April 27, 2022 - Luke 4:1-2

“Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days.” Luke 4:1-2 NLT

Jesus, this happens just after you were baptized. The Holy Spirit descended on you and the Father called you his son in whom he was pleased. What an amazing “high” you must have been having. The spirit then leads you to the wilderness to spend 40 days praying and fasting with him. It is in the place of drawing close to God that the devil lets losoe such a strong attack on you. I know that most of us could also say, when we look at the times in our lives where we felt we were on a spiritual “high” and really in a season of pressing into you, it was also a season of seeing the enemy really attack us. It is assuring to know that it doesn’t just happen to us. We can see it throughout the stories of people in the Bible including you, Jesus.

We go and hide away in the secret place with you and all of hell comes against us. I find this to be just confirmation that we are in the right place if the enemy wants to pull us away so badly. Lord, we ask that you help us recognize when this is happening and not pull away from you or allow the attacks to distract us. Help us learn to press in even more. We want the secret place with you to be our place of peace even if an all-out war is going on around us. Let it be like the eye of a hurricane. Being in the eye of the storm doesn’t mean that the storm is gone, it is just a place of peace that is surrounded by the storm. Teach us how to find that place in all the craziness of the storms in our lives. Even if the storm seems to be tearing apart everything in our lives, teach us to find that place of peace with you. Lord, we trust that even when the attacks are happening, like with Jesus in the wilderness, you will help us overcome.

In Jesus name, amen.