Does this mean we should knowingly walk into temptation? Maybe instead it means we should not be afraid of associating with evil, as long as our own beliefs and morals hold up in the end. Its coming out of these temptations in one piece that make faith stronger i suppose.

Also good to see Jesus quoting Old Testament stuff (although there was obviously no New Testament to quote at the time!). Too often i fall into the trap of disregarding the OT as out-of-date material in comparison to the NT, but if it was good enough for Jesus then i should probably pay a few more visits to the earlier pages in the Bible.

1. Was the 40 days a time of “detoxing” and preparation for the ultimate test? Kind of like Peter Ebdon’s month of practice away from family for the UK Snooker championship – obviously paid off, as he won.
2. Did Jesus know why he was led into the desert? Did he know he was preparing himself, or was not knowing (and having to dig deep) part of the preparation?

I’ve come to the tentative conclusion that Jesus was being “stripped down” to show what was in his heart. A cross reference in my Bible revealed that Jesus’ first answer to Satan was from Deuteronomy 8:3, which is one of my favourite passages – how God uses desert times to test our hearts to reveal what is REALLY in us, when there are no props, comforts etc around to lean on. In the desert, Jesus was so weak he could only act on what he really believed – he was too weak to pretend, or keep up a front.

And it really hit home because I think God’s been doing this to me recently – letting me go “hungry” in a number of ways to reveal what’s inside, as a step on the journey of wholeness and a deeper walk with him.

I love nothing more than to be in the mountains…..I come alive, I can feel God…….but there are times where I have really wished I’d not been on mountain’s(!!!)…people die on mountains….. They can be places of blessing and life-threateningly scary places too….and sometimes at the same time.
It is interesting too, Julie, that blessing is often followed by temptation and scarey places…..I think it’s again that it is because blessing is there not only for us to be blessed but to equip us to get out in the scary places of the world.

We need blessing…too right…. but its not just about lovely warm feeling (although that is realy important) in a lovely warm building (although that is realy important), it’s about action and reality. Tough places toughen us up, blessing is there as God showing us he’s not going anywhere and he’ll see us through……not that he’ll fight the battles for us…..but that he’s given us all we need to do to fight.

Over this weekend I have stood on a spiritual mountain….it’s incrediblly exciting and a place of amazing and unbelievable blessing but at the same time, If I’m really honest….I’m scared s***less too. And do you know what I really believe God would have it no other way.

It’s absolutely true that living it out is the priority over knowing/quoting the bible. And also true that Jesus didn’t quote chapter or verse – they didn’t exist then.

But he definitely did know the scriptures inside out. That’s why he could reach for the right scroll when he taught in a synagogue. And he would have memorised vast amounts because that was the Jewish form of education (I don’t think he got it downloaded into his brain because, he had to learn it). In fact decent Rabbis and their best students would have memorised most of our old testament (wow!).

So don’t feel inadequate Pam, unless we all feel inadequate with you.

And the cool thing is that it’s not about memorising key verses that back up your personal favourite idea. It’s about allowing the whole story (and we’ll get to some pretty wierd/scary/annoying bits) to become a part of us so that we then become a part of it.

I love the image of the Spirit leading Jesus into the wild. I want that. To be led by God into the wild. Although at the same time I’m not too keen on facing my weaknesses and temptations being confronted by dark powers. Maybe if I knew that’s what I was about to face I’d be more likely to grab hold of the spiritual disciplines of preparation – I don’t mean a 40 day fast, but like a bit more praying or missing one meal! But in tame, domesticated christianity those things lose their appeal.

btw Jen people who continually quote bible verses at you are, as it says in Hezekiah 2:9, “irritating and tiresome”

This reminds me that some of our greatest tests or trials are going to come after times of great victory and blessing.