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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me stick with it when I feel there's something I need to do. Amen!

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.

Do you ever have things in life you believe you just need to do? Maybe you've been scared to try skiing, but you feel like you have to do it; maybe people are telling you that an advanced math class might be too hard for you, but you feel the need to challenge yourself. It isn't about grades or what anyone else thinks; it's about what you need to do for yourself.

Jesus would get that. In this week's Gospel (Luke 4:1-13), He goes into the desert to pray for days and days, without even bringing food! His family must be really worried. There are wild animals in the desert, and He could get sick if He doesn't eat.

But Jesus is about to start doing the work He came into the world to do: teaching people a new way of looking at God. He knows many people won't want to change; some will even hurt Him. He feels He has to prepare Himself -- even if that means being alone in the desert, hungry and surrounded by bad things.

When you feel you need to do something, it's no surprise if other people protest, "You might get hurt! You might fail!" But you keep getting that feeling that you have to try anyway.

Jesus did, too. Even when the devil came and offered Him anything if only He'd change His mind, Jesus knew what He had to do. It would have been easy to do a miracle and make Himself some food, then use His power to force the world to listen to Him. But Jesus wasn't like that. He pushed Himself to do the work He came to do.

Jesus might have been someone you'd meet on a ski slope, or in an advanced math class![[In-content Ad]]

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