Minding my own business at the grocery store, I was challenged by a man in a most unusual way. Will you join me in my journey as I learn deeper in God’s Word more about this experience? As you read, think of some ways that Satan will come to you to tempt you to do wrong.
If the Lord Jesus is your Savior, God will use His Word (the Sword of the Spirit) to help you resist temptations. When we quote Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will use God’s Word like a sword against Satan! As we submit to God and resist the devil, he will flee from you!
Jesus gave us an example of how to use God’s Word when we are tempted to disobey the Father, act independently from the Father, take the easy way out; or doubt that God really cares about us. It is important for each of us to know God’s Word, because Satan will misquote Scriptures to encourage us to test God. God has a plan for you and me; and Satan wants to ruin it.
With my Bible open to Matthew 4:1-11 (see also at the end), I begin my story …
I didn’t really feel like being at the grocery store, I really wanted to go home –I just didn’t feel good; yet, I really needed to go; and so I did. Very effectively, I gathered the things my family needs and even wants, and I headed to the checkout. I was actually amazed and grateful to God that I endured that particular shopping trip, because I really didn’t feel good. In my heart, I was praising God and thanking Him –but I was minding my own business just to get home soon and rest.
A man –whom I now remember from another very similar experience at the Post Office, but at this time I only saw an elderly man with a shopping cart, who was patiently waiting near this checkout line. Politely, I asked if he was in line; and generously, he waived any rights to the next place in line saying, “No, I am just waiting on my wife.” Recognizing that perhaps the man was hoping his wife would hurry up, I said to him, “Ok, but if your wife comes before I empty my buggy, you can slide ahead of me.”
This man smiled at me; and he began light weight conversation –but a conversation that continued to be twisted to get me to agree to the truth he was trying to get me to admit to, such as one of his first questions was, “Do you drink?” I answered in the Truth, “occasionally at night I will have a glass of wine or even a beer.” He said, “Do you need to drink?” I answered, “No, I don’t need to; I don’t drink all the time.” He said, “Do you need to drink water?” I answered with a smile … kind of seeing he had positioned my answer to align with his guidance, “Well sure.” Then, he said, “Then you need to drink.” I answered, “Well yes; Then, I suppose you are right; I do need to drink water.”
Side Note … That the only risk I take by sharing in this way is that you may be put in the position to judge me, but I will tell you in this way anyway, because the IN the Truth is where this testimony lies; and in the Truth is where we are always set free!
I won’t lie, deny the Truth; or answer to ANY man for MY sins; and as for me –my heart is tested by God; and as for me and my faith, for me it is not a sin, because I am fully submitted to God in all my ways, but yet, for Some Others it may be a sin according to each person’s faith; or even according to the way it may negatively affect another’s life.
Romans 14 is good perspective in each of our lives!
5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
Going back to this testimony … Take a pit stop to evaluate your heart with God:
Can you think of / identify / recognize any blended thoughts coming to you? Satan will work out his own plan for your demise by using your physical, spiritual and emotional needs to offer you temporary solutions! Satan will offer you rationalization that will agree with your immediate desire to escape something difficult –But God wants to see you through your troubles to give you MUCH MORE! God does care for you!!!
Although frustrations and fears are real, they are tools intended by the devil to purposely challenge you to doubt in your value of who you are to God; and challenges you to act independently from God. I am sharing Today to encourage you to Trust in God and Trust also in Jesus –to love your neighbor as you love yourself, because you believe in God and also in His Son.
Remember, God has a plan for you –you have a purpose; and Satan wants to ruin it!
We need ONLY to TRUST God and depend on HIM –as we follow Jesus! WWJD?
Now, I didn’t see this at first, so like a “yo-yo”, the both “lightweight and heavy” conversation continued –lead by this strange man. In the end, I can say, his conversation felt like a like a bait and pull, with a purpose to harm / cause doubt in a way that left me tempted to feel like I was a failure in Christ. Which I am not! And, neither are you …
Think about your challenge as you read this –What could God be calling you to do that Satan wants to destroy in you? AS for me, it was my ministry that I am sure was being targeted, as well as my very being! Mind you, I was not out to preach the gospel on this day; and I never go out looking for a challenge –I was just at the grocery store being a wife and a mom.
Yet, I always pray and ask God to show me how to serve HIM all along my way …
Eventually, this man’s wife come back. I noticed; and as promised by my word, I peaked around the corner and invited them to go ahead of me –I also, extended a “blessing forward” and said to them “Please go ahead of me. I would like to bless you and pay God’s kindness forward; as God has blessed me, so I would like to also be a blessing to you.”
They both smiled and seemed to accept my kindness –at first. I backed my cart out of the way and they pulled in in front of my cart and amazingly, God had saved room –just enough for their food items.
One small crack of a “joke” after another like the above I spoke of; and then, he would break into preaching AT me. I couldn’t understand all his words –and I know enough to trust in God; and not in man. Because his speech was difficult to understand, I could only understand certain things he was adamantly proclaiming as Scriptural and Spiritual Truths. I did hear some truths in the Scriptures blended in that he was quoting, but I was at a loss at the rest of his words.
I listened intently, because I wanted to show this man respect; and I always pay attention to all things –searching for God’s discernment. Many and most times I learn something valuable from God by listening to children of God in The Church (JESUS).
This man’s speech was extremely hard to understand, but I silently prayed for God to help me understand his conversation. I knew God had the power to understand different languages, so understanding a man with crippled speech would not be an issue for God to handle either.
However, all I could pick up in this man’s speech to me, was limited truths that he spoke directly at me, so all I could say in agreement with him was “God is good.” “Yes, God is amazing; and He can do all things.” This angered him –and confused me! Gradually, I began to grow jittery inside and I didn’t know why –but I didn’t like this feeling!
Somehow, I thought this man was getting to me; and I thought the nervousness, was representing that somehow, I had failed in standing up for God’s Word in representing my God and my Lord and Savior Jesus well.
As I listened to these wise crack jokes, each time I would have to come into agreement with this man. However, I would have to ask him to repeat 2 or perhaps 3 times so I could answer correctly and show him respect. Such as, he asked me, “Is your dad a mailman?”
I replied, “pardon” with a look on my face and a head tilted, I am sure like a dog who cares about us … enough to want to understand; simply to please us; as they would do as they intently will listen to understand and sometimes come to that place of hearing with understanding …if you know that personal relationship with a canine companion?
He repeated, “Is your dad a mailman?” I smiled and grateful I understood this man enough to answer in the truth!
Thinking he had me confused with someone else, I answered him saying, “Oh,” I answered confidently and so glad I understood, “no, my dad was not a mailman.” However, then directly, he said, “Was he a male?” I answered, “Well, yes,” –by now I am understanding his ways as he continued on with his ‘twisted truth kind of jokes’ leading me to agree with him. “Then, he was a ‘MALEman’!” He proudly proclaimed –now proud and chuckling in that, he had communicated his joke and proved his point that he was right –and got me to come into agreement with him in some points of the conversation.
I let down my guard and laughed with him for a moment, but then he immediately began preaching AT me once again –in an increasingly condemning way. He challenged me to answer certain answers about when Jesus comes back according to the Bible –and I didn’t have these confident answers as a certain truth. I have my opinion and beliefs –as the Spirit of God enables me to know for my own understanding, but not things that I have been authorized by God to preach –at least not yet to my knowledge. However, this man challenged me to proclaim my opinion about if Jesus will come back in Spirit or Body. In my human nature, I answered the best I could in this “what now has somehow become a duel lead and forced by this strange man?” –and I was somehow wanting to come into agreement with him to bring him peace???
YET –A duel that I refuse to argue, for only God needs to know certain things! I won’t bow down to denying my Jesus as my Lord and Savior! As the conversation continued, it became very clear that “persuading me to deny my God and my Jesus to follow this man” was ultimately this man’s agenda! I won’t bow down to denying that I Worship the true and Living God –my God and my Father whom I know very well, but I do not know all things about God.
This man was challenging me, to answer his “preaching questions” again and again, –but now, he was growing angrier and angrier! When I rejected his knowledge and when I refused to deny that I followed the living LORD JESUS –this man shouted condemnation at me and yelled at me and, he included the rest of the world in condemnation.
He shouted out at me, I had the wrong one living in me and called me “the devil” and condemned me. The girl at the checkout was so level headed about religion, she said that she once attended a church that was all about condemnation.
“I wonder why he didn’t try to save me;” –If he in fact was a true man of God, wouldn’t he care a little; after all I was just trying to pay for his groceries to be a blessing to him and his family?
The God that I know and serve is about LOVE and SALVATION for all who will believe –not condemnation! That we were once dead to sin, but now in Christ we have a higher ability to overcome our sinful nature not to sin against God –quickly convicted in the Truth to repent and change to be made more in the image of God’s Son with each mistake God heals us through.
I prayed on the way home and asked God “What was that?” “Did I fail God –I wondered?” “Why did I feel all nervous inside?” The Spirit of the Lord revealed to me that Satan was using this man –and his wife to tempt me / persuade me to act independently of our Father in Heaven, to sin against God by proclaiming things I don’t know. The nervousness I felt was this man’s nervousness –He must have recognized Christ living in me to become so angry that I worship God and would not agree with his words about things I didn’t know or understand.
I understood by the Spirit of God living in me that I had not failed God, but in fact I had stood my ground by the Word of God … even without knowing what I was doing –I was in fact, answering, reminding and resisting Satan.
Some may say they can’t or don’t believe in such spiritual things, but look around you in this world and define all you see as either LIGHT or DARKNESS. Is there anything in the middle you can’t define?
The evil in this world is dark and the good in this world is of Light. Light is of God and Darkness is of Satan. How can you not believe in what you can see?
These were Satan’s attacks against me (and against the ministry gifts living inside me to proclaim the goodness of God in HIS Son Jesus Christ).
I felt unprepared in my knowledge, as I was being tempted to stray away from depending on God to act alone in order to satisfy the demands from this man to answer his questions to me!
HOWEVER, I found out the living Holy Spirit power in me from God was going before me through the power in God’s written Word as I spoke in faith alone –remaining in God’s Love that is only found in HIS SON JESUS CHRIST.
“I shall worship my God alone.” I know my Father’s character and I choose to follow His Son, whom is my friend by God’s grace alone!
This man left me alone with that. In the parking lot, he was still there I noticed, but silently I spoke, “Get behind me Satan, I worship the Lord My God only.
Driving home, I knew I needed to open the Word of God and learn more about the temptations Jesus overcome by saying, “It is written …”
Matthew 4:1-11
Lesson: The Temptations of Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11 CEF Children’s Ministry Resource Edition Holy Bible NKJV –Page 1191) PS, I also found it amazing that the teachings about temptations are positioned in God’s Word just before the teachings about our Beatitudes!
- The Devil wanted the Lord Jesus to disobey God the Father.
- The tests began after Jesus had fasted and was very hungry –God’s plan was that His Son, during His time as a man, be totally dependent on the Father (Hebrews 10:5-7). Satan was trying to persuade Jesus to act independently of His Father, disobeying His will. He suggested that, since Jesus was the Son of God, He demonstrate His power by satisfying His own hunger apart from God’s help. Perhaps the Devil was also implying that the Father was not caring for His Son.
- Jesus answered, “Man shall not live by bread alone (v.4).”
- Jesus reminded Satan, “You shall not tempt the LORD your God (v.4).”
- Jesus resisted Satan, “You shall worship the LORD your God (v. 10).”
Later, after writing this to you, I was driving Home, thinking about things and situations –that everyday situations can arise with temptations to act independently from God because of fear … BUT, they are also opportunities and just challenges to overcome the many temptations that come to us … a Revelation come to me from God:
In ANY given confrontation –even if you are pulled over for doing something wrong …
“Are you prepared in the Truth; or are you prepared with excuses to avoid the Truth?
You can quote me, as I was authorized by the Spirit of God to give you this knowledge with some understanding Today.
I pray this was a blessing to you!
Love in Christ,
Karen Rowe
Hope in Today Ministries, Inc.
The Train Whistle, Sounding the call of God’s Love
PS: A final thought … a personal message to you …
Only by Depending on God, (as I do) –Today, I can say that it kind of cracks me up that Satan is so stupid to attack me –because I worship the Lord my God only! Meaning that if Satan attacks me or anything around me, I will TELL you / others how I overcome by God’s good grace!
If Satan attacks my marriage, I will tell how we overcome –not only overcome, but excelled to a place in our marriage that transcends all human understanding!
If Satan attacks my finances, I will tell the good news of how I overcome by remaining in God’s Grace and giving!
If Satan attacks my self-esteem, I will tell you how God reminds me of just who I am in His eyes!
If Satan attacks my family or friends, I will tell you of the power of prayer and the power of faith that will overcome all things by God’s grace!
Gods’ love will overcome all things! Satan only wants us to remain destroyed by sin, by persuading us to doubt. Satan wants to hold down, repress and shut out grace from our life!
However, God knows our abilities in Christ! So, Satan approaches me to stop me –But, in Christ alone, I overcome; and now Today, God has equipped me to write to you and reveal Satan’s nature and crafty ways –yes, the same old devil that’s been attacking mankind since the dawn of time!
Mirror your life’s needs to Scripture, can you see something familiar in your own life to the way Satan tempted Eve in the Garden –to disobey God?
And in the way Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness …
Satan challenged Eve in “kind, gentle & seemingly caring” conversation with a purpose to manipulate and persuade her to change (and conform) her mind to disobey God’s Word.
Are you really any more immune to such challenges in your life?
- God bless you my friend in Christ! I hope this is wind beneath your wings as you grow in your faith in Jesus!
- If you have never known Jesus as your Savior and Lord, I invite you to meet JESUS today!
- God loves you and Jesus gave all that HE had to give you LIFE with God and save you from the penalty from sin, which is death (separation from God) –if you will just believe and ask Jesus to come and live in you!
I hope you have a good day and if not good, the grace to get through it well!
I pray this was a blessing to you!
Love in Christ,
Karen Rowe
