The Third Temptation of Jesus

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Third Temptation of Jesus

In the third temptation, Satan took Jesus to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

'I will give you all these' he said, 'if you fall at my feet and worship me.' Jesus replied, 'Be gone, Satan! For scripture says: You must worship the Lord your God and serve him alone.

In a sense Satan says, “Oh, you can have your kingdom in this world if you will just forget about the Kingdom of God.

The strategy of the devil is to tempt us to put too much time, energy and attention on the passing things of this world, and too little on the thing that lasts forever, the development of our soul.

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What is the most important thing we need for the development of our soul?

Prayer!

Let’s make this clear. The Kingdom of God is Jesus. If we want the Kingdom of God, then we want an intimate friendship with Him. Prayer is friendship with Jesus. And what does friendship take? Time, talking, listening and just being together. That is daily meditation. Whether with the Rosary or not, meditation is to set aside time to be in conversation with Jesus, talk to him from the heart, listen to him by reading or listening to the Word of God and just spending time with him.

If you want the Kingdom of God, then you want Jesus, then you will spend time with Jesus in prayer. Its that simple. 

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For our soul to develop we must always conclude our meditation with a resolution.

Why? Because our soul grows in excellence by growing in virtue. We grow in virtue when we practice good actions until they are a habit. Therefore, our meditation should cause us to think about the good actions we need to practice. Then we make the choice to practice that thought or action today. 

If you conclude each day’s meditation by choosing some simple concrete good thought or action to practice, you will grow in the excellence of your soul and the kingdom of God.

However, without a resolution, our soul will never develop. You can watch all the You-Tube videos you want on exercise, but if you never exercise, you are still overweight and out of shape.

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There are great benefits of Daily Meditation.

God is the source of every good thing we need to be happy. Prayer opens the soul to receive, and God pours in. If you pray, you receive God and you will be happy.

Prayer enables us to know the will of God for our lives. If we do the will of God, then our life will be the best and we will be at peace. So, prayer results in peace.

Time in daily meditation keeps our life focused on Jesus and strengthens us against the temptations and distractions that take us away from Him.

If we commit to daily meditation we will progress toward God and heaven. If we fall away from daily meditation, we will get off track.

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Satan will not offer you all the kingdoms of the world, just the one you want the most.

·       The kingdom of accomplishments

·       The kingdom of pleasure

·       The Kingdom of your children

·       The kingdom of your health

Here is the question: The pursuit of which kingdom prevents you from spending more time in friendship with Jesus in prayer?

I know you want the Kingdom of God. What would you need to change in your life to allow you to set a timer and spend 30 minutes God with no external distraction each day? This Rosary gives you 20. So you’re off to a good start.