But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4
The Bible is our daily bread; it nourishes and sustains us. In Matthew 4, we read that Jesus fasted and prayed in the wilderness for 40 days. When He began to pray, Satan came to Him saying, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” When you’re on a fast, do you know what sounds really good? A couple of loaves of warm bread. But instead of giving into temptation and turning the stones to bread, Jesus “answered and said, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Jesus recited the Word of God to Satan, and he immediately fled.
The way we overcome sin and temptation is by the blood of the Lamb, which is what Jesus already did for us when He died on the cross, and by the word of our testimony. Do you know what the word of our testimony is? It’s the Bible, or as we learned in yesterday’s devotion, our daily bread. The more that we allow ourselves to be sustained and nourished by the Word of God, the more we are equipped to resist temptation. When we know His Word, we’ll be able to say, “It is written … ” in the face of temptation, because no matter what comes against us, God’s Word will sustain us.
In Job 23:12, Job said he treasured the Word of God more than his essential food. How many of us can say that about our lives? Truthfully, there’s nothing more important than the bread God gives us in the form of His Word. The best thing we can do is feed our spirits with God’s Word.
PRAYER
Father, thank You for helping me resist temptation through Your Word. Help me to fill up my spirit with Your Word, so when the Enemy comes against me I can resist him. I pray You give me an appetite for Your Word that can only be satisfied by spending time with You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
FOR FURTHER STUDY
Joshua 1:8; Job 23:12; Isaiah 55:2; Hosea 4:6
Taken from It Is Written, a Gateway devotion.
