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In more than three decades of my Christian life, I have been blest by 2 types of Daily devos'
(matter not exceeding 500 words) in universal Christian literature.
Not only those Devos' which have a different theme everyday but also the ones
which revolve around a certain theme over a period of time, say a fortnight have
richly edified me. In fact, both styles have their own inherent advantages.
If the former style caters to the varying spiritual needs of a christian from day-to-day,
the latter aims 'to ground' a child of God in a certain subject in order he derives the full
benefits of the deep insightful study of a certain topic, spread over a fixed span of time.
In my Daily devo page, I have consciously tried to go in for 'a blend of both the styles'
whereby within a constant theme, I would be aiming to focus on different facets of it which admittedly
is a closer imitation of the 'Constant theme' style than the 'Varying topics' one.
For starters in the first month of January I would be dwelling on the theme of the
"Christian Journey", with the material being arranged in a Book-like format under which the pages
would be opened ( i,e..displayed on-line) on each succeeding day.
So here's wishing you a happy & an edifying read....
Suresh Manoharan
January 17th
The Temptations
Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test -
Matthew 4:7
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only -
Luke 4:8
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We had concluded, yesterday’s meditations with an observation that we would be pondering awhile
today on our desired response when God in His sovereign wisdom, allows us to be ‘tempted’.
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Before we go any further, let’s affirm one thing that our Creator God has every right to test us
on deep issues’ of our faith -on whether we have grasped the lessons, He has taught us in our walk
with Him of trusting Him - in the same manner a college we study in has the right to put us through
exams at the end of every semester to ‘test us’ on whether we have ‘gotten hold’ of the lessons taught in
the intervening period. Why, He did not spare His own son from the fiery trials beginning with a desert
ordeal
(Matt 4:1-11) which finally culminated with an excruciating death on the Cross!
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Just the same, our Jewish counterparts en-route to the Promised Land were also not
exempted from facing a trial or two, as the following the scripture portion recording
the words of Moses, reveals “He humbled you, causing you to hunger…to teach you that man
does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” –
Deuteronomy 8:3.
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Then again our Sovereign Heavenly Father to whom we owe our existence reserves the right to test us
Himself as the above captioned scripture bears out or He may even use our Foe to subject us to a trial,
as was done in the case of Jesus in his desert ordeal
(Matt 4:1-11)! But one thing,
He can be trusted upon is ‘He the ever faithful One would not put us to a test,
which is beyond our capacity to withstand
(I Cor 10:13)’!
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So come rain or shine, whether the sailing is rough or smooth, in order we be worthy followers’ of
our Lord, let’s submit ourselves to our Heavenly Father’s care without at any time doubting His
love for us, with the words of our Lord spoken in the Garden of Gethsemane ‘Let Thy will be done’
(Luke 22:42) ever ringing in our minds!
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Prayer:
Father, there cannot be better example of anyone facing the trials than Your own Son,
who with the anguish of the cross looming before him, simply surrendered His will into
Your hands. Give us Your grace, to emulate Your Son, even when it comes to
drinking from the bitter cup of trials. Amen.
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