Sunday 16th February, 2014.

From the General Overseer,

GOFAMINT,

 Pastor (Dr) E. O. Abina,

MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”    Matt 4:1-4.

We all know man is a tripartite being, made up of spirit, soul and body. The body serves as the vehicle that carries both the spirit and soul of man. The body is made strong and healthy by being fed with natural or physical foods. Man’s spirit is also made strong and healthy by being fed with spiritual diet- “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” If the body is starved, it becomes weak and unable to do whatever it is expected to do. The same principle applies to the Spirit. Our human nature tends to lean more on feeding the body and starving the spirit, this makes us far away from being in touch with God our creator and heavenly Father. After the Lord Jesus had fasted forty days and forty nights and then became hungry, the first thing the devil did was to tempt Him from the area of His bodily weakness- hunger. The devil challenged Jesus to prove His true identity as the Son of God by commanding “these stones to become bread.” Indeed it was a thing Jesus could do, but it would be against the will, and the word of God, His Father. Therefore Jesus would not abuse His power, He refused the devil’s offer and told him, ‘it is written.” Where the Lord Jesus referred to was Deut. 8:3, “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” Notice that Jesus knew the word so He was able to quote it and abide by it. Every child of God must acquaint himself with the word of God for one’s spiritual growth and maturity and also to silence the tempter: the devil who is always in the business of tempting Christians.

Naturally, one might agree that it was right for Jesus to do what the tempter asked Him to do because He was now hungry after a forty-day and a forty-night fast, and what was available were the stones which He could turn to bread. As children of God we should know what is right for us to do and what is wrong for us not to do- all boils down to how much of the word we know. (See Jn.7:17) I advise every child of God to behave like the patriarch Job, who said, “I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.” (Job 23:12). Before you take your breakfast in the morning, make it a habit of reading the word of God first and it shall be well with you. Amen.