MATTHEW 4:3-4 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.
Jesus did not withstand the devil's temptation with any superhuman abilities. To the devil, Jesus only cited Word of God in writing.
You need to follow suit. Jesus served as our role model and demonstrated how to withstand the assault of the enemy.
Note how the devil approached Jesus with a notion that was in opposition to God's written Word in order to entice him.
Then, after Jesus had quoted from Scripture, the devil did likewise but with a distorted interpretation. Only another verse from the Bible was Jesus' response.
MATTHEW 4:6-7 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.
You can see that Jesus' only weapon against the devil was a quotation from the written Word in Matthew 4:1-11, but not anything else.
Your spiritual weapon is the Word of God spoken in your mouth. If you fail to put it to use, you will be crushed rather than walking in the victory and blessing that Jesus has given you.
EPHESIANS 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Naturally, in order to quote the Bible to the devil, you must be familiar with its contents. It is clear from this that reading and studying the Bible on your own is crucial.
However, simply reading or studying the Bible is insufficient. We ought to speak the Word to the devil who is creating thoughts to come to us that are opposite to the Bible.
SAY THIS: With God's Word in written, I shall withstand the devil.
