Because God said so!
“The way you’ve got to approach God, humbly, taking His Word, no matter what it looks like. There God just said so. I believe it and that settles it.” William Marrion Branham
In Luke 3 we read of Jesus, the Son of God, being baptized. While this happened, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Jesus. A voice from heaven said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
Truth versus the father of lies…
What is interesting is that, after the baptism, Jesus “being filled with the Holy Spirit…was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted by the devil for forty days.” The Bible tells us of three temptations with which the devil tempted Jesus. All three temptations questioned exactly what God had just spoken over Jesus during the baptism: that He was God’s beloved Son.
In Luke 4: 3, 9 the devil starts with “IF you are the Son of God…” and in verse 6 he starts with “All this authority I will give You…” as if to say “you are not the Son of God and therefore have no authority of your own…”.
The Bible describes the devil as the father of all lies (John 8:44) and here we clearly see him at work – deceiving and lying as he has done since the beginning of creation.
We know how the story went. After Jesus was tempted the devil departed from Him “until an opportune time”. And then… Jesus returned “in the POWER of the Spirit…”. Jesus went into the wilderness being filled with the Holy Spirit and He came out of the wilderness in the power of the Holy Spirit! He was temped with that which God spoke over Him. He was temped with the Truth.
During His forty days in the wilderness, He did not eat anything. But He “ate” what God said of Him. The Truth is that He IS the Son of God.
True treasure…
This reminded me of Job: “there was none like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1). Half way through the book of Job, while he was still in the midst of his own wilderness being tested with everything he owned and loved even with his health, he presents us with a powerful secret or rather a key which we can apply in our own daily walks and especially in our wilderness seasons: “I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I HAVE TREASURED THE WORDS OF HIS MOUTH more than my necessary food.” Job.23:12
Job chose to believe and treasure the words of God during the tremendous trials he was going through. This carried him through to the end of his wilderness and enabled him to finally testify “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees (behold, experience, perceive) You.” Job 42:5
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a LITTLE WHILE, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honour, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ…” 1 Peter 1:6,7
The ladder…
Jacob had a dream of a ladder set up on earth on which the angels of God ascended and descended and then he saw
“the LORD” standing above it (Genesis 28). The LORD spoke to Jacob and said that He would give Jacob and his descendants the land he was lying on and that in him and in his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. The LORD ensured Jacob that He was with him and that He would keep Jacob wherever he would go, that He would not leave Jacob “until I have done what I have spoken to you”.
You can imagine that Jacob woke up feeling like he was on top of the world?! And yes, by reading the rest of his story we know that God stayed true to His Word. Jacob eventually became Israel… But first: right after Jacob had this dream he went through a wilderness of his own, among other hardships he was also being deceived and lied to by his father in law.
The ruler…
God gave the boy Joseph prophetic dreams of one day becoming a powerful ruler. But first he went through a wilderness of being sold by his brothers to Midianite traders (probably one of the first examples of human trafficking) he became a slave in Egypt and was thrown into a prison unfairly. Eventually, due to God’s protection and favor on Joseph’s life, it happened that Joseph interpreted Pharaohs’ dreams. Pharaoh was impressed with Joseph and God’s plans for Joseph’s life came to fulfillment as Joseph was appointed by Pharaoh to rule over all the land of Egypt.
It all boils down to…
There are three things in the above mentioned stories which are clear as day and which we can apply to our own lives:
1. Promise/Beginning: God has a plan and purpose for each of our lives.
2. Testing: The wilderness during which the enemy tests EXACTLY THAT word and surely wants to steal that purpose and plan.
3. Fulfillment: of God’s purpose that Jesus Christ may be revealed through us.
How…
In between number two and three we might find a “HOW??” popping into our hearts. I believe God answers us today through these following verses….
- God spoke of Jesus and He is speaking of us that because of Jesus… we are His beloved children in whom He is well pleased! Know this! Believe it! Eat it!
- God said to Jacob… “I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you” Hold on to His Word! Do not let go.
- Like Job, we “treasure the words of His mouth more than necessary food”. Treasure what God is saying to you instead of following the advice the world offers.
Summary...
The Bible, The Word, the Holy Book, Scripture, Manual to life, the Good Book, the Sword … whatever you want to call it. Use it!
We worship in “Spirit and in Truth” (John 4:24). Jesus went into the wilderness filled with the Holy Spirit, was tempted with what God said about Him, replied by quoting the Word and He came out of the wilderness in the POWER of the Holy Spirit! So can we!
“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37
