Resisting Temptation Repeatedly - Luke 4:1-13

Jesus was tempted by the devil during and after He had been in the wilderness for forty days fasting and prior to His public ministry. The devil probably reasoned that an opportune time to tempt the Son of God was when He was in a weakened physical state (Jesus had eaten nothing for forty days--vs. 2.) While much has been taught and preached and written about the meaning of each of the temptations, suffice it to say that Jesus was really tempted by the devil at least three times (maybe more during the 40 days) and that the temptations were really enticing to Jesus. After Jesus had resisted each of the temptations described in this story, Luke notes that the devil "departed from him until an opportune time." We learned in a previous post that the way to overcome temptation is simply to resist the devil and that's exactly what Jesus did here. However, one-time resistance is not the end of the temptation story. Although you may win the battle over a certain temptation, that doesn't mean you have won the war. The devil may depart from you today but he will be back tomorrow looking for an opportunity to tempt you again. James said to submit yourself to God and resist the devil and the devil will flee from you (James 4:7). We might add, "and do it repeatedly!"