Temptations Are Cleverly Designed

"Then the devil, taking him (Jesus) up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to him, 'All this authority I will give you, and their glory, for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if you will worship before me, all will be yours.'" Luke 4:5-7 Satan is very clever in choosing the temptations that he expects will be the most irresistible to us. He wasn't going to tempt Jesus to lie, to cheat, to steal, because he knew Jesus wouldn't fall for anything like that. What he did tempt him with was a way to avoid the Cross. When Satan said "All this authority I will give you, and their glory for this has been delivered to me..." this part was true. It HAD been delivered to him. God had put Adam in authority over the earth, but Adam disobeyed God and fell to Satan's temptation in the garden, and in Adam's acceptance of Satan's lie and in his rebellion against God he lost that authority to Satan. Satan became "the god of this world" (2nd Corinthians 4:4). "But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds THE GOD OF THIS WORLD has blinded..." 2nd Corinthians 4:3-4 "...the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one." 1st John 5:19 So that's what Satan used to be most effective in his temptation against Jesus. "If only you will worship me, I'll take what is mine and give it to you." That way, Jesus could avoid the awful suffering of the Cross. But that's not what God sent Jesus to do. He sent him TO suffer the Cross, to take upon himself our sin, in our place, so that we could be forgiven and restored to God. Jesus stood on the Word of God and his reply was "get behind me Satan!" In every temptation, Jesus answered with the Word of God, setting the example for us to do the same. vs 8: "And Jesus answered and said to him, 'Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve.’” We are greatly mistaken if we think we are strong enough and wise enough to resist the wiles of the devil. He knows the makeup and life experiences of each person and he carefully chooses how he will cause us to fall. So how do we avoid falling? The ONLY way is to be immersed in the Word of God and in daily prayer. Every temptation must be answered with the Word of God, therefore we must KNOW the Word of God. And we need to come before the Lord every day in prayer asking for protection against deception, for deception is Satan's main weapon against us. "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand AGAINST THE WILES OF THE DEVIL. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:10-12 It's a terrible battle, a deadly battle because Satan knows what will be the most effective efforts against each of us, he knows our personal weaknesses, but it's one we can win if we KNOW the Word of God, the Scriptures, and if we come daily before the Lord in worship and prayer and use Scripture to answer every Satanic temptation placed in our minds.