“And they have overcome (conquered) him by
means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony, for
they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death [holding
their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing].” Rev. 12:11 AMP
Once Jesus had publicly determined to do
His Father’s will Satan was after Him relentlessly.
The deceiver failed to shake the Lord’s
grip on His commitment through the needs of the body, so he tried another
tactic. He attacked the needs of the
ego!
After Jesus’ astonishing ministry of
teaching, healing and miracle-working, the multitudes wanted to make Him king.
(John 6:15) Here it was----the kingdom,
the goal of the Father----handed to Him on a silver platter!
But Jesus recognized the snake behind it
and turned down the offer. He was strong
enough to resist the appeal of popularity, the gratification of the ego!
Nothing turns the head so quickly or
softens the will as much as the appeal of charm, flattery, and the popularity
of the crowd.
Jesus did not allow Satan to feed His ego,
which would have led to catastrophe; rather, He submerged His ego in the
Father’s will, which led to triumph.
That is how I must walk. My ego is more fragile than my body. If the deceiver cannot break my will by
tempting my body, he will try to break it by tempting my ego.
King David was deceived both ways: first through the sexual needs of the body,
which resulted in adultery with Bathsheba and then through the cravings of
pride, which resulted in taking a census of the people. (II Sam. 11,24)
Jesus defeated the ego temptation by
slipping away quietly and communing with His Father, where He strengthened His
resolve. So must I, again and again, as
often as the deceiver baits me for my will is strengthened only as I carefully
cultivate it in the presence of my heavenly Father.
To “pray at all times in the Spirit is the
way to “put on the full armor of God” and thus be able “to stand firm against
the schemes of the devil.” (Eph. 6:
11,18)
No comments:
Post a Comment