Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:1-4)

We’ve all been in situations where we were faced with temptation. We might even struggle day to day with the same temptations and wonder if it is possible to overcome them and find freedom. We all feel these temptations because we are human. There is a constant struggle between our flesh and spirit making it difficult for us to do what is right.

What I often forget is that Jesus was also fully human at the same time that He was fully God. Yet Jesus struggled with temptation even though He was perfect. If He struggled, it’s no surprise that we do too. However, even though He experienced the same kinds of temptations that we do, he was able to overcome them. That means that it is possible to overcome temptation if we do what Jesus did.

Jesus used spiritual weapons to fight this spiritual battle. He used Scripture to combat the voice of the evil one. It’s not surprising that Satan strategically tried to get Jesus to go off course right at the beginning of his public ministry.  

Satan looked for the areas where Jesus would be weakest to try to tempt him.  Matthew shares how Jesus fasted forty days and nights and was hungry. That’s why Satan tempted him with bread. I’m sure Jesus felt tempted to eat when he was so hungry, but instead, He quoted Scripture. 

Memorizing Scripture and quoting it when you are tempted is a powerful weapon against the tempter. Jesus was tempted by Satan three times and each time He quoted Scripture. What was the result? Matthew says that “then the devil left him…”  We can do this too if we make it a practice of reading, memorizing, and quoting God’s Word when we are faced with temptation.

When temptation comes, you can fight the lies with the truth. Think about a few lies that Satan commonly feeds you, and then find Scripture verses to combat each of them. Meditate on them, memorize them, hang them on your walls, or even take a screenshot of those Scriptures to keep as a background on your phone. Then with God’s help, you will experience victory as well.