Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
“If you want to be like Jesus, remember, He had a wilderness, a Gethsemane and a Judas.” – Leonard Ravenhill
God takes you and me through the wilderness to prepare us for the promotion but why did Jesus go through the wilderness of temptation? But you know that Christ came to take our sins away. And there is no sin in him (1 John 3:5). There was no meanness or malice in Jesus. He was meek and a perfect epitome of goodness, purity and holiness. Then, why the wilderness? See the irony in Matthew 4:1 – Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. The devil did not drag or lure Jesus into the wilderness; the Holy Spirit led Him to have a head-on face-to-face confrontation with Lucifer, the devil. This was a set-up where the devil was shamed, stripped and shriveled.
The battle to crush the head of the devil started in the wilderness and ended at the cross. The devil came to Jesus with a platter of food but Jesus made him eat his words. Jesus snubbed satan; ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (vs 4). The devil tried to attack His identity but Jesus shut him down. ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’ (vs 7). Then Lucifer attempted to mess with the ego of Jesus by offering Him powers, pleasures and the splendors of the world. At this Jesus sliced him into pieces. “Away from me, satan!” (vs10). Lucifer lost the battle in the wilderness and was completely defeated and stripped of all his powers at the cross.
The physical, emotional, mental, financial or relational wildernesses are the battlefields to defeat the devil and his diabolical plans to destroy us.
Your wilderness is the battlefield of success:
1. Shame: You were not dragged by circumstance or satan into the wilderness to be stigmatized. The Holy Spirit will lead us into the wilderness to shame the devil. So, snub the voice of the demons that slur blame and shame you. When the demonic voices blame or shame you about your past, snub them with the Word of God.
2. Strip: Don’t give-in to fear or give ear to the intimidation of the demons. They would constantly inject thoughts such as ‘your marriage will never workout’, ‘your wayward child is never going to change’, or ‘you will never be healthy again’. The demons shudder when we proclaim the word of God. Strip the devil apart by reiterating the promises of God.
3. Shrivel: Rebuke, bind and expel demonic threats and temptations. They will suggest shortcuts to get out of the wilderness but use the four golden words as Jesus did, “Away from me, satan!
Wilderness is the battleground to shame, snub, strip, shrivel and shun the devil. It is the battlefield that promotes us and demotes the devil.
Matthew 4:10 “Away from me, satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’
Prayer: Dearest Lord Jesus, give me the tenacity and the resilience to shame, snub and shrivel the attacks of the diabolical forces in my wilderness. Amen.
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