Isn't it amazing how the minute you start an intentional drive towards growing in your relationship with God, the distractions and temptations and time-wasters come at you in full force!! I couldn't tell you how many times I have sat down to study further and something has interrupted me!
As I look at the big picture of the first words of Jesus during His earthly ministry, I see Him (Matt. 3:13-17) approaching John the Baptist and instructing John to baptize Him. (Talk about a humbling request!) The very next passage (Matt. 4), Jesus is led into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days! Forty days!? So, after baptism, the outward announcement of one's commitment to following God and none other, He gets hit for 40 straight days with temptation of all kinds. But there is a little phrase at the very beginning of verse 1 that changed everything for me: "by the Spirit". Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into challenging times. It's almost like the Holy Spirit is saying, "Let's see how serious you really are!" (Please see that I am not trying to sound blasphemous or infer division among the Trinity) How many times have we said to God, "I will worship You alone" or even, "I will never do that again" only to turn around and WHAM get slammed by challenges?
I equate it with Kevlar bullet-proof vests. Like our faith, a vest may leave the manufacturer having been pieced together carefully and completely. Before it is released to the public, it is sent to a testing facility where trigger-happy men and women fire everything they've got at it to see how well it does what it is supposed to.
If we've ever taken a stand for Christ, we've been there. You may still be feeling the aches and exhaustion as you read this. When we are there, trying to hold up, trying to prove that this is the "real thing", remember those 3 words, "by the Spirit". God is not waiting on the other side of challenges, hoping you survive your"40 days of Wilderness". He is right there, with you, the whole time. Don't let the instant temptations dishearten you. If anything, let them inspire you with the truths that God is with you AND what you are doing is thoroughly angering the devil. That sounds like the place I wanted to be in from the start!
Wow, so true. Recently my wife and I started praying together at night in a very specific way and then writing the requests and prayers down so that we can see how God gives us grace and how he answers our prayers. On the second day of doing this every little thin seemed to go wrong and we did not pray together. We spoke about it the following morning and began planning to not have this happen again but it was as if the victory of that particular battle went to the other side.
ReplyDeleteSo many times I think I am so resolved and then see how shallow it really was. I hate that.