The Never Ending Battle

Scripture:
"When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time." Luke 4:13

Observation:
Satan does not rest. He never quits. He had gone after Jesus for 40 days. He had delivered Him his best blow and Jesus withstood the attack. He won. The battle, however, was not over. The text does not say Satan gave up. It does not say he admitted defeat. It does not indicate that he went searching for another target. It says he left for an opportune time.

According to Dictionary.com, opportune refers to something that is well-timed and meets exactly the demands of the time or occasion. In other words, he sat back and waited to bring a perfectly timed temptation at exactly the right moment for Jesus to be tempted with it.

Application:
If this is the way Satan went after the Son of God, why in the world would I expect him to treat me any different? I can win a battle, but the war is continually waged. It never ceases. NEVER. It is critical to acknowledge and celebrate victory, but I better do it with my head on a swivel (football term meaning you better be constantly looking all around you). He is coming back to launch another attack. This will keep on until Christ returns.


His temptations are designed so well and timed so perfectly it will seem logical to do it. Resisting will almost always seem futile. It gets exhausting. There are days that I just get tired of fighting. In those moments, it is not that I want to quit; I just want some rest. So what am I to do? As I follow Jesus through this season of temptation I notice a couple things about Him that helped.

First He knew the word. Reading the Bible is difficult. Many times I attribute that to my own ignorance, a lack of time, or the difficulty of applying scripture to life. There are many very logical excuses for not studying the Bible. Logical as they may be, they are lies. Satan lays out a perfectly good piece of logic at the perfect moment. The bait is beautifully laid out before me and it is so easy to bite. Just this morning, as my alarm clock went off, I was reminded of the fact that last night: Bryce woke me up three times complaining about his rear-end itching, Hayes coughed into his baby monitor all night, and Brandy woke me up several times sneezing or sniffling.

As these thoughts came at me I heard a voice inside of me saying, I am tired. I did not get any sleep. I should stay in the bed. It seemed so logical. Then I heard another voice quietly speaking inside my soul. It asked a simple set of questions. What's more important? Do You trust me with all your needs? Do you really need time with Me today? I could not resist that second voice.

As logical as it was to get some rest, God gave me the ability to recognize that what I was experiencing was a battle. Yes I am tired, but I will get some rest tonight. If I miss God's leading in my life today I may miss out on something that I may never get to catch up on. My quiet time with God has become the very life in my blood. I have to always honor reading the Bible and trust in my Father to show up and instruct me, even when the words are confusing or hard to accept. Jesus used scripture to fight against Satan. I must do the same.

Second, Jesus withdrew to quiet places to be alone. Praying at work, in the car or during normal moments of the day is very important. Bringing God into the daily activities of my life is critical, but it is not all there is. I have to follow Christ's example and find times to totally disengage from life and be alone with God. I need to sit at His feet and allow Him to deal with me one on one.

Jesus had a lot to do but we the scriptures note many occurrences of Him withdrawing. In verse 16 of Chapter 5, Luke tells us that Jesus would often slip away to the wilderness to pray. Lonely places, alone with God were a standard part of Christ's routine on while He was on earth, they should be mine as well.

Prayer:
I confess before You and my enemy this morning that I desire closeness to You above all things. I desperately require Your guidance and strength to make this day succeed. I can't do it on my own. I ask that You forgive my weak and lazy moments when I allow my emotions to get the best of me. There are so many times I get so frustrated by the relentless pursuit of my enemy that I forget the unfailing, never-ending love of You have for me. I lose sight of the power You placed in my Spirit the moment I believed in You and accepted Your Son as savior. I also forget that Christ promised to send Your Holy Spirit to be a helper to me. That would dwell inside of me to guide me in all things. This promise, He said, was better for me than it would be for Christ to stay here on earth. It is by this Spirit that I am able to say greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.

Following after You has been the greatest adventure of my life. My love for You defies all my logic and grows every day. My time with You is valued above all things in my life. I look forward to the day and the battles it will bring. I trust in You to guide my steps and speak to me Your words as I need them throughout the day.