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Posts Tagged ‘Satan’

Customized Temptations

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , on April 21, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Matthew 4:1
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

The only desert temptations we hear about are the ones Jesus must have told to the disciples. We will never know if there were more. But Matthew’s report is that there were at least three and they are recorded as happening after his 40 days of fasting in the desert. The three temptations were 1) turning stones into bread for food; 2) throwing himself off a parapet (of the temple) to be saved, “hopefully,” by angels; and 3) earthly power and authority in exchange for worshiping Satan.

I believe these three temptations are specific to Jesus and what He could expect to encounter again and again in his ministry: the challenges of the body, challenges of faith, and challenges of power (or simply put, temptations of the body, soul & mind). I think it’s foolish to think that this was the only time Jesus encountered temptations. And the same is for us.

We are confronted in these same areas, but the temptations may look slightly different. In my own body, I struggle with body image, food, and aging. In my soul, I struggle with my faith in the face of difficult circumstances, self-condemnation, and hardness of heart (secret places of the heart). In my mind, I struggle with control, judgments of others, and disappointment. My “enemy” is more than happy to provide specific, customized temptations in each of these areas. It is one reason God calls us to daily prayer to prepare our bodies, souls & minds for the assaults of the day.

Keep me mindful this day, Lord, that you alone are worthy of worship. I trust your love. I give thanks for your Word.

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Satan Entered Judas

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , on April 9, 2009| 1 Comment »

Luke 22:3-4
Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.

How does it happen this “entering” of Satan? I don’t believe a person is just fine one day and like a virus or bacteria, he or she picks up Satan off of a doorknob. And yet, in the same way that Jesus spoke of the fertile soil that is needed to nurture the seed of the gospel, there is also fertile ground for Satan.

Satan is not a person but an entity who is a ruler of that other plane (For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12) And so, we are dealing with the matters of the heart, soul, and mind.

Galatians 5:19-21 gives us a pretty good list of Satan’s fertile soil: …sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. So often, as we read through this list, we feel smugly safe, thinking how we haven’t participated in any orgies or witchcraft lately. But, we gloss over the other plants that may have found root in our inner garden: discord, jealousy, envy, idolatry… we have ALL experienced these to one degree or another.

Who knows what drove Judas? Some have said greed, but I don’t think so. I believe he had his own idea of how things should go. He disagreed with Jesus’ plan. And so he put his own plan into motion and Satan nurtured and watered that notion. And then the idea became an action and eventually had a life of its own that ultimately played itself out on the cross.

Each day, we must choose to pull weeds from our inner garden or they will grow and grow and soon, very soon, they take over.. It is much easier to pull them out when they are small… of course, if we take this gardening metaphor even further … it takes some knowledge to know which plants are which, what is a weed and what is not because, when they are very small, we don’t always recognize them.

So, we must be diligent, we must be knowledgeable and ask for help from the Master Gardener.

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