wilderness

Luke 4:1-32

4 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness ² for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. ³ The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." ⁴ And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.'"

I used to think that Jesus fasted to make himself weaker so that the the temptation was even stronger; but now I think He fasted to make his flesh weaker and his spirit stronger so that He could see the temptation more clearly.  Of course He was hungry!  He had not eaten for 40 days!  But in those 40 days, He proved that "Man does not live on bread alone."  In fact, without the providence of God, man does not live at all; and even without bread, God can still sustain a man.  Our lives are in His hands.

This past Sunday, I shared some observations from the life of Moses.  I think the Lord lovingly leads us into the wilderness to deliver us from our own self and flesh, and to allow us opportunity to choose to set our minds on the spirit and allow Him to grow the character of Christ in us.

I feel like I am in a couple of seasons of wilderness right now.  Boys not sleeping through the night is hard for me.  (I know, I don't lose as much sleep as Brandi, but she is tougher than I am with respect to losing sleep.)  The way some hiring and not-hiring decisions at work have me pretty frustrated, and I couldn't sleep last night.  I need to learn how to turn these things over to the Lord.  Brandi tenderly reminded me (in the middle of the night) to be thankful for all of the things that the Lord has provided, and I have been voicing those thanks for several hours, now, but I feel like i have to much pride involved in the situation.  I feel like I expect things to work the way that I want them to; I know in my spirit that it's not about me, but my flesh doesn't want to hear it.  Just like it is hard for Beau to let go of that toy that they want to play with (because he had it first).  Selfishness.

Perhaps the most effective method for defeating the flesh is starvation.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your loving-kindness.  Thank you for your patience with me.  Lord Jesus, thank you for your example of the spirit-led, spirit-filled life.  Lord, I want that.  But I don't want the pain of starving the flesh.  My spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak.  Lord, please give me strength to be diligent in starving my flesh.  My selfishness is so strong; please give me power by your Holy Spirit to overcome my flesh.  I love you, and I want to be useful to you.  Please make me holy as you are holy.  I pray in the name of Jesus.