight


Contact: http://www.dwightclough.com/contact.html
Live near Madison, Wisconsin? Check out _http://www.Kim51.com_
Support our ministry: http://www.dwightclough.com/donations.html
Change your subscription: 
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/discoveries


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/discoveries/attachments/20070303/b0ea18ff/attachment.html