“Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God
    and him only shall you serve.’” (Matthew 4:10)

After Jesus was baptized, he went out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. This tells us that Jesus’ ministry was done for us. He wanted to suffer as we all do. He suffered temptation so He could identify with us and feel what we feel when we tempted by Satan and his minions.

This incident shows us that Satan is very cunning and devious. He has a command of scripture and can cite it from memory. Though he could not fool Jesus as he did Adam and Eve, he can and often does fool us. He may tempt unbelievers, those in the world with the lusts of the flesh, but we Christians often require a form of temptation that uses God’s word to justify selfish behavior. If we can use Scripture to justify such actions it may seem as if God wants us to act in a certain way. Satan also works through false prophets who twist God’s word so that it seems that God’s will is that all His children deserve to indulge themselves, to be healthy, wealthy, selfish, famous and proud. Thus we think we can live like the world because we think that it is what God wants when in reality it is what we want. When we fall prey to the devil in this way, then we are useless to God.

The temptations that the devil used to try and trap Jesus were like our own temptations: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and selfish pride. Jesus was easily able to overcome these for He knew His mission, He knew God’s Word, and He knew the Father’s will. And so should we know His will, His word and our mission so we can overcome