Day one: The arsenal

I was so excited about this new adventure that I could barely get to sleep last night (at 1am) and woke up 2 minutes before my alarm began it's little jingle. But, that's just how I roll. I'm a strong starter and a weak finisher. You'll see, in about a weeks time I'll be struggling to catch up with posts. Here's to some character discipline!

I began reading in Matthew 1 this morning and quickly remembered that it begins with three 14 generation sets of names leading up to Christ's birth and then continues on in the narrative to give the facts on His birth, His family's escape from Herod, John the Baptist, and Jesus' baptism. There aren't a whole lot of commands in these first three chapters, mostly historical fact. So I kept on reading. In chapter 4, verses 1-11 Jesus is "led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." Wow. What a way to start your ministry. He is fresh off of what I would think is a pretty extreme high. The heavens open, the Spirit descends on Him in the form of a dove, and then receives the ultimate in Fatherly encouragement. Then the next part of the plan is complete hunger and thirst in the WILDERNESS with the knowledge that the devil is on his way to thwart your plans.

After reading and praying over this section I realized it's the perfect passage to start this thing off. There are no direct, Jesus- speaking-to-His-disciples-commands in these verses, but the concept is consistent. Know your Word. When Satan throws the temptation at Jesus to prove He's the Son of God by turning stones to bread, Jesus answers with "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Boom. Then the Liar uses scripture out of context to move God's hand to rescue Him from a leap off of the temple. Jesus says "You shall not tempt the LORD your God." In his last effort, the enemy tempts Him with false glory if He will just bow down and worship him. His reply, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"

Jesus has his arsenal stocked. His weapons were loaded and He was not deceived. That's the command I took away from today. Know my Word by heart. Commit it to memory. Love the Lord my God with my whole mind! I stink at consistently memorizing scripture, but that's not an excuse, it's just plain laziness. In my little notecard binder, I wrote down the three verses from Deuteronomy that Jesus quoted be to Satan. I figured that was a good place to start. I plan to build my arsenal of weapons as I continue this challenge. :)