The Last of the Temptations -- I'm Not Talking about the Singing Group Either

I have been studying the temptation of Jesus, and I hope that you have been doing it along with me. Feel free to post your thoughts and what you are learning by digging deeper in the Word as well.


This is my last blog on the temptation. Each gospel has a different flavor because each of the men who penned the books are different, and the purpose of their books was different as well. But at the end of these there are some interesting statements, I want to cover.



Matthew 4:11, “Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Mark 1:13, “and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.”

Luke 4:13, “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.”



I don’t know about you, but I’m glad the devil leaves. However, you can rest assured he will come again to tempt you at an opportune time. When is your opportune time? When are you the most vulnerable to temptation? What are the areas of your weaknesses? Take a look at your desires and wants to see if they leave you open to temptation.

Then there’s this whole wild animal thing going on in Mark. So, Jesus was dealing with the fleshly side of himself (his hunger) while fighting off tigers and bears, oh my! Just kidding. We don’t know what kind of wild animals. But suffice it to say, there were obviously other things to distract Jesus’ attention in addition to the temptation. It’s never just one thing at a time, is it? Life doesn’t work like that and neither does temptation. You take your eyes off of God because there’s some wild donkey braying in the bushes and then Satan pops up to avert your attention to another area, and before long we are stressed out, maxed out, pushed to the limit and SNAP! If you don’t keep your focus on God, if you don’t know the Scripture by heart, the devil is a roaming lion seeking those he can devour(1Peter 5:8), and friend, let me tell you, you’re just the appetizer.

Think you’re above temptation? Think again. Jesus was tempted. You will be tempted. It’s how you will respond that matters.

Sin has a high cost, but God’s grace is free. PTL!

The Devil Goes to Church -- Church Is Full of Hypocrites

I don’t know about you, but I know the devil is alive and well in my house most dominantly on Sunday mornings. There are some mornings that getting to church is a small miracle…no, a HUGE miracle. Pearce wants to wear clothes that I don’t find appropriate. Erin is doing drama for one reason or another. The dogs get after each other. Out walks Pearce in his cowboy boots and hat, but neither his teeth nor his hair, for that matter, have seen a brush. Erin can’t find anything to eat for breakfast. My nerves are shot and frayed. One can’t find their Bible when it’s time to walk out the door. There are some Sunday mornings that I force us to go to church because my children NEED to be in church, and I NEED to repent for almost sending them to my sweet Jesus face to face. (You know I'm kidding) But can I get an amen or something from a sister out there? I can’t remember when we were all dressed and ready for church and in pleasant moods and haven’t had a free-for-all in the bathroom or kitchen on a Sunday morning.

And don’t you just love it when people use the excuse that the reason they don’t go to church is, “There’s too many hypocrites in the church.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You bet there are hypocrites in the church, as well as, adulterers, drunks, addicts, sinners, losers, and the list goes on. The church is supposed to be a hospital for the sick, and a hypocrite is sick, and if you are more distracted by the sick who are in the church, then you are just as sick as they are. Get your butt in church and focus on the real reason for being there…CHRIST. Worship him. Praise him. Repent, you judgmental person. Truth is Satan goes to church as well. I’ve been studying the temptation of Jesus, and it hit me this morning that the devil took Jesus to church and tempted him. SAY WHAT!? The devil took Jesus and had him stand on the highest point of the temple (Mt 4:5). Yep, the devil was at church with Jesus. James 4:7 says, “resist the devil and he will flee from you.” And after Jesus resisted three times, the devil left.

Don’t think for one minute that Satan can’t make it into the sanctuary of a church. The lost bring him in. The sinners bring him in. I pray our greeters are praying at the door binding Satan from coming into the house of God. I pray that our small group leaders are praying in Jesus name that God will bind the devil from entering. Churches don’t die without a cause. You’re not going to see Satan at work in a dead church because he already made his presence known. I pray that our deacons are praying at the doors of the sanctuary in the name of Jesus binding Satan from entering.

When I led women’s ministry, we had women pray over the chairs and at the doors before every event. They prayed at the podium and everywhere that people would be serving.

Just something about which to ponder.

I Wish Pearce Had a Fear of Heights

Fear of heights…I wish Pearce had a touch of that fear, just a little. Once when he was a toddler he was outside with his daddy. His daddy took a phone call and was distracted for just a moment, and when I came out at that time I couldn’t find Pearce until I looked up. There was a ten foot ladder leaning against our fence, and Pearce and his chubby little baby self was at the top of said ladder. Yes, I freak, but fortunately, nothing disastrous happened. Erin was not one to explore her environment, but Pearce obviously is and was. He has on occasion gotten on the roof without our permission, obviously. Being up high off of the ground is quite a precarious place to be, don’t you think? My philosophy is Scriptural really…”and LO I am with you always” (MT 28:20).


So we have been studying the time when Jesus was tempted. Last time we discovered that the Spirit had led Jesus into the desert, but it was the devil who led Jesus to places to tempt. Just a point for pondering, I really doubt the devil and Jesus walked to these different locations. Ever find yourself in a place in life and wonder, “How did I get to this point?”

The third temptation shows the devil leading Jesus to another location…the highest point on the temple in Jerusalem. The devil keeps chiseling away at, “IF you are the Son of God.” Did you notice that? It didn’t work the first time, but he just keeps trying in the hopes of wearing Jesus down. Jesus NEVER addressed the IF aspect of the temptation. What is the point in arguing with the devil? Has the devil kept whispering something into your ear, your mind or your heart in the hopes of wearing you down? You aren’t worthy. You are _________. You messed up because you ____________. You aren’t alone.

In this third temptation, the devil wants Jesus to prove that he is the Son of God by throwing himself down off this highest point, and the devil quotes a verse from Psalm 91. Did you catch that? The devil probably knows more Scripture than you do, my friend.

Did Jesus think or trying to reason out the request? NO. He went straight to Scripture. “Do not put the Lord your God to the test” (Deut 6:16). See what you need to know about Psalm 91 is that it’s poetry. The author is painting a picture of God, who He is and what He does. He isn’t speaking literally, but the devil twists it around to make it literal, didn’t he?

This is why it is so important that you know how to dig in the Word, how to study the Word for yourself. Don’t rely on what a teacher, preacher or book is telling you. Do the work yourself. Your relationship with God is personal. It’s personalized. What He speaks to an author, preacher or teacher may not be what he wants to speak into your life.

Another quote from my daddy’s “Nugget for the Noggin” on Facebook: “The Bible is not a newspaper to be skimmed but rather a mine to be quarried.” Get diggin’!

Blind Spots, Weaknesses and Wal-Mart

Has your kid ever sneaked something into your grocery cart, or are mine the only ones who try that stunt? My children know that I’m easily distracted, and one time I took Erin with me to purgatory (AKA Wal-Mart) for the big monthly shopping event. I was teaching her to comparison shop, how to buy quality items and buy the things that are needed to keep our home running. Apparently I wasn’t paying attention when she sneaked something into our buggy, and since she was the one unloading the buggy onto the belt to be scanned, I didn’t catch it then. Nope. I didn’t catch it until we were unloading the bags at home and came across it. What she didn’t expect was that I would make her pay for it. We all have blind spots and weaknesses and if our children know where they are, don’t you know that Satan does too?


So Jesus was led by the Spirit to the desert. The Spirit did not lead Jesus to sin. Jesus had a choice, and so do you. In my last blog I covered the first way the devil tempted Jesus. Today, I want you to read Luke 4:5, the first four or five words and contrast them to verse 1. My daddy says, “Sin will take your further than you intended to go, keep you longer than you planned to stay, and cost you far more than you ever wanted to pay.” The devil led Jesus to the temptation. Keep in mind Jesus is deity and was full of the Spirit when he was tempted by the devil. He was equipped to battle temptation. Are you equipped? Are you full of the Spirit? Is the Word hidden in your heart? Satan’s not going to tempt you to go to a bar if that’s not your thing, but if your thing is over-spending, guess where you are going to find yourself? E-bay, Amazon, Etsy, or an outlet mall. If it’s over-eating, guess where you will find yourself? The grocery store, watching the food network, diners, stashing secret food. (I hide my chocolate in the cleaning supplies. It’s the safest place in my house.) If your weakness is gossiping, guess where you will find yourself? In the middle of a hen party, in the middle of someone else’s drama. (CUT THAT OUT!) Do you get the picture? Satan will lead you to the place where you are the most vulnerable. Snap out of it. Wake up. Get out!

In Luke’s version of the temptation, the devil led Jesus to a high place and showed Jesus all of the kingdoms. We don’t know that the devil didn’t show Jesus all the kingdoms to come or if it was just the current ones he could see. The devil tells Jesus he can give these kingdoms to anyone, and he’ll give them to Jesus if he will just bow down and worship him. I believe that the devil knew that Jesus was there to save those who were lost. I believe that the devil knew that Jesus was willing to die for them, but how far was Jesus willing to go?

• First off, when has the devil ever been a being of his word? You know just as well as I do that the devil had no great design on giving Jesus those kingdoms. You know that right?

• Once again, Jesus didn’t think. He quoted Scripture. This is a situation that many would try to reason this temptation out, but there is no reasoning with sin. Sin is sin. Get your head out of the sand.

• I wonder what the ramifications would be if Jesus were to bow. Obviously he couldn’t because it goes against everything of who he is as Lord and Savior. But I just wonder…there’d be no victory over sin. No victory over death. No final victory in the end. How dark this world would be without the hope of victory.

For Jesus the bottom line was this, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only” (Deut 6:13). Are you teaching your children these things? Are you or have you learned these things?

When you are tempted, always remember there are strings attached. IF…THEN. There’s always a THEN.

“You never receive only what you sow as a seed of sin. You will receive from your sinful deed a negative consequence, with compounding interest.”

“Sin’s price is not cheap. God’s mercy is priceless.”

Will Power and ADHD

Will power. I don’t know that anyone in my family has will power when it comes to food, especially junk food. My kids ask for a snack, and I ask what they are wanting. They answer, “chips.”  “I don’t think so. Try some fruit or yogurt or pickles.” And if Patrick is up at night, he’s been known to sneak stuff that he doesn’t need. I personally have my own stash of chocolate. Let’s face it, we all need a bit of chocolate from time to time. My downfalls are chocolate, sweets, and bread. When I put on weight, it’s because those sugars have made a nice deposit in my pooch. Darn pooch. What is your weakness? When do you eat in excess? Sometimes I can just walk through the kitchen going to do laundry and get distracted…oh chocolate cake! Before I know it, I’ve eaten half a slab in the closet so my kids can’t see. Don’t act like you haven’t ever eaten in secret!

My girlfriends and I were studying Psalm 91, and there was a verse that I had heard somewhere else. Well, of course, I had to chase that rabbit because that’s what ADHD people do best…chase rabbits, squirrels, etc. Then my Bible study girlfriends and I studied Jesus being tempted by the devil. Don’t you just love how one Scripture is integrated into another and how they all are connected to make such a rich texture in the tapestry of our faith?! I do. I just love it.

This story is found in three of the gospels. In one book, I want to ask the author, “Seriously? This is the best you could do?” But even it has a purpose for being in the Bible.

So let’s do a little backdrop. John the Baptist has just baptized Jesus. Talk about a humbling yet ministry high for John! And then in Luke, he gives the lineage of Jesus. So Jesus has just been baptized, and the NIV says, Luke 4:1, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,”… “was led by the Spirit in the desert.”

• Have you ever experienced a spiritual mountaintop, and then be led into the desert?
• If you’ve read my prior blogs, this same thing happened to Philip. He was experiencing awesome things, when the Spirit led him into the desert. That is where he met the eunuch, and when the Spirit said go to the eunuch, Philip ran! After Philip baptized the eunuch, he simply vanished and turned up in another city. Check it out. It’s in your Bible.
• Another key point is that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit.
•  Jesus was God in the skin of man, and his Communicator with his Father was the Holy Spirit. If Jesus used the Spirit, don’t you think you need to as well?

Jesus was in the desert for forty days fasting. In Matthew’s version it says in 4:2 that after fasting 40 days, he was hungry. My thought is, “Who wouldn’t be?” I’ve fasted completely for 24 hours. I’ve done the Daniel’s fast for 21 days and not once have I tried for 40 days. The first time I did the Daniel’s fast I thought I was going to die from hunger.

So what is the devil’s first point of attack? He doesn’t play coy with this temptation. He goes straight to the point of any man who has been fasting for 40 days…his belly, his stomach.

In Luke 4:3, “The devil said to him, “IF you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

• First of all, this isn’t Jesus’s first rodeo with the devil. Jesus was present when God kicked the devil’s sorry behind out of heaven. Jesus knows that the devil knows that Jesus is God’s Son. That’s probably part of the rub for the devil, don’t ya think? Jesus has nothing to prove on this fact, but when you are hungry, and you smell those bread sticks from Olive Garden, doesn’t your mouth water? YES MA’AM!

Jesus quotes Scripture. Luke 4:4, “…Man does not live on bread alone (Deut 8:3)

• Here’s the thing about temptation. Jesus didn’t think about it. The first place his mind went was the Scripture. How well do you know the Word of God? Do you have it hidden in your heart? Do you have it memorized? When you are tempted, you shouldn’t think about it. You need to go to the Word!

I don’t know about you, but when I am first tempted, I start pondering it. Sometimes I try to justify the temptation. Sometimes I try to fit Scripture around it, so I don’t feel guilty about doing it. Anyone else play this little game? If you do, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Jesus was full of the Spirit when he was tempted. How often are we full of the Spirit when we are tempted? Maybe not so much. Maybe the Spirit has led us into the desert, but at the first sign of difficulty, we go to the fleshly side of us saying things, doing things we have no business doing. Been there, done that, hated it.

My daddy’s posts on Facebook what he calls, “Nugget for the Noggin.” And I want to leave you with one that he posted, “Sin’s consequences are not always immediate, but its results are always sure.” Think about it.

A Slave of Jesus Christ -- Paul Wasn't Worried about Being PC

My Mammaw adored her father. Her mother died when she was about 8 years old at the age of 51 from an aneurysm, and Mammaw was the youngest of the girls. There was one son younger than she, and he has his own story. Mammaw was spoiled. After her mother died, the older girls became mommas. One of her sister mommas drove a school bus that took her to school, and the other sister momma would take things to her or take her places as the need arose. Mammaw’s father was a quiet man much like my Pappaw (Mammaw’s husband). Her father and some of his siblings moved to Shreveport from Missouri. This is the Cook side of my family. My great grandfather’s family was abolitionists and participated in the Underground Railroad helping to free slaves from the South. One time I asked Mammaw about this information, and she said she thought they were crazy because they could’ve been killed. I guess it was a risk they felt was needed.


I know that slavery still exists. I’m not so naive as to think it doesn’t. Today the most dominant source of slavery is in the human trafficking aspect.

I finished reading Acts, and now I’ve become engrossed by Paul that I want to know more about his character in the Bible. Do you ever get like that when you read a book? Do you get so attached to the characters that when the book ends you’re grieve or are sad that they’re gone? I do. It’s probably silly, but it’s the reason I read, and the Bible is no exception. So, now I’ve moved onto Romans, and right off the bat someone new about Paul’s character is brought to light.

Paul calls himself a slave. The Greek word doulos is mistranslated in most Bibles as "servant" or "bond servant." A slave was owned, was bought for a price, received no wages, and could not quit. A servant could quit, got paid, and was a free person. Jesus Himself took the form of a slave (Php 2:7), and Paul reminded Christians that "you are not your own, for you were bought at a price" (1Co 6:19b-20). Holman Christian Standard Bible Study Notes

It may not be PC (politically correct) to think of yourself as a slave, but if we changed our thought process to reflect that concept that we are a slave of Jesus Christ, what would that look like? What would that sound like? The Bible refers to Jesus as Master from time to time, but fortunately we are blessed to have a gracious Master. I don’t know that I have any ancestors who were slaves. I know I have Native American and most likely some Jewish roots along with English. I don’t know if any of my ancestors owned slaves. I can’t account for what my ancestors did or did not do. In the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, the definition of a slave is, Person totally responsible to and dependent upon another person. Further down the paragraph it’s written, Legally, a slave had no rights.” Are you living as if you are totally dependent on Jesus Christ? Are you submitting what you think are your rights to an almighty God? Being a slave means being submissive.

The thing about having Jesus as a Master is that he sets the captives free. In Luke 4:18, Jesus quotes Isaiah 61:1-2, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Unlike Satan who roams seeking who can destroy, Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. He wants to replace the things that bind us, snare us, enslave us, keeps us in knots with something that is light. He wants to exchange our turmoil for rest. What kind of Master does that? He doesn’t treat us as his slave but as his child, and there are days that I just want him to take the burden off my heart and off my shoulders, so I never have to feel them again. 1 Peter says, “Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you.” That’s the kind of Master I serve.

This whole slavery thing is quite the enigma when we put ourselves in the place of the slave at the Master’s feet. He purchased us with his life. He bought us out of a life we could not escape, a sentence we could not have reduced, and a life without hope. Unlike slaves in our history’s past, we can choose whether or not we are going to take him for our Master or whether or not we will choose to be forever bound to another. Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

So when Paul says he is, a slave of Jesus Christ in Romans 1, what is he really saying? For me, Paul is saying that he is bound to Christ and all the freedom and gifts that come in that relationship along with the hardships that come but not at the hands of Jesus Christ. Paul knows he owes his life, his eternity, his hope to the One who paid his debt. And you know what? Paul wasn’t the only one who called himself a slave of Jesus Christ. James, Peter and Jude claimed that position. The position of submissiveness.

Beating My Head against a Brick Wall

Close your mouth. Clean your room. Stop fighting. Use your manners. Articulate. Put your dishes in the washer. Fold your clothes. Put them away. Brush your teeth. Yes, you have to take a bath. Flush the potty. Does anyone else find themselves sounding like a broken record with your kids? I keep thinking I’m going to get a digital recorder, record all of those phrases plus a handful more and hand it to my kids. I’d tell them, If I don’t respond to you, hit play until you hear what you know I’d say. It’s exhausting! And yet, every day I get up and I say: Close your mouth. Clean your room. Stop fighting. Use your manners. Articulate. Put your dishes in the washer. Fold your clothes. Put them away. Brush your teeth. Yes, you have to take a bath. Flush the potty. It’s like banging my head against a brick wall. Surely, one of these days, a light will click in one of my little darlins’ heads, and they will start doing these things. Surely.

I’ve been studying Acts, and I know that Paul had to have felt the same way from time to time. Bless his heart, the Bible says, As was his custom, Paul would go to the synagogue to talk to the Jews, to teach the Jews, and to debate the Jews. Now he’s in prison in Jerusalem having just told the Pharisees and Sadducees about his hope being in the One who was raised from the dead, and another riot has broken out. And this ain’t his first riot either! (Normally, I’d say this isn’t his first rodeo.) The commander has to remove Paul again for fear the mob would kill him.

Do you have someone in your life that you keep telling them the truth over and over and yet they refuse to believe? Has God relieved you from telling them the truth? Has God led you to stop talking to that person about the Truth? If He hasn't, then persevere. There will be times when God leads you to back off, and when he does, sister, you need to step off! Just sayin', "If it ain't yo' baby to rock, then don't rock it."

In Acts 23:11 while Paul was in prison that night the Lord stood near Paul and said, Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome. God told Paul his work wasn’t done. Paul knew he was going to live to see Rome, and that he was going to have another opportunity to have the floor to testify. There’s comfort in that, and that can be terrifying as well. There’s comfort because he knew that no matter what happened in the days to come, Paul knew his life would be spared. He may be tortured and imprisoned, but he would still be alive. That’s the terrifying part as well. Paul’s perspective through this whole thing was found in Philippians 1:21, For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. While he lived, he would live for Christ, but when he died, he would find gain.

So long as you have breath in your body, God has a purpose for your life. There is someone he wants you to influence. There is someone who is watching you. There is someone who needs to hear from you. Your life will impact another. It ain’t over until God says it’s over, and he told Paul, it’s not over.

Take whatever opportunity God presents you to tell others and to love on others. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t give up. Galatians 6:9, Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. I’m not giving up on God’s calling on my life to minister to women. You don’t give up on yours.