Man cannot live by bread alone... Aug. 11, 2004 entry

"Man cannot live by bread alone..."

August 11, 2004

Hi Lord,

Ah, how sweet it is to have this time with You! Lord, it has been almost two weeks since writing in this journal. It is not as if we have been separated during this time for we have communed together but this is such a special time. I can only liken it to Billy and I having time together each day, talking and taking car of the daily needs, questions and situations that come up. That time is good and sweet but it is when we plan those special getaways where it is just him and I and our focus is only on each other - those special times that builds and enriches our joined lives. Lord, that is what this time here with You is like, coming to spend time just focused on You with no distractions. What a blessing! Thank You, Holy One, for this opportunity. Holy Spirit, please, always remind me how important it is to have these "dates" with my Beloved Jesus. Thank You.

Jesus, I was reading in Matthew 4 how You had been led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. You had just been baptized by John and had not yet started Your ministry. Interestingly enough, this time of testing was allowed by God, for it was His Spirit that led You into the wilderness. Jesus, prior to the tempter coming to You, for forty days and forty nights You fasted, like a prize fighter preparing for a fight, working his body to be strengthened so he can endure the attack and blows.

Dear Jesus, when the tempter came You said, "It is written, 'man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." Lord, I believe You fasted prior to this so that You could submit Your body to the Spirit of God and so that we, Your followers would know that Your strength to overcome the tempter did not come from your flesh for Your flesh was in a weakened state due to the fast. It was only through the strength of God, the Words of truth that proceed forth from His mouth that helped You to withstand the attack of the enemy.

Lord, I am finding through this fast that I am on that things of the spirit are affected when one's body is being denied its comforts such as food. Normally I have a lot of patience with little ones but in my less comfortable state of food deprivation I find my patience falling short. If it wasn't for the fact that I know Your Word says patience is the fruit of the Spirit (and I want to walk in the fullness of Your the Spirit and God's ways!), then I might have just given in to my flesh and the impatience it was feeling. I might have even felt justified to succumb to my flesh because of my weakened state but that would have glorified the enemy and not our heavenly Father! God forbid that I should please the enemy rather than Him!

I believe, Lord, that You were striving to bring this point to us by Your example here in Matthew, that in our weakened flesh state the enemy will try to come in and tempt us in a way that will appease the flesh but we are not to give in. We, as God's people, were not meant to be sustained in the flesh (living on bread) only but to live our lives on every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God - both the logos (written_ and rhema (revealed) word of God! While it might be bread that sustains our physical body, it is His Word that gives eternal life. One is temporary, the other everlasting. And without submitting the temporty life (the flesh) to the Spirit of God, one will never know the fullness of God.

Oh, sweet Jesus, this life in the flesh is only for a fleeting moment. I want to spend eternity with You, dwelling with You and not in the outer darkness! Holy Spirit, help me to submit my flesh, and will to You, living my life for and with Jesus and not for my own gratifications, in His name I pray. Amen.