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Jesus went into the desert to pray for 40 days. He had no food, and He was hungry. The devil said, "If you're God, why not make rocks into bread?""Bread isn't the only food," Jesus said; "listening to God is a kind of food, too." The devil tried again. "I'll give you the world if you follow me," he said. Jesus replied, "God is the one people should follow." The devil took Jesus to the top of a building. "If you're God, jump,"he said. "Angels will catch you." But Jesus told him, "Don't test God!" So the devil left Him alone.

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me appreciate it when I have a great day! Amen.

Some days are hard - but sometimes, you have a day where absolutely everything goes right. You finish a science project and it comes out the way you wanted it to; you take a test and know you did well; you see that a friend is hurting, tell her you care and give her a hug, and she feels a little better. Those great days give you strength to get through the days that aren't great!

Jesus would understand that. In this week's Gospel (Luke 4:1-13), He has 40 hard days - but they're followed by some great ones!

The plus side to a bad day is that it helps you appreciate the good ones. Jesus must have tried hard to remember that when He was in the desert. He was trying to pray and get ready to start teaching people about God, but the devil kept tempting Him with silly stuff: Jesus should do miracles only for Himself, like turning rocks into bread; Jesus should look for power; Jesus should act like a superhero.

When you have a good day, you feel powerful. You remember the right answers in school; you know the right thing to do when a tough situation comes up. That's all because you studied and paid attention to the way people should be treated.

That was Jesus' point, too. His time in the desert was hard, but when the devil tempted Him, he got the answers right because He'd prepared Himself with prayer and time with God. Then Jesus went back to start His teaching, feeling energized. He knew it would be an awesome day![[In-content Ad]]

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