1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But He answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’” 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to Him. ~ Matthew 4:1-11
Notice when the Devil showed up? It wasn’t when Jesus was full. It wasn’t when He was strong. The Devil showed up when Jesus was weak. When He was hungry. We have this idea that The Devil won’t or shouldn’t attack us at our weakest moment, but that’s precisely when the best time to attack is.
When you watch a lion stalk its prey, it doesn’t go after the strongest gazelle; instead, it goes after the weaker gazelle. It attacks the prey that it feels it would be able to destroy and devour the easiest. And that’s exactly what the devil does with us. He waits for us to be weak. He waits for us to be hurting. He waits for us to be hungry. Because then he has a better chance of overcoming us. And the worst part is that a lot of the times we allow him to without a fight.
With every attack, Jesus defended Himself with scripture. How many of us can say that? We quote one scripture and then give up. Jesus is God, and it took Him three scriptures and a rebuke for The Devil to flee Him.
See we read the verse “resist the Devil and he shall flee you,” but we forget that we have to resist him more than one time. Depending on how strong your Spirit Man is and how weak your flesh is, will determine how long it takes for The Devil to flee.
For instance, if you don’t seek God daily, spending time in both worship, prayer, and reading the bible, you will be easily overtaken. Why? Because you haven’t fed your Spirit Man, so he is weak. You have to take time with God to strengthen your Spirit Man, or your flesh will always allow you to be overtaken.
See Jesus was hungry, but only in the physical sense. Jesus’ Spirit Man was well fed. Was strong. Was alert. Jesus knew that He had to strengthen His Spirit Man so that He could take on and overcome every sin known to man. We may not have to face every sin known to man, but we do have to face sins that continuously overcome us. And the only way to defend ourselves is by reading scripture, spending time in worship, prayer, and fasting.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Feed Your Spirit.
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