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Jesus can help you!
Do you know why Jesus really came to Earth?
From heaven, God and His Son saw mankind’s need. Their hearts burned with a love for people that is greater than any human could begin to imagine. God sent his own son, Jesus, to save us for eternity and make it possible for us to live a life free from sin!
They saw how people suffered because of the effects of the fall – how they had become rebellious against God’s good laws of life. This rebellion comes from the lusts and desires within us. The Bible calls it “sin in the flesh,” and nobody is strong enough to control it.
Compelled by compassion, the Son of God came to earth to help us. Jesus was born as the Son of Man.
Jesus – a man like you and me
The Bible explains clearly that while on earth, Jesus truly was a man just like you and me. He had emotions and his own personality; but even more importantly, He experienced first-hand the base, dark forces that are found in man because of the fall.
It is written in the Bible that He was tempted, or tried in all points just like we are. (Hebrews 4:15) This does not mean that He had exactly the same outward circumstances, but that in his circumstances He experienced the same feelings and thoughts within that we experience – feelings and thoughts that are contrary to God’s laws.
These thoughts and feelings knocked on the door of His heart even though He was wholeheartedly living for God and doing God’s will. The Bible calls this temptation. He had to take up a battle to avoid sinning in temptation, even though He was the Son of God.
Therefore, it is written that Jesus in the days of His flesh offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death. (Hebrews 5:7). Praise God that happened. In the Bible, it is written not only that He was tempted, but also that He did not sin. If He had sinned, He would have died just like other people and not been made alive again. But God was with Him when He was tempted, and answered His prayers so that He never sinned. Therefore, death had no power over Him.
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He knows your battles
And therefore He can help us! You know the things that knock on the door of your heart. You know what wants to control you. There may be many different things that previously had power over you; things that you have had to ask forgiveness for, and put right with God and people. They come up in your thoughts again, even though you absolutely do not want any of it any longer. And Jesus can empathize with you.
Think about Him; how He Himself has battled against this. During the approximately 30 years while He was a man, He used His days to overcome the sin that dwelt in Him, and which could tempt Him.
He is following along with you
Now He is in heaven and is following along with you. He is there with the Father praying for you that it will succeed for you, just as it succeeded for Him. Knowing this, you can boldly pray for the same power that helped Jesus when He was a human being like you and me. You can receive power from heaven when you need help to not give in when you are being tempted. Then you will be able to say, “No!” in temptations. That is a completely new life, where sin no longer has any power.
(Read Hebrews 4:15-16 and Hebrews 5:7-8.)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, unless otherwise specified. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.