Find Hope: Matthew 1-4Sample

Temptation or Test or Trial

In Greek the root for word temptation, test, and trial is “πειρασμός." Just like the English word proud can be used in a negative and positive way so this Greek word can refer to a positive test or a negative temptation.

But this means that every trial is either a test or temptation. It’s a test that God can use to strengthen your faith and form you into the likeness of Jesus, or it’s a temptation that Satan uses to lure you towards sin and deform your soul.

This is why James encourages us in his epistle “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.” James 1:2.

And in Jesus’s baptism Jesus gives us a model on how to endure trials, tests, and temptations. Whenever Satan tempted him, Jesus recited the word of God. God’s word was the sword he used to fight Satan.

Today, ponder this: What simple Scriptures can you memorize to help you fight Satan? What simple Scripture can you memorize to help you rejoice rather than complain in trials?