Day 5: Matthew 3:13-4:2

This is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He publicly comes out and aligns himself with the message of repentance that John has been preaching, and the Holy Spirit descends upon him, signifying his anointing to begin the ministry that God has for him. Most of us would have planned for this event to be a huge celebration with hundreds or thousands of people coming to listen to Jesus give his first sermon, to witness the first of many miracles, or to just be blessed by the Messiah.

But that’s not what happens. Instead, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus off into the wilderness to fast and pray for 40 days in seclusion, and during that time he is tempted by the devil himself, who tries to convince Jesus into giving up before he ever even gets started. This was a pivotal moment in the life of Jesus. He was publicly announcing himself for the very first time, and he was immediately met by the enemy.

Satan still works that way. He tries to come and snatch away what God is doing in your life before you ever have a chance to see it grow. Jesus warns us about this tactic of the enemy in his parable of the farmer scattering seed in Matthew 13. Verse 19 says this, “The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.”

Our enemy doesn’t want the Gospel message to have time to even sink into hearts. When the Holy Spirit is calling out to you, the devil is going to try to keep you from hearing those calls by every means necessary. And when you do begin the journey, he will continue to fight you to keep the Kingdom of God from taking root in your life. Our goal is to be good soil. 

If we know that the enemy is going to try and attack us at the outset of our obedience to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, then we can safeguard against those attacks. We do that by seeking God, and by training our hearts to hear his voice more clearly. Don’t be surprised when the devil comes after you immediately after you have an amazing experience at church. That’s been his plan from the beginning, but Jesus showed us the enemies playbook and now we can prepare ourselves to withstand the onslaught.