Jesus Christ defines our faith. This is something you and I must remember every moment of our lives. Romans 10:17(NLT) tells us “So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” Heavenly Father’s plan is for us to read and digest the Good News about Jesus Christ so that our faith in God through Christ continues to grow. We must read and study about our Blessed Lord to know his nature and to know what he did when he walked upon this earth. Ephesians 4:15 tells us to speak the truth in love and to grow in every way to be more and more like Christ, who is our Lord. He walked the earth with power and authority, and the reason that Jesus was able to do this is because he trusted God and he trusted God’s Word. We must do the same.
In Matthew 4, after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, he was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil. While in the wilderness, Jesus fasted forty days and night, and he became very hungry. Matthew 4:3-4(NKJV) tells us, “3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” Matthew 4 tells us of other temptations Jesus Christ endured, and he handled them in the exact same way. He told the devil what the Word of God says. He didn’t speak on his own accord, Jesus Christ stood on the authority of God’s Word because he knew that God’s Word is all the power we need.
This was not an easy thing for our Master to endure, and he could have complained or responded differently to this incredible opposition, but he knew that there is no greater power and authority than God’s Word, and he spoke it forth with faith and conviction. He was human just like us, and he was probably at his most vulnerable during this temptation, but he did not waver. He demonstrated by his example that we can trust that God’s Word is true. When we stand on it, the devil has no other choice but to flee.
To stand on the Word of God, we have to know it and believe it, because our level of trust in God’s Word is going to be tested by the devil, but Jesus Christ has shown us that we can overcome it. Hebrews 4:14-16(NLT) tells us, “14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, came to earth in human form, and our Master Jesus represents the highest place of spiritual authority. He is our high priest, yet through him, God chose to fully identify with us humans, because we are His children. Our flesh is weak, but Jesus Christ demonstrated for us that we can overcome sin, and he showed us how to do it.
Not only is Jesus Christ an example for us, he is an example of us. He is what we are becoming. Everything that the devil could throw at Jesus was thrown. You and I can never know all that he endured, the incredible and constant pressure of life or death situations, yet still ministering powerfully and attending to the needs of the people. He was able to do all this and stand powerfully in God’s authority because of God’s Word. From childhood on up, Jesus Christ studied the scriptures in the synagogues relentlessly. He was not exempt from reading and studying God’s Word. He fed his mind and heart God’s Word continually and knew his identity. He showed us what a child of God can accomplish when we do not step outside the bounds of God’s truth.
John 1:14(NKJV) tells us, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus Christ is the living, breathing Word of God in human form. He was physical truth moving and ministering upon the earth when he was here, and God has shown us through Christ that the power and authority of His truth is limitless.
We need to know that God will make a way out of no way for us. Some of us came through the last few years relatively unscathed, but many are still struggling under incredible situations and oppression. God will not abandon us if we trust Him, and we must know that trusting Him requires us to know what He says. James 4:7(NKJV) instructs us, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” We must be obedient to do what God is telling us to do. We must submit to Him. To submit to God is to humble ourselves under His Word.
Romans 3:23 tells us that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but we cannot use our flesh as an excuse to continue walking outside His Will. God’s grace is in direct opposition to a mindset that will not seek His Word and Will. So often we are attacked in our minds by the enemy in order to keep us from increasing our faith, but we can and should resist this. We can renew our minds to what God says by confessing His promises continually. Understand that our humility attracts God’s grace, and our most effective defense against the tricks of the enemy is to yield to God, trust His Word, and continually put it on in our minds and hearts. ■
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“God Will Make A Way!” written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!