Wisdom For The Day Devotional 17 April 2024 By Bishop Mike Okonkwo – Don’t Fall For The Enemy’s Tricks
TOPIC: Don’t Fall For The Enemy’s Tricks (TREM Devotional 17 April 2024)
“And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Matthew 4:2-3 (KJV)
MESSAGE:
In the third Chapter of Matthew’s gospel, God said concerning Jesus, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” When you go to the fourth Chapter of the same Book of Matthew, the scripture says that “…Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” (KJV).
The first temptation was to ask, if you are the Son of God, command the stones to become bread. In other words, who told you that you are His beloved Son? How can you be His beloved when you haven’t achieved anything? The enemy always challenges what God said in order to know whether you have accepted it.
The Pharisees said to Him; your Father is a carpenter. We know your mother, your half-brothers, and your sisters. So how dare you claim that you are the Son of God! The devil was challenging what God said to know whether Jesus had accepted it.
The fact that God promised you something in His Word does not mean you have accepted it. The question is, did you accept it? Do you believe it? Until what God spoke becomes your revelation, nothing happens! You will sit with Jesus, and nothing happens because you are falling for the devil’s tricks.
Notice that Satan carefully removed the word “beloved”. “If you are the Son of God…” Satan knows the impact of the word “beloved.” Being the Son of God alone is powerful, and to now add “beloved” makes it even more glorious. It is a different ball game altogether. So, he removed the word “beloved.” He wanted to know if Jesus knew what God said.
Beloved, have you accepted the promises of God to you? Have you accepted what God called you? Do you really believe you are a son of God? Child of God, you must consciously accept who God has made you if you will live in the fulness of your rights as a believer.
FURTHER READING
Matthew 4:1-11
DAILY BIBLE READING
Morning – 2 Samuel 1-2
Evening – Luke 14:1-24
Wisdom For The Day Devotional was Written by Dr. Mike Okonkwo; Is the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM); a versatile man of God with over 30 years of dedicated service unto the Lord.
