Immediately after Jesus was baptised by John and heard God’s voice from Heaven saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” things began to change for him. And the very first experience He was going to go through was the wilderness, a place no one wants to be. My brother, my sister, what is interesting here is that it is the Spirit of God that lead Jesus to the wilderness, not Satan! Now, in this wild place, He found Himself all alone. At some points in our lives, we all know wilderness, that time when we wander around thinking: “What do I do next? Where do I go? How do I handle this situation? Who is going to help me here? Will this ever end?” In this passage, we learn that Jesus was among wild animals, in other words, surrounded by unforeseeable and constant danger. Just like Him, every day, we too are surrounded by many dangers and temptations that are as threatening to us, or more so, than the wild animals that Jesus faced. The Bible warns us: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The devil wanted to tempt Jesus in order to destroy His work and His mission on earth. He wanted to sidetrack Him and he had a perfect opportunity to do so when he was alone in the wilderness. That is exactly what Satan does with us today, because he knows we are more vulnerable when in the wilderness. You see, we live in a world of many dangers (crime, violence, and even subtle attacks on our faith). Many people, including believers, often succumb to these dangers: nowadays, it is so common to see believers being led away from church, from the teachings of the Scriptures and becoming tolerant of bad things or compromising where God clearly says that we should be firm. My friend, yes, Jesus went through the difficult wilderness experience in order to identify with you today, because He was in that place as a human being, not as God: “but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Why? Because wilderness is an invitation to sin. Yet, He did not sin. My friend, the Bible says Jesus had the angels around Him to take care of Him, but He did not tell them “remove me from this dangerous place”. So, if He could overcome, you too can… with His help, because He knows exactly what you are experiencing . All you have to do is you lean on Him and trust Him because He has been there before you and He can teach you ways to get out of the wilderness. Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.
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