TEMPTED BUT OVERCAME - PART 1

By Adeola Akintoye

We read how Jesus Christ overcame the temptation in the wilderness in the Gospels. One of the learning I have always attributed to this passage in Luke 4 was the need to have the word of God in our heart. The Holy Spirit opened my eyes some days ago to another learning aspect of this passage. This was the aspect of the typical temptation that human beings (both male and female) constantly encounter, which is the core of sins of men. One is also able to understand from Jesus’ response, the key things that are important in life, and once we gain this knowledge, no matter which side the enemy wants to tempt us we would discern and make the right decision.

Apostle John in 1 John 1:16, ‘For all that is in the world -  the lust of the flesh (physical pleasure), the lust of the eyes(what we see), and the pride of life(our achievements and possessions)  is not of the Father but is of the world’. The devil uses these three areas to manipulate and lure men to sin. He tried it with Jesus and failed. I wonder why he never tried what he did with Eve with Jesus; that is tell Jesus that He would be like God and never die. I guess it was a case of done that, can’t work this time! Maybe he thought he dare not try him on the spiritual level but since Jesus is also human, he might be able to get him from the physical level. And of course, once he succeeds in the physical, it would impact the spiritual. Unfortunately for the enemy, the fact that Jesus overcame this temptation helps us Believers to know and have the assurance that we too can overcome any physical temptation.

The Lust of the Flesh

After 40 days of fasting Jesus was hungry and the devil said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread”. The body naturally requires food and water to keep it going, and after 40 days I can imagine the hunger. Some of us as a young Christian, fasting are a real challenge. It’s not the question that is so important but Jesus’ response, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God”’.

To fully grasp the importance of this response, one needs to refer to the original reference that Jesus quoted from. In the book of Deuteronomy 8:3, Moses was talking to the Israelites about obeying all the commandment of God as they enter the promise land. He reminded them that God led them through the wilderness for 40 years to humble and test them, to know what is in their heart and whether they would obey Him. God allowed them to go hungry, yet He fed them with manna, their garment did not wear out nor did their feet swell up from that entire walk. God provided everything they needed. He can provide everything we need. He is our source. We do not have to go against His commandment in order to get our daily needs.

What is the lust of the flesh? In Galatians 5:19, this includes sexual immorality, impurity and lustful pleasures. Lust is defined as an excessive or uncontrolled craving for or after something. Our flesh desires to be fed and satisfied (food, water, sex etc). These desires are natural. Our way of satisfying these desires must be in line with God’s word. If we let these desires become excessive that it takes over our rational mind, the enemy will use this against us.

The desire to satisfy this craving makes many go against the word of God. Esau sold his birthright because he craved food. When we are not able to control this craving, we could go to any extent to satisfy our desire. The enemy fans our craving as long as it gets our focus away from God. That is his intent, he says to himself, ‘make them focus on the desire, their feeling, anything to keep them away from God’

Christians are meant to live and operate in the spirit. This requires that we bring all fleshy craving under subjection. We can do this only, by the power of the Holy Spirit and complete obedience to the Word of God. Our flesh is too weak. Once we start focusing more on the craving of our flesh we are operating under the lust of the flesh. Satan will use our cravings to keep our mind from things of God.

This is so familiar; you make a decision to fast, that’s when you start having this unnatural hunger. I go through this experience sometimes when I fast. There comes a time during the day, when the desire for food is so strong that it borders on craving. During those times, I use all my senses to focus on God and things of God and (practically keep busy). I notice that when it’s about a couple of hours to breaking the fast the desire disappears. I remember one of our Spiritual fathers saying that he tells his body that if it does not corporate, he will extend the fasting, ‘you body, if you are complaining because of a seven day fast, I will make it fourteen days, so you had better corporate!’ I can just sense the different parts of the body saying to each other, “I beg, seven days better fourteen oh, lets persevere and leave him alone”.

When we are going through some wilderness experience, we need to be careful that we don’t focus on what we don’t have than trusting in the One who said He will provide for all our needs.

Our physical needs should not make us start doubting the Word of God. The Israelites in the wilderness complained against God that He could not give them bread and water. This made God furious because they did not believe Him nor trust Him to care for them. God did command the skies to open and He rained down manna for them but His anger rose against them and He killed their strongest men (Ps 78:19-31). The Israelites counted the Word of God as nothing because of their craving. They were more concerned about satisfying their physical wants now, right now. It made them forget what God has done for them in the past, how He has continually met their needs, they forgot His Word of promises just because of their flesh.

If Jesus had accepted Devil’s offer because he was so hungry, and he was very hungry (Math 4:1), it would have been using His power in a wrong way, at a wrong time and totally against the Will of God. His only focus was on doing the will of His Father, nothing else nothing more.

Do we want something so bad, that nothing else matters than just to have it right now no matter what? If it makes you go against the Word of God, the result could lead to eternal condemnation, unless there is repentance. Take a leaf out of Jesus’ book and focus on the Word of God concerning that thing. Be aware that your unnatural craving could be the wiles of the enemy fanning your desires to give in to your flesh and thus be cut off from God. Jesus was tempted and overcame, so can you.