“But he [Jesus] answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4

“Man shall not live by bread alone.” You may have heard that phrase once in your life and wondered where it came from. Well, it was Jesus quoting a passage from the Old Testament of the Bible in response to a pretty serious temptation.

The Bible tells us that before Jesus’ ministry began he went into the wilderness to pray and fast for forty days. After 40 days had passed the Bible says that “the tempter” (i.e. Satan) came to, well, tempt Jesus. And right off the bat Satan hit Jesus with his most pressing need - physical nourishment.

He goaded Jesus by saying,

“If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” (Matt. 4:3)

Innocent enough, right?

Fulfill your craving.

Satisfy your need.

Just do this one little act to stave off the grumbling in your stomach.

Now, in the grand scheme of things there is nothing wrong with you or me feeding ourselves when we get hungry. It’s the design of how our bodies are made. And we know from other Bible passages that Jesus did in fact eat. He was not immune to desiring a good meal.

So why such a big deal here?

Quite simply it would have been a selfish act and outside the will of his Father.

It was not the will of his Father for Jesus to...

Some encouraging emails we received in June from our listeners around the world:

Location: South Africa
Comments: Your weekly email is one e-mail that I send to everyone in the office, Christian and non-Christian because they are so thought provoking. Here in South Africa, we need this type of food for thought otherwise we just get wrapped up in all the wrongs that are done and people tend to harp on that instead of trying to make a difference.

Location: Unknown
Comments: Thank you for sending me this story. I felt blessed when I read this. Please continue sending stories like this one. Be a blessing to everyone, as Lord Jesus Christ. I pray for you guys working to reach out more in Christ. I pray for more blessing be upon you and your families. Also wisdom and anointing be upon to you and to your stories. In Jesus Mighty name.

AllWorship.com is a not-for-profit Christian radio station exclusively on the Internet that provides commercial-free worship music in four formats: contemporary worship, praise & worship, Spanish worship, and instrumental worship. Christians in faraway countries, particularly missionaries, who don’t have access to a terrestrial station, can now listen free to Christian worship music and it doesn’t cost them a dime–our ministry picks up the tab for all programming, streaming and music fees. The ministry is completely funded by listeners through donations and has been broadcasting to all corners of the earth since 2004.