{"id":1398,"date":"2020-01-03T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=1398"},"modified":"2019-12-13T08:53:27","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T13:53:27","slug":"daily-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/01\/03\/daily-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"DON&#8217;T FORGET WHO YOU NEED TO ASK FIRST"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>\u201cJesus answered him, \u201cIt is also written: \u2018Do not put the Lord your God to the test.\u2019 <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+4%3A7&amp;version=NIV\"><em>Matthew 4:7 NIV<\/em><\/a><br><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This verse, found in Matthew comes from when Jesus is being tested by Satan after 40 days in the desert with no food or water.&nbsp; To set the scene, Jesus has just been baptized by John in the Jordan river.  Heaven has opened up and Jesus has been filled with the Holy Spirit.&nbsp; God proclaims, &nbsp;\u201cThis is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+3%3A17&amp;version=NIV\">Matthew 3:17 NIV<\/a>).&nbsp; The very next verse, we find Jesus being led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.&nbsp; But the tempting doesn\u2019t start until after 40 days of fasting and prayer for Jesus (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+4%3A2-3&amp;version=NIV\">Matthew 4:2-3 NIV<\/a>).&nbsp; This is how Jesus started His three year ministry, by fasting and praying in isolation, seeking the will of God.&nbsp; His first assignment, endure Satan\u2019s taunts.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How often do you start anything out like Jesus?&nbsp; How often do you take time to get alone with God and pray?&nbsp; Have you ever considered fasting and praying?   When you are enduring the taunts of Satan, have you ever thought it is a way to glorify God?<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>We want Jesus\u2019s blessing for what we are doing, but we don\u2019t want to ask Him first if we should even be doing it.<\/em><\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I remember when I bought my first car after I had some success in my career.&nbsp; It was a lazy Saturday, I was spending it with a friend.  We decided to go looking at cars.&nbsp; I found a fully loaded, custom Mazda Tribute that someone had ordered and then refused once it arrived.&nbsp; I loved it immediately, and with no money down decided to buy it.  I was driving 50,000 plus miles a year for my job, I thought I deserved the car.&nbsp; It was while the salesman was running my credit I thought about God.  I went to the bathroom, got on my knees and asked God\u2019s permission to buy the car.&nbsp; I didn\u2019t ask Him IF I should buy the car, I asked Him for His permission.  I told Him if He didn\u2019t want me to buy the car, don\u2019t let the transaction happen.&nbsp; The transaction did happen, I drove home with the car and a $611 car loan for the next five years.  Because of all the miles I drove for work, the car was quickly worth less than the amount I owed on it.&nbsp; God used this car to teach me a valuable lesson.  Seek Him first.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I didn\u2019t seek God first in that purchase.&nbsp; I just told God what I was doing and asked Him to bless it.&nbsp; If I had truly prayed and sought Him, I wouldn\u2019t have bought the car.&nbsp; I would have known I couldn\u2019t afford it and I didn\u2019t need it.  The car did become a financial burden, but through it God taught me a valuable lesson.&nbsp; &nbsp; Through it, God taught me to seek Him first.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Question of the Day:&nbsp; <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Where are you placing God in your decision making process?<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>For Further Reading:&nbsp; <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/biblia.com\/bible\/esv\/Genesis%205.1-7.24\">Genesis 5:1-7:24 NIV<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+3%3A7-4%3A11&amp;version=NIV\">Matthew 3:7-4:11 NIV<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/biblia.com\/bible\/niv\/Psalm%203.1-8\">Psalm 3:1-8 NIV<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Proverbs+1%3A10-19&amp;version=NIV\">Proverbs 1:10-19 NIV<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cJesus answered him, \u201cIt is also written: \u2018Do not put the Lord your God to the test.\u2019 Matthew 4:7 NIV This verse, found in Matthew comes from when Jesus is being tested by Satan after 40 days in the desert with no food or water.&nbsp; To set the scene, Jesus has just been baptized by&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/01\/03\/daily-reflection\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">DON&#8217;T FORGET WHO YOU NEED TO ASK FIRST<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1398"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1638,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398\/revisions\/1638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}