How can I apply God’s words when facing challenges?
This is an excellent question for it is the proper use of God’s Word in dealing with challenges that is powerfully effective. Of course, to USE God’s Word, we must KNOW God’s Word. So, the first thing we must do is to spend time in study of the Word each day. I would also encourage you to begin a habit of memorizing God’s Word. In our Sunday School class, we are challenged to memorize at least one Bible verse each week. That is not hard to do at all, and after the first year, you know 52 different verses that the Lord may bring to mind to help you apply it to meet your circumstances.
For the perfect example of properly applying God’s Word in our challenges, let’s consider the example of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, IT IS WRITTEN, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, IT IS WRITTEN again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for IT IS WRITTEN, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”
The first thing we notice is that the Lord Jesus was LED by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. He was there for 40 days and nights. So, we see it was the will of God that the Lord Jesus should go to the wilderness, without food or water and be tempted. Although in this portion, we are told of three temptations, we read in Luke 4:2, “Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.” The Lord was actually tempted the entire time He was in the wilderness.
In each of the three temptations of Satan that we have here, the Lord answered by saying, “IT IS WRITTEN.” In each temptation, He properly used the Word of God to spoil Satan’s plan. Each temptation was intended to get the Lord to act without the express leading of His Father. He wanted the Lord to act in independence of the Father, which would have been sin. I encourage you to study these temptations and learn how subtle Satan was, and how the Word of God was used to overcome these temptations. While the Lord certainly had power to cast Satan away from Himself, He did not do that. Rather, He answered Him by using the Word of God, and we can do the same thing! When we spend time in God’s Word, in dependence on the Spirit teaching us, we learn how to properly apply the Word to ALL our circumstances.
To learn to apply the Word in our circumstances, we must READ, STUDY, LEARN, and MEMORIZE the Word. We must have a willing mind (2 Corinthians 8:12) and a ready mind (2 Corinthians 8:19) to learn and do God’s will according to His Word. I do not want to end this meditation without mentioning how that the temptations of Christ were not given to see if Christ would sin, they were given to show us that Christ could not sin. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we have not a high priest not able to sympathise with our infirmities, but tempted in all things in like manner, sin apart.” (JND) (230.2)