You made it to Day 3, drop a comment below to encourage someone who will be fasting in this season. Todays reading come from Matthew 4
Luke 4 (NIV)
Satan Tempts Jesus
1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:
‘He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you,’
11 and,
‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
Jesus Begins His Galilean Ministry
14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
23 He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’ ” 24 Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.
Jesus Casts Out an Unclean Spirit
31 Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. 32 And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority. 33 Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, 34 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. 36 Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” 37 And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
Peter’s Mother-in-Law Healed
38 Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her. 39 So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.
Many Healed After Sabbath Sunset
40 When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!”
And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.
Jesus Preaches in Galilee
42 Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; 43 but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.” 44 And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.
“Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.”
When we think about Temptation, we need to understand the enemy does not give up. He’ll wait in the shadows like a lion stalking its prey for the opportune time. Knowing of these opportune times will help you overcome these temptations.
You are more likely to succumb to the temptation of food if you’re hungry (The devil tempted Jesus with food after 40 days of fasting) or alcohol if you are at a party.
For me, the most opportune time to be tempted is early in the morning (when I’ve just woken up) or when I’ve argued with my wife. Those times my spiritual guard is down, and I have to be on heightened alert to overcome temptations that often lead to destructive behaviours.
I’m only scratching the surface of how crafty and destructive the devil can be, so we’ll save that topic for another devotion.
Let’s leave with this question. What is the opportune time for the enemy to tempt you?
Prayer
Use these prayer points as you pray today.
- To overcome what is hindering your relationship with God
- What is the opportune time for the enemy to tempt you and ask for God wisdom to strengthen yourself at this time.
- Pray for another person who is fasting (intercede on their behalf) for strength to keep going.
- Just let God know you love Him.
Amen!

I pray that God gives us all strength to endure the fast , those fast hasn’t been easy for me either but I really needed to spend this time with God.
The Lord is my rock right now as everything is so uncertain, the people I usually look to for strength and hope , are also struggling so it’s a good reminder that only the Lord and nothing else ,can fulfil all our desires .
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For the first time, I did my research about why and how we fast.
So far I have learnt that we fast for ourselves not for God. We clear our bodies and thoughts so that we can hear God’s voice.
This is why the devil uses all his tricks to tempt and distract us while we are on a fast.
I think about it this way, when someone is trying to score the opposing team does everything in their power to stop them.
Let’s keep our focus on God during this season no matter what obstacles we face. We may fall a couple of times and get back up again. God’s grace will sustain us until we reach our breakthrough.
Grace and peace to you all.
“…My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…”.
2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
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