Retreat recap – Main session on the banks of the river.
There is an attack on your identity. Who you really are, who you were created to be, and how God sees you is the target of the enemy of your soul.
All good comes under attack. Who you are created to be is good. Now, who you are us under attack.
The temptation of Jesus was an attempt to steal his identity.
Luke 4: 1-13
Then Jesus, full of the Holy spirit, returned from the Jordan River. (What had just happened at the Jordan River – he was baptized.) He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry. Then the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.'”
Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,” the devil said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please. I will give it all to you if you will worship me.”
Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'”
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t eve hurt your foot on a stone.”
Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.'”
When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until they next opportunity came.
When did the attack happen? After Jesus’ baptism. After a mighty public move of God within his life. And when Jesus was most weak. He was hungry.
Wow – isn’t this exactly how it happens in our lives too? After we make a commitment or after we’ve seen God work, then comes the attack. And the enemy always attacks when we are at our weakest. When we are exhausted. When we are emotional. When we are fragile. When we are insecure. That’s when the enemy pounces.
Satan comes in when Jesus is hungry and weak and attacks his identity. It sounds like this, “Well if you’re really all this, then why can’t you do that.”
Satan starts making an unfair comparison. A comparison that makes us question who we are and what God must think of us.
And let’s be very clear … Satan’s tactics have not changed. He’s still doing the same thing thousands of years later – and he’s doing it to me and you. He’s constantly trying to make you compromise. He’s continually trying to rob you of God’s truth about you and replace it with some cheap imitation that hinges on appearances.
So, what’s the solution for this attack of identity? Look what Jesus did – he stiff armed Satan with the never changing truths of God. Jesus knew what God’s word said.
My sister, if you don’t know what God’s word says, then you will be vulnerable to the twisted suggestions of Satan. There’s only one way to know God’s word – be IN God’s word. You literally have to open it up and read it yourself. His word is alive, it’s like no other word. It will get in you and change you. It will change your heart and your mind. It will change your life.
When you know God’s word, then you know God’s truth. When you know God’s truth, then you won’t be so vulnerable to the suggestions of the devil.
What does your inner voice sound like? You know, that chatter that constantly goes on in your head that no one else can hear,...