Let us take a look at what happened in the wilderness at the time of the testing of our Lord Jesus immediately after His baptism and just before his public ministry.
Jesus the Son of Man and the Son of God was tested in 3 areas:
1. provision - as He was hungry and he was tested to turn stone into bread
2. ownership - that God would send angels to lift Him up lest He struck His feet against a stone.
3. identity - as He was shown and offered the kingdoms of the world and was asked to worship satan
have we been tested in any of these 3 areas recently?
The bible says we will not go through any temptation except what is common to man. God is faithful and He would not let us be tempted more than we can bear. Yet in the midst of temptation. He would also provide a way out (See 1Cor10:13) and has not our Lord Jesus been telling us that He is the door and the way?
The door to the sheepfold, the door of our security, the door to our provisions, the door to everything we ever need in this lifetime, the abundant life He has come to provide for us.
Not only is Jesus the door, He is also the way, the shepherd and the Lord of our lives if we let Him be.
I am writing to Christians here and so I would not elaborate on the details of the temptation which you can read more about it in Matthew 4:1-11
What I learn is
Knowing Him
1. provision ... don't be silly to ask for the ridiculous like a lottery win or make huge windfalls short term in some risky ventures (turning stones into bread), He can do it but many times He would like to provide for us in supernaturally natural, the sure quiet way of superabundance.
Knowing our position
2. ownership ... in the 2nd temptation, Jesus was asked to jump down from the highest point in the temple and God would send His angels to lift Him up preventing any of His limbs from striking a stone.
God owns us, not the other way round. We can choose to obey His voice and our life's circumstances will line up according to His good and perfect will for us. Don't try silly things to test the Lord's love for us. Like going for the extremes, having suicidal mindset, harming ourselves for nothing, losing all our savings in a bet or the stock markets, etc. These are things the unsecured beloved ones do.
Don't put the Lord your God to the test. Even our Lord Jesus did not succumb to the temptation of allowing Himself to jump from the highest point of the temple just to witness angels come lifting Him up with their hands.
There is no need to, because we are already blessed. We need not make a display of our blessedness before man nor demons.
Knowing our rights
3. identity and ownership
Jesus did not rebuke satan when satan said all the kingdoms of the world were given to him. The earth was indeed handled to him by man (Adam) when he fell.
However, the ultimate Lord and creator of the whole universe (not just earth alone) and the creator and master of satan himself - Jesus Christ should and does not need to worship satan to acquire all the kingdoms of the world. His trip to earth some more than 2000years ago was to engage head on in battle against this age-old enemy of mankind and to get done with him once and for all crushing his head at His heels.
Here we see the servant trying to fool the Master, and how many times have the masters the children of God been fooled into worshipping materialism, acquisitions of wealth, real estates and all things glorious? Pursue them and you will end up empty worshipping satan. Materialism would handle you if you are not careful to handle it.
Afterall, did not Jesus Himself say "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you"?
"You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve" .
and watch satan leave you alone and angels come tending to your needs.
The Lord spoke to me about the parable of the harvest field, that it is ripe for harvest. And asking us ask the Lord of the Harvest to send out more labourers ... remember this passage?
Then I asked the Lord what He means ... as I know that I am currently not involved in evangelism work ... where is there the harvest of souls yet?
He answered me, YOUR harvest field is ripe for harvest, the seeds you have sown are now ripe for the harvest, ask the Lord of the Harvest to send out labourers the ANGELS to gather in the harvest for you.
Wow! Hallelujah! I have never seen this passage in this light before!
By the way, I read this Lord of the Harvest passage concurrently with the 2 blind men telling Jesus they want to see, and Jesus said to them receive your sight!
That was why I prayed, show me your light from this passage and He did.
My harvest ... great!
