“Jesus full of the Holy Spirit left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days and at the end of tem he was hungry” Luke 4:1-2
We have been talking about spiritual warfare. This passage gives us an insight how Jesus handled temptation and overcame temptation.
Instead of being in the garden he’s in the desert, symbolic of humanity’s exile from the garden due to sin. Instead of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he’s fasting, feeding on the spirit of power to defeat the devils ploy.
The devil starts in on Jesus the same way he did on Eve. About planting doubts in Jesus mind about His identity as the object of God’s love. “If you are the son of God” Literally right before this God said to Jesus “You are my son whom I love” remember what the devil said to Eve. ‘Did God really say?’
Three times the devil tempts Jesus. Each time Jesus calmly responds with a quote from scripture. He doesn’t budge an inch. Notice there are no swords, no screams of fury, no battle cry yet this is an intense fight. A quiet confidence in his father’s truth. He’s in prayer. He’s fasting. His mind and mouth are full of scripture. And this is how we as Jesus disciples fight the devil and quench his fiery darts. Not some emotional or spiritual frenzy. We simply stand in confidence in Gods truth. Do we believe the devils lie or do we submit and present our and bodies before God and open our souls to His Spirit and truth.
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