March 20, 2010

Have you ever been "in the wilderness" experiencing God's spiritual feast while you are distanced from earthly things?  I believe it's a necessary place to be in preparation for ministry.  Jesus was there, and while He was, Satan came to tempt and test Him.  I see three areas He was tempted in: 1) His physical existence, 2) His purpose, and 3) His identity.  In any one of these areas, He could have reacted according to the flesh, but He walked in the Spirit and overcame with God's Word.  We can all do the same, with His help.

In the area of physical existence, we are constantly challenged to rise above the worldly way of living and follow God's instructions.  He is to be our source in every way.  The wilderness shows us where we are relying on things other than God to sustain us and meet our needs.  As a personal example, when I fasted from shopping I became aware of how I was using it to cope with anxiety.

In the area of purpose, did you notice the theme of "authority" being expanded?  That again could be a whole blog in itself!  Let's just think about Jesus' purpose.  He knew what He was supposed to do, but it was obviously not to be done the way Satan suggested.  It looks obvious here to us as we read it, but our enemy tries the same approach on all of us-- it just seems more subtle when we're in the middle of it. 

We have to be on our guard, particularly when we feel we are clear on what our calling is and we are headed for it.  Satan will try to avert us from the path of truth and get us to accomplish, in our own strength, whatever God has told us to do.  If we didn't pass the "physical existence" test, we will be easy prey in this area.  Look what happened to Balaam.  It seemed that he had repented from his oracle-for-pay lifestyle, but today we read that he was responsible for a despicable plan to bring Israel down.  He was slain in the vengence against Midian.  What a reminder to maintain the fear of the Lord and not be driven by greed!  I'm sure greed is the reason many called prophetic people err, and even become false.

If the enemy can't stop you with the first two assaults, he will aim at the heart of your being. "Who are you, really?"  "Why would God ever do that for you?" I have many times, during this kind of test, felt like a delusional person while the enemy taunts me with "you are nobody" and "you're just nacissistic."  When my pastor shared that Jesus' last reply was "It is said," Luke 4:12, it revolutionized my understanding of the wilderness experience.    It's when the Lord has applied Scripture to you, or given you a vision, etc., and you've received it in your heart ("You are my child." "This is what we're going to do."), that you can use Biblical truth to overcome the lies of the enemy.  Just quoting Scripture isn't going to do it if you don't believe the Word in your heart.  And it doesn't have to be written word-for-word in the Bible if it's truth from God (you should test everything you hear or see against Scripture to make sure). 

Again, you can use whatever God had said to you, or shown you in any way, as part of your warfare.  Here's an example.  During my second pregnancy, the Lord said to me "Your baby is going to come early, but it's going to be alright."  Not long after, I had a dream (or vision) of my son grown up.  There were many times, during the course of labor and delivery, two months early, and afterwards while my son was very ill or had problems, I held on to the words and vision from the Lord.  Scripture all backed me up in my faith, of course, but it was the strength of direct revelation from the Lord that kept me going in the middle of distress.  Many times I had to refuse to follow advice from "experts."  Now, my son is grown up and married, and he is a wonderful, talented and successful man of God.  And I know that God's not done fulfilling His word.  Praise the Lord! 

That was a lot of words to say: embrace the wilderness-- because when you come forth, having been tried by fire, you will see the word of the Lord fulfilled.