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Good morning! Here we see one of the unique benefits that can come from enduring temptation; that is to say the benefit of God's empowerment to do great things. In Luke 4:1, 2a we learn how Jesus prepared Himself for His temptation and how God responded to His advance preparation. "And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil."

In the Bible we are given only two instances where the devil actually showed up and personally tempted someone. Those two instances involved the first Adam and of course, in the verses above, the second Adam as well. Each temptation represented a very carefully laid out plan by Satan. His delegated demonic destroyers use the same plan for you and me. It is called the "world's system of management".

This worldly system of management is the old Bible word "oppression", which is just an Old English word for the modern English words "outside pressure". The outside pressure used by the enemy is referred to in 1 John as the "things of this world". It consists of the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Each temptation has an unhealthy dose of one of these "things" that belong to the world.

The tree good for food and the stone being turned into bread were both lusts of the flesh. Noticing that it was pleasant to the eyes and showing Jesus from atop a high mountain the whole world being made available to Him were lusts of the eyes. Finally, the temptation to be made wise by the tree and the temptation from the temple pinnacle to be worshipped by the whole world was a temptation for the pride of life.

Yes, to this day all temptations fall into three categories that tries to stimulate one third of our souls. The lust of the flesh and its consuming desire to "do" will seek to gain control of your mind and thought processes thus controlling one third of your soul. It will spread to your will and emotions soon thereafter and you will reject your Spirit and satisfy your fleshly appetites. The lust of the eyes and its compelling urge to "have" will seek to gain control of your will and your wish processes thus controlling a second third of your soul. It will thus spread, as well. Finally the pride of life and its controlling urge to "be" will seek to gain control of your emotions and your feeling processes thus controlling that most valuable third part of your soul. The devil will use one "thing of the world" to eventually permeate all three parts of the soul (the mind, will and emotions) or he will give us an all out attack on all three parts at once. This is the devil's system of management: harassing and at times unbearable oppression, which is to say outside pressure. And we don't have time to get up in the morning to meet with the Lord?! C'mon, folks! We need to get real with ourselves.

In these two temptations found at the beginning of the Old and New Testaments we see one tempter and one system of temptation; but we see two different tempted people and most importantly two different results. With the first Adam, the temptation succeeded. With the second-it didn't! It failed. Why? Because one was prepared in advance and the other was not.

Jesus was filled with the Holy Ghost and thus was willing to not only be tempted and to succeed in that temptation, but he was willing to be "led of the Spirit" into the wilderness to be tempted! I don't know about you, but it would have to be a very strong leading on His part to get me to take those steps into such temptation. But Jesus, being full of Him, was sure to follow Him. So would you and I as well. When we are full, we will surely follow.

So how did Jesus obtain such a filling of the Holy Spirit and is such a filling available to us all as we face these "things of the world" in our daily lives? Well I believe it is.

If we look at the primary difference between the failed first Adam and the successful second Adam we see the way in which they prepared themselves for their temptations were quite different.

We see that Jesus quoted God's Word, but Adam and Eve could not remember God's Word. One knew exactly what God said and was able to quote it to thwart the devil. The first Adam who was with his confused wife during her temptation knew approximately what God had said and was thus vulnerable to satans deception.

Jesus was prepared with the weapon of God's Word and could fight the enemy tooth and nail; Adam and Eve were too focused on the "meditation of the temptation" to consider any part of portion of what God had said as a practical precaution to their predicament. This advance preparation was necessary for Jesus who went in full but was afterward "a hungered"! It will be equally necessary for you and me if we are going to see similar success.

In order to receive a complete filling of the Holy Spirit we must prepare ourselves to speak the words of God to any whose temptations may befall us. John 3:34 explains this truth concerning obtaining an immeasurable amount of Him. This verse contains a most amazing truth that we should not soon forget concerning our Lord Jesus: "For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him."

When God sends us, by His Spirit, into a temptation of examination, His intention is that we go there speaking the words of God. If we will and do, then He will grant us an immeasurable amount of His Spirit. This is simply the advance preparation of daily meditation. I am constantly amazed at how many RU students and leaders across America will journal with consistency and then fail to take the time to fill out or quote regularly throughout the day a simple meditation card.

When will we finally learn to live like Jesus rather than like Adam? It is the preparation and quotation of daily meditations that will give us His power over temptation!

The end result that comes from the momentum of advance preparation of your meditations is always worth the effort. Let's look at the end of the story: "And Jesus (after His successful battle with temptation) returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about."

His fame and your good fortune is available to all who will simply follow the life and leadership lessons of our Lord. Temptation is the devils tool, Meditation is the Lord's alternative weapon-it always wins! If you think you can continue to fight without His weapon, then look at your track record and ask yourself this question: Has my previous temptations brought me His power and been followed with His fame being spread abroad? If not, then maybe we are running on empty at times when we need to take some extra time to "fill it up and keep 'er full"!

A QUESTION FOR TODAY'S MEDITATION: "Am I looking at my fleshly battles as fleshly temptations or God ordained examinations?" What others mean for evil, God means for good. God does not tempt, but God allows temptation. He has a way of escape, but wants to expose our weaknessess to us before we make our way out. The devil wants us to miss our way of escape so that he can expoit our weaknessess. Which would you rather have? Your weaknessess exposed to you by God or exploited over you by satan?