Hosanna Restoration Church

(Mathew 4:1 NLT)

Deep down, everyone who loves Jesus wants to be led by the Holy Spirit because we know that He was sent to lead us into all truth. But then we read that Jesus was led into the wilderness so He could be tempted by the devil and we think maybe we should put some limits as to where we are willing to follow. A couple of things came to my mind right away when I read this.

First, it is very clear that the Spirit led Him, but it just as clear that it was the devil doing the tempting and not God. I often hear people who believe that God has tested and tempted them just to see if they would stand. I believe the devil is the tempter, not God.

On what may seem to be a lighter side, it comes to my mind that when Jesus told the disciples and us how to pray that he was remembering His own experience and not wanting others to have to go through what He did. It was no fun time for Jesus out in that wilderness. So why did the Holy Spirit do this? Well perhaps it was because Jesus had a mission to accomplish and He did not have twenty years to get ready. He only had about three and a half years, so he had a lot of preparation to do and not a lot of time to do it. He was going to have to know that God in Him was greater than anything the devil could throw at Him. He was going to have to be confident in the voice of Lord and instantly obedient. It would also be a great witness and example to those who would follow Him throughout all generations. So what are we to get from this? More than can be put on a thousand pages, but here are a few seeds to plant and let the Lord grow them for each of us.

Remember, the devil came when Jesus was weak. The enemy does not like to attack when we are strong. He waits for the best opportunity. He watches for when we are weak. He attacks when we have had a bad day and he can condemn us, or when we have ceased to seek God about things and are walking in our own strength. He will also try after we have experienced a great victory but have been worn out by the whole thing. Watch out when you are feeling weak.

The devil often comes with distorted truth. First he tried to get Jesus to prove He was the Son of God. If you are walking in faith, you don’t have to prove anything. Your fruit reveals it. Jesus was hungry, but He had no identity crisis! In so many words, Jesus told the devil that He had the word of God and if God told Him to make stones into bread He would, but He was not about to give up on the truth for the devil. Next the devil wanted Jesus to try and force God to prove His care for Him. God has already proven His love for us. God is perfect. His timing is perfect. And He has good plans that we can trust in. We don’t want God putting us to the test, so why would we want to try and put Him to the test. Jesus blew this one off too. Finally the devil offered Jesus the world, but Jesus had His Fathers promise for greater things and so He stuck with worshipping the Lord of the things and not the things that were His already.

I have heard people say that the Holy Spirit is leading them into trials and they like to think it is just the way it was with Jesus. But I think we wander into the wilderness ourselves and the Holy Spirit does everything He can to get and keep us out of there. Jesus told us to pray that we would not be led there for a reason. He also revealed how to get victory if we end up there. As Jesus said, “let those who have ears to hear, hear what the Lord is saying.”