Not Testing God

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bible Verses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matt 4:5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and set
Him on the wing of the temple, (6) And said to Him, If You are
the Son of God, cast Yourself down… (7) Jesus said to him,
Again, it is written, "You shall not test the Lord your God."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words of Ministry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
According to the human concept, any religion that does not
have miracles is powerless; the most powerful religion is a
religion of miracles. Therefore, Satan brought the new King to
the wing of the temple and tempted Him to leap down from it by
saying that the angels would protect Him. Do not think that
you have never had the thought of doing this kind of thing. In
my early days I often thought of doing things to show people
that I was a supernatural person and that I had supernatural
powers. Have you not had this kind of concept in your
Christian life?

Some may say, "Since I am one following the Lord and I am in
the Lord’s presence as my Emmanuel, I must do something to
show others that God is with me." I know of one dear brother
who had such a thought. Convinced that the Lord was with him,
he asked the Lord to give him two hundred thousand dollars
within a certain number of days. He said, "Lord, You must show
the people that You are one with me. You must show them that
whatever I ask in Your name, You give me. Lord, I am asking
You for two hundred thousand dollars. Within a certain number
of days, You must give it to me." This brother stopped eating
and sleeping and began to pray for this amount of money. What
kind of prayer was that? It was leaping from the wing of the
temple to make a show of himself. In principle we have all
done this many times. Every Christian has been tempted in this
way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible
and Words of Ministry, from Witness Lee, Life-study of
Matthew, 1986, pp. 141-143. Both are published by Living
Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. (Repeat 3/2/99)

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