For the past year or so, my quiet times have consisted
mostly of journaling, listening to worship music, and the occasional Bible
reading. I discovered last year that by forcing myself to read my Bible every
morning I was actually distancing myself from Daddy, because I was doing it to
appease Him, to force Him to bless me and grow me. So last year I gave up Bible
reading for my quiet times and I saw an incredible growth in my relationship
with Him. Growth didn’t come from setting down my Bible; it came from setting
down my religious idea that told me reading my Bible was required for
relationship.
Through
that, God has begun stirring up a desire to dive into my Bible on occasion,
where I will sit down and read the story of Joseph, or read through Galatians.
It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does I find it is incredibly
refreshing. In the past week God has been challenging me to renew my mind by
filling it with His words. So this morning, not out of obligation, but out of
desire I dove into Matthew. I wanted to
see how Jesus lived from His relationship with Dad. I didn’t make it very far
before God started bringing revelation. I came to the temptations of Jesus and
couldn’t move past without processing, thus this note I’m writing.
I’ve
heard several teachings on the temptations of Jesus recently, but the one thing
that really stands out is how immediately after Jesus is baptized He is taken
into the wilderness to be tempted. As Jesus comes out of the water, Daddy
affirms His identity:
“After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in who I am well-pleased.’” – Matthew 3:16-17
Jesus’ sonship was
affirmed by His Daddy. This is the place God wants to bring us all to before
sending us out. Many of us try to dive into our ministry before knowing our place
as sons. I’m not saying God won’t work in ministry before you know your place
as royalty in the Kingdom, but I do think you miss out on a lot of the life and
freedom God has for you to walk in. As soon as Jesus’ identity was affirmed, it
was attacked and tested. Don’t think satan doesn’t want to steal from you the
affirmation that you receive from God. But also don’t think that God won’t use satan’s
attacks to assure you even more of your place as a Son of the King.
Satan
attacks Jesus at three places: His focus, His identity as Lord, and His loyalty
to the Father. Satan attacks Jesus at His very basic needs first, testing if He
truly knows that the physical realm is a sub-plot to the spiritual realm. Jesus
responds by saying:
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)
Jesus confirms that He knows His physical needs are
not ultimate. Satan attacks there first because it is our most vulnerable
point. It is so easy for us to get caught up in the physical and I believe that
is also why God affirms that first.
The next attack comes at His identity. Satan comes
at Him saying:
"If you are the Son of God, throw Yourself down…” –Matthew 4:6
Do you
know your identity? How sure are you of being God’s son? I think after God
moves us from the physical to the spiritual; He takes us into our place as
sons, our royalty. Many Christians never
move past physical temptation because they never realize the truth that the
physical realm is a shadow of the spiritual realm. When we do begin to gain
power over physical temptations and turn our focus to the spiritual, our
identity takes center stage. God begins affirming who we are in Him, as sons
and royalty in His kingdom. Satan also begins attacking at that place,
reminding you of your past, trying to get you to identify with your sin rather
than with your Savior. I think this is the place that so many Christians get
burnt out. We move out of the physical into the spiritual only to find the
battle intensified and the wounds deeper. The wounds of identity run deepest
because they pull us back from the heart of the Father. When you identify with
your sins rather than your Savior, you pull back from the Father because you
find yourself dirty and worthless. You will never rest in the Father’s arms as
long as you see yourself being unworthy of His love. This is why God affirmed
His identity as a Son before sending Him into the desert.
The final attack came on Jesus’ loyalty to the
Father:
“All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” – Matthew 4:9
Notice that the attack on loyalty comes after the
attack on identity. Royalty bestows loyalty. I find that I have lived most of
my life trying to be loyal to a God that I haven’t known as Father. The amount
of loyalty you have to God the Father is dependent on the amount of revelation
of identity you’ve experienced in your life. I don’t see God calling Jesus to
obedience before He solidifies Jesus’ identity as a Son. Obedience without identity brings burn-out
and a twisted view of the Father. I think too many times we rush into ministry
because the world needs us without first finding out who we are. That is the
place where we have ministry focused on performance rather than on love. We are
trying to earn our place in the Kingdom rather than living and loving from the
place we already have.
“Then the devil left Him...” – Matthew 4:11
I see satan
running away here, not in frustration but in fear. Satan knows He is beaten, because
Jesus was secure in His focus, His identity, and His loyalty. I believe this is
the place that we start our ministry from. This is the place where we go on the
offensive. Jesus moves into ministry immediately out of this place as satan
tucks tail and runs to get away from this Son of the King.
Satan doesn’t know what to do with someone who the
physical has lost power over, who knows their sonship, and who is loyal to the
King of Kings.
