40 Days & 40 Nights: How was Jesus not tempted off the vine?

Matthew 4:2
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

Notably "he was hungry" makes mention of something that occurred following "forty days and forty nights of fasting". Implying Jesus, consuming so much nourishment from Heaven, did not become physically hungry until after 40 days of fasting. Instead of being reveled with physical hunger Jesus chose to feast on spiritual nourishment provided by the riches of Heaven that in reciprocity devoured the open crevices of his vessel.

As a result, when the adversary presented Jesus with the idea of turning stone into bread to appease his hunger, he was not tempted. In verse 4 Jesus clarifies his consumption of a different form of nourishment when he spoke "man does not live on bread alone". Inferring there are other means by which man may feed to survive.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

Jesus said "you are gods" in John 10

John 10:31-39 NIV

31Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, 32but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?"

33"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."

34Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? 35If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken— 36what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? 37Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. 38But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." 39Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

Notes from an email related to this verse.

He is saying you have been appointed by GOD (as judges ) to act on God's behalf? How would you do that? By invoking the spirit of God to act IN YOU - hence becoming God as you "die to yourself" and allow the spirit of God to reign in you? Then who is living in you? Christ (GOD & the Holy Spirit) or Dehvon or Christian? We are gods because we are GOD when we bow to His Spirit and surrender our vessel. (But our problem is that we don't believe we can surrender our vessel! And that is why we can only act at the level of our own faith - Matthew 9:29)

The enemy would have us believe that we are separate from Him, and our understanding breeds just that. "I could not be God... I could not act on His behalf... I am too low... I am too unworthy"...We spend our whole life trying to gain union to God through life and finally in death, but through Christ' death we are given union to God as we become part of the Tree of Life.

We become the branches that bear the fruit HERE on this planet in the physical form - as we are fed by the vine (the spirit). We know nothing of our spirit! We can't even say a word of it's substance!!! We are on the physical plain here bearing fruit of the spirit for the spirit by the spirit. Hoping in the action of the spirit as well as the openness of our own spirit!

We become one with God and in this transformation and metamorphasis of self - we are God. But we are God in HUMILITY and NOT PRIDE!!! That is a HUGE difference! When we are HUMBLED, He is exalted. In our weakness (or nothingness or "getting out of the wayness") the Lord is exalted... no wait.. WE are exalted, why? Because we are God. I dare to say the disciples of Yeshua Ha-Mashiach are the Lords hands and feet on this planet.

Why else would we be called THE BODY?

For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Matthew 23:12

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5

I and the Father are one. John 10:30

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God. Luke 9:27

Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17:20-21

Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you. Matthew 9:29

A Revolutionary Look at Jesus, Part 5 & 6 "What caused Science vs Religon?"

How the human ego caused religion to become rigid causing the split between science and religion.



"The ego has created a number of illusions that are simply not real"

Website Suggestion: Ask the Real Jesus

This website is a remarkable resource for Christian disciples and the youtube videos related to these teachings are also PROFOUND!

http://www.askrealjesus.com/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/user/morelife33

Suggested Reading: The Power of the Name: The History and Practices of the Jesus Prayer

The Power of the Name: The History and Practices of the Jesus Prayer
By Alphonse and Rachel Goettmann

The Jesus Prayer penetrates everything, freeing us from all the acculturations of the Gospel, re-creating the basis of unity for all Christians and offering them the only possible anchor for a true ecumenism. The Jesus Prayer heals the alienation and distress of humanity, placing its dependence on God alone, substituting the divine life for the little "self" and the interests it must defend. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20). Here the incarnation continues and completes itself. This book has grown out of lived experience and not out of theory. The Jesus Prayer has been the foundation of our lives for over forty years. But we have not taken a solitary path. This work is the fruit of twenty years of sharing with hundreds of people through retreats and sessions at Bethanie, a "place of rebirth" which we founded on the foundation of the Prayer. A community has been established there which seeks the dynamism of the first communities witnessed to in the Acts of the Apostles who "lived in the Name of Jesus." The Jesus Prayer is a way of life, making us true ­disciples of Christ. It is a beacon for the people of God, leading them toward the promised land.

To purchase this book on Amazon.com click here.
 
To watch a presentation on the creation of this book click here to go to youtube.com

Meditation: Understanding God's Omnisciences through the absence of time

It would be good to read this meditation all the way through and get the idea of the journey within the meditation first. Then based on your understanding of the meditation, do the meditation while you are not reading it.

Take a moment to clear your mind and come to a place of inner silence. Take a few slow breathes and while focusing on your breathe allow yourself to become aware of the presence of God all around you. Feel protection, feel warmth, feel love. Most importantly feel God as YOU know God.

Only be aware of God's presence in everything around you and within you, and do not chase thoughts and ideas concerning the nature of God. At this point you are exploring and welcoming God as you know Him or Her. Be okay with the fact that you do not know the true substance of God's spirit, and simply enjoy your greatest picture and understanding of God.

Now begin to imagine that you know everything about everyone and everything around you. Realize that you suddenly know everything that is going to happen to everyone (including you) until their death and even beyond that. Allow your mind to paint pictures of these things, but do not grasp on to any one picture or thought. You are simply aware of these things, and as the web of understanding builds you are not attached to it.

All the unknown is slowly disappearing as you know where you (and everyone else) will go next and exactly what will happen. If your mind becomes too consumed with the imaginations come back to your breath and your awareness of the presence of God's everlasting warmth and love.

Now begin to see glimpses of an existence that is outside of time as you pretend to be like God - knowing all things. If a being knew everything and everyone at once time would disappear. Contemplate that quietly without adding much meaning or thought. Just know that to know everything is to be free of time and space, just like God.

Use this meditation to connect with the unimaginable existence of God, and then praise this Great God as you enjoy your day now picturing God's brilliance in a new way.