Title: With God Alone/ Topic: Spiritual Strength

Today's Reading: Matthew 1; Matthew 2; Matthew 3; Matthew 4

Scripture: Matthew 4:1-3
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

Observation: After Jesus was baptized and the Spirit descended on him, the first thing that happens is that he is led out to the desert to face the most powerful tempter and deceiver there is---Satan himself. Though the Spirit led him to the place of testing with the devil, it is important to note that God did not do the tempting; Satan did (James 1:13 says that God never tempts anyone to sin). It is instructive that the first thing Jesus does is to spend time alone with his Father in prayer and fasting. He knew he needed wisdom and strength from God to face the enemy and his schemes. His 40 days of solitude, prayer and fasting left him physically weak but spiritually strong and able to great testing he was going to face.

Application: The practices of solitude, prayer and fasting are almost completely lost today in the American church. No wonder we are weak spiritually and losing ground in affecting our society. If Jesus, who was without sin, needed to have this much alone time with God to strengthen him spiritually before facing the devil, what makes us think we can do without it? When we are troubled, our usual response is to try to numb the pain of whatever trial we face by TV, entertainment, drugs, alcohol, sex or some other diversion. We don't actually face down the problem, we try to outrun it or hide from it. The longest amount of time I have ever fasted and prayed for is two weeks during the time of greatest emotional pain and grief I've ever faced in my life. I think it saved my sanity and had an effect on others that I love. Unfortunately, I didn't keep up that intensity of prayer. I think we all need to get back to using these weapons to win victory instead of letting comfort lull us into inaction that allows Satan to work his will in people and in our society.

Prayer: Father, help me to engage in spiritual warfare with every tool you've given me to use. I love warring with praise and bringing my thoughts captive to Jesus is getting easier as I get older. But fasting with prayer and total solitude with you goes against my flesh and desire for a comfortable life. I've only engaged those weapons on rare occasions when I felt my family or others close to me were under extreme assault spiritually and even then it's been for much shorter times than 40 days. Help me to regularly engage in these practices so that I may see the enemy pushed back in my own life and the lives of others.
This I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.