Vs 1 The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to fast for 40 days and nights to test Him prior to entering His Ministry. This happened right after Jesus was baptised. Spiritual victories are often followed by testing and trials. (see: 1st Kings 19. Elijah and Jezebel). The same thing can happen to us after we have taken part in an event where we experienced a wonderful move of the Holy Spirit. The enemy will often attack us afterwards to try to steal the victory that we have just experienced. He will try to do his best to get what was sewn into our lives out of us by tempting us and getting us to question what we just experienced as really being true and of God.
Vs 2 Jesus was hungry after he had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. This reveals that Jesus was a human experiencing the same things as we do while He was on earth. When Jesus was going through His temptations, He needed God to help Him stay strong physically and spiritually. After the period of testing was over Jesus was ministered to by Angels. He was victorious and ready.
Vs 3 The tempter (satan) approached Him and said if You are the Son of God tell these stones to become bread. In this verse satan is approaching Jesus when He is at His weakest point. Jesus had no food for 40 days and nights. Satan also tried to cause Jesus to question His identity by saying IF you are the Son of God then prove yourself by telling these stones to become bread. The Bible tells us that, Jesus is the WORD of God so He replies to satan using the Word, quoting “Man must not live on Bread (physical food) alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”. Jesus is referring to (Deut. 8:3) when He quotes this scripture to satan’s offer.
Personal Application:
- The thief (satan) comes only to steal, kill, and destroy us. (John 10:10). One of the ways that he does this is by tempting us when we are tired and hungry. Our will power and our resistance are low, and we are more vulnerable and easier to convince. To do the wrong thing.
- We also need to know the God of the Word. This happens when we take time to read our Bibles regularly, so that the Word gets inside of us. The indwelling Holy Spirit then can bring to our minds what scriptures to use for any given situations that we come across. A Pastor friend of mine says a week without reading the Bible makes one weak.
- Today we live in a very busy and fast moving world. We don’t stop and take time to rest. Technology has made some things more convenient, but we have become a lot more distracted spending value time on the wrong things. Social Media, video games are just two examples of this. We can end up with depression, burnout or other ailments that are a direct result of not taking time to rest. Time with God brings peace into our spirits just as physical food and proper sleep are needed for our physical bodies, emotions and overall well being. Unfortunately, many today are not willing or unable to rest and therefore become easy targets for the enemy’s attack, becoming very susceptible to falling into sin.
We have to remember that our enemy, the devil knows our weaknesses and is quite able to con us by monitoring our past behaviours. He will give us a quick fix with lots of regret afterwards. Our solution is to take time to rest both physically and spiritually through prayer.
As Jesus had had to be physically and spiritually strong to resist the devil’s schemes so must we if we are going to survive living in this fallen world.
Now is the time to take steps to recharge ourselves so that we are able to resist the devil who prowls around like a roaring lion to see who he can devour. (1st Peter 5:8)