The Last Call Devotions Network
"Legacy"
Legacy Posts will be presented in Weekly Formats
Begining in May and starting ASAP posts as part of our "Legacy Series" will be posted on Monday AM for the Week. Some of the Classics will post a Sun-Sat; others will be Mon-Fri. This "note" or one similar to it will proceed all Last Call posts for the remainder of this year; 2011. The benefit to the reader is to have a "weeks" worth of Devotions to Read.
As a "free ministry" the Network has exapnded globally and this is a adjustment to grow with that need. The "Current" Series of Devotions will begin to follow the same format. It is likely that many in the "Current" series will be on a One week delay. Any comments or questions please write:
lastcalldevotionalnetwork@gmail.com
This Weeks
Greg Laurie
Devotionals by A New Beginning
Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry.
—Luke 4:1-2
In a broad sense, we are faced with temptation all the time. But temptation often comes after times of great blessing. Temptation came for Jesus right after His baptism in the Jordan River, where the Father spoke and the Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove. But immediately after the dove came the devil (see Luke 3:21-4:1).
In the same way, it is often after we have been blessed that the enemy strikes. What was waiting for Jesus after His time on the Mount of Transfiguration with Moses and Elijah (see Matthew 17:1-21)? A demon-possessed child. That is how it so often is. After the blessing comes the attack.
Temptation also will come when you think you are the strongest. You might think, I could fall potentially in area A, B, and C, but I would never fall in this area. Don't think things like that, because you don't really know what you would do. You don't know your sinful nature. Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us, "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?"
It was Simon Peter's boasting of his great devotion to the Lord that led to his fall. When Jesus predicted His betrayal, Peter used it as an opportunity to say, "Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be" (Mark 14:29 NKJ). So Jesus effectively said, "Since you brought it up, Rock, before the rooster has crowed twice you will deny three times that you ever knew Me." It was Peter's arrogance that opened up the vulnerability that ultimately led to his fall.
Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall." Are there areas in your life in which you are feeling prideful? Be careful.
Saturday
The Best Place to Be
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.
—Psalm 1:1-2
Where is the best place to be when temptation comes? In God's will. Luke 4:1 tells us that Jesus was "led by the Spirit into the wilderness." Jesus always was in God's will, but sometimes we aren't. We put ourselves in places we don't belong. We hang out with people we shouldn't hang out with, and then we end up doing things we shouldn't do.
Psalm 1:1-2 says, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful." Note the progression in these verses from walking to standing to sitting. That is how temptation works.
It is like being on a diet and deciding to walk by your favorite bakery. Predictably, you spot that fresh cinnamon roll on display in the window. So you go from walking to standing. Then you are looking. The next thing you know, you are sitting in the bakery's vat, eating raw dough.
Or, you are with the wrong people, walking "in the counsel of the ungodly" or standing "in the path of sinners." They say to you, "Oh, would you relax? You are so uptight with your Christianity. Come on. Have a drink. What is one drink?" Or, "Hey, come with us and do this. It's just this one time. Oh, come on! Have a little fun!" And suddenly you find yourself in a place you shouldn't be. You think, How did I get here? You were in the wrong place with the wrong people at the wrong time.
That is why the best place to be when temptation comes is in the will of God. And that is why we need to keep up our guard and fill our minds with God's Word.
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