...Jesus

What do you think it means when it says '...in all things tempted like as we are...'? - A-L-L.

Was I ever jealous or sensitive, you wonder? Or prone to negative thinking? Yes, I was tempted by them all, but the Father gave Me the power to overcome them. Even so, He can and will give you the power to overcome them, it just all depends on how much you avail yourselves of that power.

Sometimes I grew impatient with My followers or with some people. I did have to deal with anger more in My younger years.
One sin that's related to anger, - and anger can sometimes be a manifestation of it - is self-righteousness. Sometimes we see someone behave in a certain way, and we think we have an equal right to act the same way. I was sometimes tempted with thoughts of judgment in a premature way, before I was really "ready" to be a Judge, so to speak, which is a very common & natural thing to happen during many people's youth. Usually, what helps one to get over this, is to experience other people's anger, to witness how ugly it can be, and how it hurts to be at the receiving end of it. Having seen other people display their anger from a child's viewpoint and the viewpoint of a weak human being helped Me to be more merciful, and to be more "slow to anger," so to speak, more longsuffering.

Pride was a sly & subtle enemy to overcome, since it was My goal and destiny to become an eternal, living symbol and sample of humility, God's Lamb slain, in humble surrender & yielding. And although this was My nature all through My life, naturally, the Enemy tried to tempt Me with pride. But he also had to do this during My earlier years. One perfect example of this is when My parents missed Me & I had stayed back at the temple without their permission... The age of 12 is a very dangerous time when one is very easily prone to pride. One begins to think of himself as very smart and superior to others, even to one's parents.
Actually, it was the Holy Spirit Who had to set Me straight on that one & check My heart about this attitude. It's kind of hard to know you are the Son of God, and not be tempted by pride.
But I was reminded of the fall of Lucifer, how it was pride that caused it, and I was reminded of the purpose for which I had come into the world: not to lord it out over anyone in pride, but to humbly lay down My life for the sins of the world. I learned a lot about pride, all of which helped Me to understand how much wiser it is to be humble, how much purer, how much more happy one can be if he simply does not allow pride to take root in his heart but lets humility dwell there instead. Humility was clearly the better choice and the better path, and I saw that very early in My life.

You know that if there's one thing I stand for, it's truth, and I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. Consequently, there have been only very small & minor incidents during which I was tempted to tell an untruth, to slightly exaggerate something. I also learned these lessons very early in life. Once you have battled against the father of lies & looked through him, and once you have seen poor pitiful human souls be victims of lies, deceit & untruth, it's pretty hard to fall into that same trap yourself. But I have been tempted in this point, too, and you may learn about these incidents in greater detail, latest when you're with Me in My Kingdom. This kind of stuff is future educational material, and it already is, in Heaven.

Envy was a sin that was easy to fall prey to as a relatively poor young carpenter's son, when confronted with the riches of others. Then again, it was fairly easy to overcome, remembering or being confronted with those who were yet much worse off than us: the lame, the sick, the really poor; and if one had a grateful heart, it was easier to see one's own blessings & it became harder to be envious of others.
Also, being the Son of God and blessed to be Heir of untold spiritual & eternal riches, it soon became evident that envy was a result of looking at things in the flesh, through carnal eyes, & losing sight of the eternal, the unseen. Envy could be overcome by looking through the eyes of faith, at the inheritance of the Father's Promise, - indeed, of all that the Father held and had to offer... It made all that the world had to offer look pretty puny in comparison, which is also one reason why the Devil wasn't successful at tempting Me with all its riches, even at one of the very weakest points in My life, when I felt completely empty and drained and virtually on the brink of starvation...

One of the ways in which I was tempted by avarice was being tempted to withhold of My spiritual riches & all that I've had to give; not so much because I wasn't a cheerful Giver, but more for reasons of physical exhaustion; sometimes the tendency to feel a little bit like they didn't deserve it, and at other times mixed with the temptation to just be lazy. It's easy to be stingy with some and then again extremely generous with others, and we have to be careful to not be partial in our sharing, not to act from a sense of personal preference, allowing some to indulge in our love and goodness and all we have to offer, while being more stingy with others, but to equally shower everyone with the same blessings, or at least the same opportunities to be blessed.
On the other hand, sometimes there is a justified and necessary withholding.
Avarice can be overcome by the sheer determination to give, to continue to pour out one's life without measure, without holding back, a determination to give all.

Certainly I was tempted by fear, one of the Enemy's most effective weapons & one of the greatest manifestations of his power. I was tempted by fear before I faced My darkest hour, the night in which I was betrayed, and since I already knew before what was going to happen, this wasn't the first time I had to face that Enemy. Being the incarnation of an all-powerful God, to experience fear was the epitome of the opposite of everything I was in the Spirit. Fear is one of the sins that have the greatest grip on humanity, next to pride, and since I was to free mankind from it, I've really had to conquer it. Of all My temptations, I confess that fear was one of the strongest, although I was generally a courageous Person and One Whom others probably would have considered fearless.
But there were those moments of temptation when the Enemy just knew how to rub it in and to drive it home, that I, My flesh, My body, was going to be in his hands for a certain time, and that there was nothing not even the Father could do about it, or could do to help Me then... The fear of death, the fear of pain; not the fear of actually dying or what was to come afterwards, but the fear of that hour, that cup, which, if it would have been possible, I would have preferred to have it pass from Me... But it was to be, it had to be, I had to go through that!
I, the Epitome and Embodiment of faith, Who had walked on water, Who had raised the dead, Who had disappeared from within the midst of My enemies, Whom angels served and to and through Whom God Almighty spoke and Moses and Elijah had appeared, I was to be subject of fear, in order to free all of mankind, all of My brothers and sisters, from the grip of the same.

There were some who accused Me of intemperance or gluttony. They called My a wine bibber and a glutton; and it may be true that I indulged more in the good pleasures this life had to offer than some of the holy men people had known before, like John the Baptist, who was living a rather ascetic life-style compared to Me. In fact, this was one of the reasons why John himself doubted Me, he could not understand how we could be so different in this aspect. Maybe you could say I was sometimes tempted to live a little bit of heaven on earth and to have a little bit of the share of the heavenly life while I was still on earth.
I've had to watch it. I've had to keep the balance. I've had to learn to be sober & vigilant, for My adversary, the Devil was walking about as a roaring lion, and he was out to devour Me. I didn't care about the accusations of the people, but I also knew that this life wasn't the end, My destination. So, the pleasures of this life were not My reward yet, there was something much more to come; and yet I knew that all things were Mine, and I wanted to give My disciples - including you - a sample of the life to be lived in fullness and abundance, although some Christians nowadays tend to take this to the other extreme & go overboard on this & actually tend towards downright covetousness & greed.
Lust... since I was a Man of Love, you might say that this was one of My more difficult temptations, but as the Bible says, I was tempted in all points as you are, yet without sin. Whatever I did, even when tempted with these things, I did it without sin; I did it with love.
What kept Me looking forward, instead of looking at something I may have been missing out on, was the great and immense need, the job that was there to do. There are just more important things to do, and there'll be plenty of occasion for this part of life afterwards...
You might say that in My case this temptation was related to the temptations of envy, since I knew I wasn't going to be able to live out a carnal relationship such as marriage, but keeping the vision on My future bride & My spiritual bride made it worth it all & helped Me overcome that temptation - although You have to realize that I'm just giving you a very brief, analytical rundown of things that were actually intense matters of the heart, and when it says "tempted, " it really means tempted. It wasn't just a brief thought that I was able to brush off with the wave of a hand. They were intense and very real battles, deep and emotional battles & trials, and as the everlasting school of Life continues, you shall have opportunities to benefit from My lessons (on this topic) further on up the road...

Finally, you'd like to know in what aspect I may have been tempted with laziness. Well, there was that temptation to just not want to go & pour out to certain people, because I was tempted to feel they weren't worth it, the type of laziness that's mingled with a little bit of self-righteousness and a little bit of spiritual avarice or stinginess. It's the "what's the use" attitude... 
I knew what was in their hearts, and I knew who was going to make it and who wasn't; so, knowing that some people were going to squander the Father's inheritance didn't exactly motivate Me at first to pour out My life, My Words, My energy to them. But what helped Me overcome that temptation, was a glimpse into the spirit and into the future, that there were going to be precious souls like you, who, even though they would squander My grace, My Words, My Love, even My sacrifice and Salvation, yet they were going to pan out in the end and contribute precious lessons learned & valuable gifts to their fellow humans though their experiences.
You never know who that person might touch, or (who they might) become, that you feel tempted to refuse to give the Words of life to, because you feel just too lazy to confront their initial rejection or to deal with their sins, their lack of faith & lack of conviction, their lack of courage.
Having been tempted in all points like you also helped Me to see that there wasn't anyone for whom it wasn't worth it to overcome that temptation.
If you know that everyone with whom you share My Words will be worth it in the end, then it will help you overcome your laziness & temptation to withhold, more easily. And if you know that I've been going through these same temptations, you can know that I have overcome and through Me you can also overcome. You can benefit from My power, the power that I gained in part through overcoming your very same sin. You can know that I've done it and so can you, because I've done it. You can stand on My victory! By being a partaker of My life, My flesh, My body, My blood, you can also be a partaker of My victory - the victory over all sin - that I gained for you and all mankind - all of those who will avail themselves of that offer, that gift. All you've got to do is make them that offer. One overcame for all. Because I overcame, you can overcome, and because you overcome, others will yet overcome, etc.

"Learning obedience" for Me meant to learn to love even more than I had before I came to Earth; and seeing, feeling and experiencing the whole thing the way humans do, changed pretty much everything for Me, as far as My viewpoints, ways & abilities of relating to them were concerned. You can have all the wisdom of a God, but without love, it's still not the same. Part of the love the Father had for the World in sending Me to Earth was manifested in His teaching Me through this experience to relate much better to you.

When it comes to this world, I've always been strange & weird, not because I am weird, but because they're so far away from the way things are supposed to be. They're so far away from My standard of love, so deep into their darkness, the light scares them half to death.
I never demanded anyone's blood, but I gave Mine freely, & even told My disciples that they would have no part in Me unless they would eat My flesh & drink My blood, which turned quite a few of them away from Me temporarily!
They did come back later when they realized what I had meant by this, when they saw, & when the Holy Spirit revealed it to them, how the Scriptures had to be fulfilled & how I had to give My life, in order to save them, that by My blood they were going to be saved, no other way.
Some had expected the Messiah to be a great deliverer in the flesh, who would cast off the Roman yoke from their neck. But I was "only" a Deliverer in spirit, Who would free them from a much greater yoke, though, than the Roman yoke, namely the yoke of their own sins. That is not something that appeals to pride, nor the flesh, nor to anyone who settles for this temporary world. This only appeals to those who are weary of this world, who know that it has got nothing to offer them.

My name means "Savior." My cry and My call to mankind is to "Come, let Me save you!" I want to save you wholly & entire, I want to cleanse and heal all of you, your mind, your body, your heart, your spirit... your soul.
I have come to bring change; a change of each & every life, a change of direction for each & every man and woman as well as for mankind in general. My message was and still is: "repent!" Which means, "turn around! You're going the wrong way! You may think you're going the right way, but I'm telling you something different! Now, who are you going to believe? Here, this is the right way to go: follow Me, and I'll show you!"

It was relatively easy to preach "love your enemies, do good to them that hate you & pray for those that despitefully use you and persecute you." But that night I was taken, and when I suffered on the cross, I had to prove that I really believed what I had been preaching, and that's the showdown where it will be manifest how much of a real Christian you really are, when it comes to showing how much you're really capable of loving your enemies.

There ARE absolutes! I know, because I'm One of them.

I wasn't as much of an "accomplisher" type as I was a Friend to people, hearing them out, visiting them, caring for them, healing them, helping them. Being a helper is what it's all about.

When I came and died for mankind, everything changed. The New Testament was the new way. The new way is the meek way, the humble way.
Just like many people are going to be shocked when they'll find out that I really am Who I claimed to be, there are those who are going to be shocked to find out who My closest friends are. They were already shocked when I was on earth! My friends were not the religious people!  
My friends were ordinary, simple folks, simple enough to receive My love & what I had to give! My best friends were ordinary sinners, not those who condemned others for their sins.
Some of them were also victims to self-righteousness every now & then, that religious zeal & desire for exclusiveness, but they quickly learned that that was nothing at all that I would encourage: whenever one of My disciples came up with any notion of being better than someone else, I openly rebuked them.
When they tried to keep the children away from Me, indicating that I was too busy, too important, too holy, too high & mighty to be bothered by children, I rebuked them, because that is not what I am!
When the sons of Zebedee thought that they probably were going to have the closest place to Me in heaven, I rebuked them & taught them that that's not where it's at. You wanna be the greatest in heaven? Be the servant of all!

The curious and superficial in My days said, "Let's go and hear the miracle preacher!" They were after some kind of kick, & they were in it for the loaves and fishes, or some diversion and entertainment of sorts. But they were living in the lie, that's why I, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, had nothing to offer to them. They were living in the way of death, the way of the flesh, the way of the lie, the way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is destruction and death, but they were firmly convinced that their way was the right way, the way of life, and My way was the way of death, and when I was finally crucified, it seemed to confirm to them that they had been right. That's why they all screamed, "crucify Him!" They wanted Me to die in order to prove that My way had been wrong, and theirs was right! And for 3 days and nights it seemed as though they had been right. It seemed as if the Devil had won, but when I rose, that's when the true story really began, as My power was multiplied manifold in My disciples.
Sometimes you've got to overcome death first, in order to really break through to life.
Well, that's what I did for all of you! I have overcome death for you, I plucked out its sting, so that you could all partake of My life - My unending life, life eternal, life forevermore, life ever-increasing.

I never imitated the System's way; I came up with My very own, straight-forward and direct way.
My way was love, truth and humility. Adapt to My style instead of theirs.
It's tough to go My way, because it means being willing to take the pain, instead of dishing it out. It means to be ready to receive the ridicule, ready to be laughed at, instead of being the one who ridicules and laughs at others. It means taking up the cross yourself, instead of nailing others to crosses with your words.