The End of a Battle is the Beginning of Another
During a Sunday sermon, Pastor E (Pastor Emmanuel Adewusi), as I like to refer to him, was making reference to the story of Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. Wow, He was just baptized by John and the heavens were opened, with the Holy Spirit descending upon Him as a dove (Matthew 3:16). Not only that, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Wow, what an amazing day that would have been for Jesus Christ. Not long after that, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4).
“If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread”- Luke 4:3
This was the first temptation the devil started with Jesus. He attacked his identity “if you are the Son of God”. We often have our identities attacked by people in our workplaces or neighbourhoods. We sometimes even fall for that temptation by proving ourselves and losing faith in our identity. Sometimes we are faced with circumstances that could challenge who we are in Christ and if not careful, we could easily fall for it. But there is hope because Jesus conquered this temptation. He spoke the word of God back to the devil and said “it is written, man shall not live by bread alone” (Luke 4:4). Regardless of how and when your identity is challenged, we can always go back to the word of God that reminds us of who we are in Christ. We are children of God, made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:27), we are His treasured possession (Deuteronomy 7:6); we are a chosen people, a royal priesthoods (1 Peter 2:9); we are the head and not the tail (Deuteronomy 28:13); we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37).
You would have thought that after this temptation, that would have been the end. It was absolutely not. The devil kept on the offensive. The next temptation he came up with used an element of strength from the first temptation. For a person who is sure of their identity, there is a level of knowledge they are aware of concerning their authority, especially as the Child of God. According to the gospel of Luke, the second temptation focused on tempting Jesus with authority. “All this authority I will give You, and their glory, for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours” (Luke 4:6-7)
The moment the first battle ended, another one was rising up.
The devil did not stop there; he tempted him a third time! “If You are the son of God, throw yourself down from here…” (Luke 4:9). While one battle is won, another one is rising. David is someone in the bible that can definitely relate to this. As he finished fighting and conquering Goliath, in the process of celebrating victory, another battle was rising between him and King Saul. The ladies started singing about the victories of David and Saul and from then, the battle against David’s life rose as a result of jealousy generated from the women’s songs (1 Samuel 18:7-9).
It takes the help of the Holy Spirit to be sensitive to the battle being waged against us. This is because we sometimes get carried away and need to be reminded. Without Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you cannot gain access to the Holy Spirit, who is our ever-present help. You need to open your heart to Jesus now. If you will like Him to be your Lord and Savior, please repeat this prayer:
“Lord Jesus Christ, I believe you are the Son of God and I believe You died for me on the cross of Calvary. I know I am a sinner and today, I come to You to forgive me of all my sins and to make me a brand new creation. I accept You as my personal Lord and Saviour. Thank you Lord for forgiving me and making me born again, in Jesus name, Amen”.
Congratulations!!!! You are now a born-again Christian (It simply means a new born baby in Christ and there is loads of celebration in heaven because of YOU!)
If you made this decision, please reach out to us at https://www.cccghq.org/contact/
By: Pastor Ibukun Adewusi