📖 RESIST THE TEMPTER

👉🏼 (Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3:1-8)

📜 ""... I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.""
1 Thessalonians 3:5 (NIV)

📋 The devil is the crafty tempter who seeks to ruin our faith in God, to undermine our commitment to obeying God and to destroy our testimony as God's chosen people. He doesn't care who you are; he tempts everyone. Even our Lord Jesus was not spared; Satan tempted him, seeking to make him fall. But Jesus defeated him with the word of God.

Knowing what Satan was capable of doing to people, especially when they were going through trials, the Apostle Paul was very much concerned about the faith of the Thessalonian believers during their time of suffering. His unease is captured in today's focus verse: ".. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain."

Paul feared that Satan might have unsettled these believers because of the trials they were experiencing. So when he heard that the believers were standing firm in the faith, he was greatly encouraged. Satan tempts us in clever ways during times of trouble.

Sometimes, he puts some negative ideas in our minds concerning God: Does God really love you? Does He truly care about you? Do you think God is faithful? If He is, why doesn't He deliver you? The sure way to overcome Satan's temptations is to resist him, using God's word.

Resist Satan when he tempts you!

🔑 Key Lesson: Believers need to resist Satan, the crafty tempter.

🛐 Meditation and Prayer: Lord, empower me to resist Satan's temptations always.

📚 Further Reading: Matthew 4:1-10.

◼️ The Bible in One Year: Ezekiel 18-20.