When the Jesus in you meets the Jesus of heaven…

“Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted there by the Devil. For forty days and forty nights he ate nothing and became very hungry. Then the Devil came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, change these stones into loaves of bread.” (Matthew 4:1 – 4:3)

If someone were to read verse 1 without reading verse 2 as well, they may get the impression that it was in the wilderness where Satan tempted Jesus however, it was after he exited the wilderness where Jesus and Satan faced off. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness but it wasn’t Satan who did the tempting it was Jesus himself who did the tempting. Jesus under went an intense 40 days and 40 nights of self discipline. For Jesus (and for us) his wilderness experience was the point of no return when he entered the wilderness he did so as man’s man but when he came out he was fully God’s man. And Satan was the first to discover the transformation. (Note: This is only my interpretation the gospels of Mark and Luke indicate that Satan did tempt Jesus in the wilderness.)

Whether or not Jesus was tempted in the wilderness or whether it happened after he left the fact of the matter is he had to make a choice – a choice that was 100% his. We too, have that choice a choice of whether or not we’ll be our own best friend and chose Jesus or if we’ll be our own worst enemy. I wish I could say it was a one time choice but unfortunately it isn’t, it’s a day to day decision. But because we give our lives over to Jesus the good news is it’s a choice we don’t make on our own. “But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won your fight with these false prophets, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.” (1st John 4:4)

Please notice – “who lives in you” and “who lives in the world.” God’s Spirit lives within us – the same power that created the universe lives in your life! God’s strength and power is an internal force that not even the power of Satan can overpower. Satan’s power is an external power that presses in on you but it is a limited power and can only overpower our human efforts.

I believe it is very important for us to understand that Jesus’ 40 trek in the wilderness while was void of human contact it was the Holy Spirit that “sent” him into it but the Holy Spirit did not wait outside the for him to return to the human world. Likewise we need to remember the Holy Spirit is our constant companion doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves!

There are two “doorways” that Satan uses to tempt us to forget that the Holy Spirit is our constant companion. One is our emotions. The other is our ego. While both are important the truth is they are both subject to our spirituality. Jesus confirms that for us in John’s gospel, “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail…” (John 6:62 RSV)

Grace and PEACE,
Gary

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.