Bongos Okoh
Aug 8, 2017 · 3 min read

THEME : ATTRACTING THE HELP OF GOD SERIES (5)

TOPIC: LOYALTY

TEXT : Matthew 4:1-11

Memory verse :Matthew 4:10-11
[10]Then Jesus said to him, Begone, Satan! For it has been written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.
[11]Then the devil departed from Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

What does loyalty mean?
Loyalty is devotion and faithfulness to a cause, country, group, or person.

When you are faced with challenges and difficulties in life and you desperately need the help of God, the devil will always sneak in with tempting offers and shortcuts that are bound to last for only a moment but put you in an even more difficult situation in the long term.

The devil will only offer you a quick fix that will lead to a greater damage! LOYALTY to God in the midst of your struggles, moves GOD to fix you permanently!

There are various stories in the Bible that shows how loyalty to God in the midst of trials and temptations move God to come to the rescue of those loyal to him. Few examples are Joseph, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Jesus.

Today we will be using Jesus as an example to show how LOYALTY to God moves God to help us!

In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. Jesus, while in the wilderness fasted for forty days and forty nights, naturally he became hungry.
The moment Jesus became hungry, the devil saw an opportunity to tempt him.
The devil must have thought that since Jesus was hungry and in need of food he could easily get him to do what he wanted in order to get something to eat.
You see the truth is once the devil see a need in your life, he will always pop up with ideas and quick fixes that will end up having greater consequences.

Jesus was sold out to God and he would for no reason let the devil take hold of him. His was so loyal to God that he knew exactly what God has said concerning every temptation the devil threw at him!
Three times the devil tempted him but Jesus stood his ground!! He never compromised because he was loyal!

Jesus knew that the devil is a liar! Whatever he offers you is never free, you will pay back with something greater.
Jesus chose to hold on to the loving Father, God whose joy is to see you do well, whose nature is to give to you for free, whose words are true and are life!

If you are loyal to God, you must study the word of God, you must hear from God, you must understand what God wants because the storms of life will come, those times will reveal your loyalty, how much you are grounded in the word of God will determine if you stand or not.

In Matthew 4:10-11
Then Jesus said to him, Begone, Satan! For it has been written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.

This is absolute LOYALTY! Jesus stood his ground!
The preceeding verse said this,
[VS 11]Then the devil departed from Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

After he rebuked the devil, angels came to minister to him!

What does minister mean in this verse?
transitive) To attend to (the needs of); to tend; to take care (of); to give aid; to give service.

It simply means after Jesus stood his ground and showed God his Loyalty, God sent angels to come and HELP Jesus at the point of his needs!

God is always watching you! When you feel you are down and out, still hold on to God, doggedly make up your mind to remain loyal to God. He will surely meet you at the point of your needs!!

LOYALTY TO GOD PAYS BIG TIME!

Prayer:
In the name of Jesus, Father thank you for the revelation of your word today, I am making up my mind to remain loyal to you even though I am in the midst of this situation(name them) now, I know you will come to my rescue! Thank you Father for coming to help me!

-Bongos Okoh

Bongos Okoh

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Illuminated to Illuminate.