(The following is the January 4 devotional from my Next Step Devotions book. Before reading it, I suggest you read Matthew 4 and pay close attention to verses 1-11.)
Lessons from Jesus’ wilderness temptation can help us during our temptations. One lesson his experience teaches is that facing temptation is not necessarily sinful. If it were, then Jesus sinned. But Jesus never sinned, including during his battle with Satan. How we respond to temptation is what matters.
A second takeaway from Jesus’ experience is that he knew and used Scripture to battle temptation. God’s Word was his perfect primary defense against the Devil’s schemes. It should be ours as well. We can’t quote Scripture, though, if we don’t have it in our hearts, and it won’t be in our hearts without memorizing it. God won’t bring to mind relevant Scripture during temptation if we don’t first commit it to memory. Why should he if we haven’t done our part to prepare for spiritual battles beforehand? Of course, quoting verses without understanding or using them correctly is no virtue. Satan quoted Scripture and wrongly used it several times when tempting Jesus.
Memorizing God’s Word can’t be done once and then forgotten. It takes repetition to keep verses retrievable in memory. That takes effort – if only minutes a day. Whether we use a written card method, website, phone app, buddy system, or other process is up to each person. I have used the phone app Remember Me for years, putting verses in it that I want to always have in my heart. I review them every two weeks. I will stop when Jesus calls me home or when he comes again, whichever comes first. Until then, I’ll keep reviewing them.
One last thing about temptation: Jesus eventually said aloud, “Go away, Satan!” (v. 10). That is excellent advice. Say it aloud firmly during temptation and maybe also tell Satan, “I belong to Jesus.”
Next Step:
Evaluate your current Bible memory approach. If you don’t have a memory plan, choose one verse to memorize. Write it down and spend five minutes daily for a week reciting the verse and the reference perfectly. Review it weekly for a month and at least monthly after that.
