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“Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “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.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” (Luke 4:5-8)
Imagine, the King Jesus had just been praying, fasting and He was just going to begin the Mission. Mark that He was just going to begin the Mission. Here comes the foolish devil, “Hey come, then he stood on the mountain and showed him the whole world in just a twinkle of an eye. And told Him, “You know what? All these things have been given to me.” By whom? Who had given him those things? He said, “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.” “And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
Mark this: Jesus was going to begin the Mission that the Father had assigned Him from the beginning. He knew that in beginning there would be a spiritual encounter. He is going to first meet the gods of the land. So, He needed to go and fast so that He could subdue the flesh and subdue the humanity in Him and raise the divinity – so that He encounters the world- to fulfill the Mission He had been given.
So, Jesus Christ agreed to go through some pain of fasting for forty days and nights; without eating or drinking and He was alone. When He was going to begin something, He separated Himself from people, from the foods and drinks of the world, and earthly pleasures; for forty days. Then when He came, guess who He meets first…? The devil; it tells Him, “You are going to serve the Most High God but do you know what is on the earth? God gave these people these things; but they also gave them to me, so I am in charge. I am the one who decides who to give. So why bother yourself to save them, just kneel before me and I will give them to you.”
So, when you are going to begin anything in life, obviously, there will be the forces that will try to pull you so that you serve their interests, in everything. Wherever we are, we stand for a certain kingdom.
In everything that has been assigned for an appointed time, in your life, there will be a force, that will try to stand in your way. Light and darkness will always be there. If you do not pray your way out, or accept to go through what you need to go through to get exactly what you want, and you will adapt the devil’s ways, and it will be your end.
That is the way of life friend. It did not only happen with my Master Jesus Christ but it happens with all of us as we stand to serve.
There will always be something put before you. If you do not discern the things that will help you, you will land in the hands of the evil one. So, if you are purposed for God, be focused, even if it means to go through some pains. Go through them, they will lead you somewhere better.
Do you take off time just to fast for the matters of the Kingdom?
If you don’t focus on matters of the Kingdom as children of God, we are putting ourselves in a big problem. There is a man called Jesus. If you take Him into you and believe that you can stand for His Kingdom, to the point of death; I am not saying that go and die…but I am saying what the Bible says.
Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10)
So, this teaches us that the devil is allowed to test us; so do not think the devil has any power that is too much. No. It is only there allowed to test us so that God gets genuine love. If there was no tester or sieve, then God would not know who genuinely loves Him. Your true friend will show up or manifest at your challenge moment. So, you get to know the kind of hearts before you at a certain level of manifestation.
God had to create something that would make people to be tested… so never be there and think devil has its own power. It has no power of its own, but it is humans who give him the authority like you have seen in the book of Luke chapter 4. He showed Jesus Christ, “for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.”
Idols have no power of their own. The words of men that they speak to them are the ones that attract demonic forces onto them. So, it is man who gives his authority to the evil one…then evil one begins controlling man and gives him what he wants from what is his own. That is what Luke was trying to say.
In Revelation 2:10, He says, be faithful for the enemy will test you. The enemy is allowed to test you. So, if you have no focus, that God Almighty is God, then you will have 1,000 gods. There is only one and only True God, the Most High God.
If you do not keep the focus the enemy takes over, here the Bible is saying, “Be faithful to the point of death.” That is to say, “Whatever it is, I cannot change my stand, I cannot. How can I do witchcraft when I have seen God who performs miracles? He heals the sick.”
And you know, in the things of the spirit, trials and tribulations lead you to a better level. Tests and trials are used as a force to open our understanding, to build our capacity to handle better levels. That is why God allows us to go through tests, trials, and some suffering so that we can build the capacity to handle bigger levels. The higher you go the bigger the devil you encounter.
Some of us do not encounter these small demons, no! They just run away. You step and they run away. We encounter the real guy himself, and then we kick the hell out of him because he has no power over us and what he does, he runs into people.
Friends, what am trying to teach you is that in the things of the Kingdom, we agree to go through some situations, through some sufferings. Suffering for the Kingdom does not bring you down. It raises you more. The enemy hardens situations, he tries to worsen it, you say, “No. I will fight till I get out of your hands.” You go through what you need to go through. If you have to fast, then fast. Do what it takes as long as you keep your health well. But the time of fasting, fast without fearing to go through some pains. That one will lead you to higher heights and God will bless you.
But if you fear, the scripture says. “Fear not.” Because the enemy knows that people fear. And the weapon he uses to hold people in his hands is fear. So, he makes you lose faith and replaces your faith with fear.
For instance, if you listen to an Anti-Christ, the first thing you get in you is fear; not because of what he has said but the spirit that person has released. You fear and say, “I even fear.” So, the devil strikes you with fear because fear is a spirit of judgement but one who has faith will discern. Your spirit will discern, and you will say, “This must be an anti-Christ.”
Fear is the tool the enemy uses to hold God’s children in captivity. That is why he comes as if he is going to take your own life. But the Bible is saying, “Fear not, even to the point of death.”
Christ Himself made Himself a human and went through suffering to the level of death. Even on the Cross, meaning even shamefully.
“And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8)
It means the death of shame. My LORD was crucified naked. These guys were so bad. When satan sits in a person, the person is worse than the devil himself. The guys were so bad. So, they crucified the King, they put Him on the Cross, but He became human and obeyed the pain. He went through the suffering.
There is no suffering you can talk of that our LORD Jesus Christ does not know. He knows it all but as Christians we fear pain. That fear is what the devil is capitalizing on to weaken us. We find ourselves weakened.
Let us keep the momentum in everything we are doing. In the matters of the Kingdom, be willing to do what it takes to get there. The enemy will always try to blackmail and stop the move of the Kingdom, but it will never be stopped. The Gospel can never be stopped.
The devil will always create occasion to see that stops the move of God so, children of God you must pray. If you do not pray, your generation goes with darkness. We must handover this generation so that God says, “During this generation of Fire Man, there was so and so. They stood for the kingdom.” You must stand for the Kingdom and the Gospel, and do whatever it takes. Nothing will never move me; I am content inside me. I am not looking for money or fame but Christ must be glorified. Spend more time in prayer.
When Christ was going to do some work, he separated Himself from people and went into fasting. There are moments when you do not need to be in people when you need to be alone.
Do the right thing according to your calling, but in it all, let Christ be involved. Let Him be considered. Do not fear to go through what you are supposed to go through to get the right results.
Our LORD Jesus Christ sowed a seed. So, when the Gospel gets an attack, say, “I belong to the Kingdom.”
Do what is right. In your moments every day, pray for the Kingdom. Have moments and go through the pain of fasting and praying for your nation that Christ may rule over that nation.
Prayer:
Righteous Jesus, we pray that your Spirit will prevail, for we can do nothing without you. Give us the right message full of the truth that comes from Thee, and the insight of Your Glory. Amen .
May the Presence of the LORD be with you.
