Reading through the story of the temptation of Jesus in the
desert from Luke chapter 4 we can find that there are four spiritual resources
Jesus used to get Him through, not only the temptation of Satan, but also
through His ministry while on earth. These four resources are also ours to use
in our own lives.
The first resource is prayer and the Gospels are replete
with examples of Jesus spending plenty of time in prayer with the Father. But
take note of the importance of prayer Jesus demonstrates from Luke
3:21-22.
“Now when all the people were baptized,
and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened,
and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice
came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Even before Jesus begins His ministry
He went first to the Father in prayer. After setting the example of baptism
Jesus prays and catch what happens. “The
heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form.” You
see in every thing we do in our Christian life we need to put prayer first. We
can do nothing in our own power and when we go to God confessing our own
weakness and inability to do anything we receive our power through the Holy
Spirit. This takes a humble heart and sometimes our first prayer has to be for
God to show us our own need to be in His power.
Then note the second resource Jesus
depends on as seen in the end of verse 22. God speaks in response to His prayer
and says, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” When we accept
Christ as our Lord and Savior we are adopted into the family of God and become
one of His sons. Ephesians 1:5 tells us “He predestined us for
adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” Romans
8:14-15 says “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but
you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba!
Father!” As Christians we are God’s children and He is the ultimate Father who
will watch over and protect His children.
The third resource Jesus had while on
this earth was the power of the Holy Spirit and we are no different. Luke
4:1 “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was
led by the Spirit in the wilderness .” Romans 8:9 says, “You, however,
are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in
you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
Take some time and study the scriptures about the Holy Spirit and all the
things He does for us. We have the same power that raised Christ from the dead
living inside of us (See Romans 8:11).
The fourth resource Christ had was the
Word of God and He used it to defeat Satan soundly in the desert. “It is
written” was Jesus’ response to Satan. We, too have the Word of God with which
to use as a sword as we see in Ephesians chapter 6, which is our guide to
spiritual warfare.
Friends we have the resources to have
victory over the devil in our lives. Prayer, the love of the Father that comes
from being His son, the power of the Spirit, and the Power of God’s Word will
carry us through the desert. And we have one more great resource; we have Jesus
Himself interceding for us. And we know that Jesus has already defeated Satan
at the cross.
So let us go where the Spirit leads us and let us go in power and the strength of God even when we must travel in the wilderness and in the desert.
We need not be afraid. We are well
equipped for battle.
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