Temptation

 Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written, "'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"
Matthew 4:10 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.4.10.ESV

What are we to do when satan is up close and personal, tempting us to fall into sin? Just what Christ did: quote Scripture to him! The Bible is toxic to satan, it's the sword of the Spirit that we can skewer him with!

Jesus is the perfect example of how to resist temptation, because He never succumbed to it. He obviously knew His Scripture well to quote it from memory to satan. The devil only lasted three rounds of Scripture quotation.

So if the word of God is the sword of Spirit, we need to be skilled in wielding it. It needs to become second nature to deploy it against satan and his attacks. Scripture memorisation might not be easy, but it is a powerful tool in our conflict with the evil one.

A final word of caution: at one point the devil tried to use Scripture against Christ, and he'll try the same with us. We need to know it well so that we can recognise when satan is twisting Scripture and taking it out of context. We can just turn things back on Him and rightly apply the word of God to his rotten heart. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

'Dear Lord, please help us when the devil attacks. Thank You for equipping us with all we need to successfully resist him, for Your glory and praise, amen'

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