“Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:10).

This verse, the first part of it, is the second passage I’ve memorized in Mandarin. During a week when many in the world choose to celebrate death, Jesus’ words have been a powerful reminder and a refreshment to think over. I’ve noticed that when Jesus as God could have rebuked Satan with His own word, He relied, nonetheless on the words of God which had already been written, and the enemy was forced to flee.

Rather than ask for protection only, several of us prayed together that this week would be a time of seeing God’s kingdom prevail. The following day (October 30th) as I went out to teach at public school as I normally do every Tuesday, the Lord answered our prayer. Halloween was never mentioned, either by the students or the teachers. In it’s place was a hardy sense of God’s presence, love and light. I felt an enthusiasm for teaching and enjoyed each class. One of my highlights was seeing the 2nd-graders singing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm, A-E-I-O-U”. They loved the animal parts and they crowed with particular volume each time we got to A-E-I-O-U. You should have seen them. They are really doing well.

In the midst of a fading generation, may we, as children, rely all the more upon the written words of our Heavenly Father and Teacher. “But My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath He dealt with us” (Zechariah 1:6).