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When Jesus was tempted by satan in the desert, He passed every test. But it was rough physically.
Matthew tells us, after Jesus dispatched satan, “angels came and attended him.”
Matthew 4:11
That sounds wonderful. A nice “and he lived happily after” ending. Villain gone. Hero revived. Angels on site. Perfect.
However, Luke adds one other ominous detail Matthew did not mention.
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
Luke 4:13
When I experience a great trial, I am so thankful when the initial storm seems to be calming down. I am filled with gratitude at being delivered.
I try to right the ship and sail on, even if it is on a different path from the one I thought I would be taking.
I relax a little and polish my testimony.
But all the while, the devil waits. He is waiting for that opportune moment. He is busily planning his next attack. If satan has one so called “good” quality, it is his persistence. He never gives up.
However, his one persistent goal is not good. He wants us to give up. He is hoping we will not be as focused or persistent as he is.
How does he get back in the game? He distracts. Actually he does not mind if we go celebrate our recent victories. He just hopes we will forget to lock the back door.
What is our spiritual back door? It is the strongholds in our life — those doubts and fears that are buried so deep within us we don’t know they are there, until …
Something jolts them to the surface and in spite of our best efforts, we can’t push them back down.
When are we most vulnerable? When we have had a great spiritual victory. When we have endured a crisis and come out on the other side.
When we think the storm is over and we are in charge of our lives again.
Bingo. The opportune moment.
After the trauma of the past couple of weeks, this week has been a time of recovery.
While it has been a time of great gratitude for all the many blessings from God, it has also been a time when some of those fears bubbled back up to the surface.
Not only was I in a kind of post traumatic state from the recent events, I was also caught in satan’s false news reports of “coming attractions.”
He was waiting for the opportune time.
However persistent as satan is, God is even more so. He simply refuses to let satan win.
God revealed strongholds in my life, some even dating as far back as childhood.
I tried to push the thoughts back down. I thought I needed more prayer, more scripture, more concentrating on the positives.
But God would not let me off the hook. It became clear He had a deep clean in mind.
I had to be willing to talk about the strongholds … the fears that were buried beneath the surface fears.
He said, if I am to go forward in His Might, carrying His Shield of faith, I cannot hang on to extra baggage.
He said I have to travel light. It is interesting Jesus told His disciples the same thing before sending them out.
He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt.”
Luke 9:3
And so God and I talked. It was painful. Draining wounds often is. But then comes healing.
I am physically different now. But I sense I am also becoming different in other ways too. God is pruning and shaping me.
He is not done. I am still battling, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, He is in me and I am in Him. He has The Plan. He knows where we are going.
The same is true for you. He is in you and you are in Him. He has The Plan and He knows where you are going together.
Pack light.
“Be sure of this. I am with you always.”
Matthew 28:20
