Our Sunday blogs during Lent will focus on the subject of fasting.
"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry." (Matthew 4:1-2).
After Jesus was baptized, He spent more than a month in the wilderness fasting. The temptations that followed his season of fasting were intense.
Temptation 1: Use Your creative power to re-order nature. The scripture tells us that Jesus was hungry, and as God He had the power to order stones to transform themselves into bread.
Temptation 2: Show the world who You really are. The Jewish people had long anticipated the arrival of the Messiah, and a demonstration of power to jump off of buildings without dying would certainly have been a dramatic sign to the people.
Temptation 3: Take a short-cut to regaining what Adam lost. In the fall of man, Adam lost his dominion and Satan took rule of the kingdoms of the world. By worshipping the devil, Jesus could regain those kingdoms without having to go to the cross.
But buried in each of these temptations are lies! The devil offered half-truths designed to trick Jesus out of fulfilling His purpose. The Old Testament prophecies spoke of a Messiah whose earthly life would be marked by rejection, suffering, and death (see Isaiah 53). No easy road, no short-cuts.
The extended season of fasting gave Jesus the spiritual strength He needed to withstand the onslaught of temptations designed to sway Him from the fulfillment of His purpose. Are you a person of purpose? Then fast. Fast for strength, so that the devil will never succeed in turning you from the path God has called you to walk.
No comments:
Post a Comment