by: Cris Corzine-McCloskey

I was looking in Mathew 17, at the story of the epileptic boy that the disciples could not get healed. Picture if you can the frustration and embarrassment they must have felt, because up to this point they had been traipsing around the countryside healing all sorts of ailments, cleansing lepers and casting out demons. They had it going on! Then they met this boy, and something about his condition shriveled their faith up to the point where they could not get the job done. Jesus came down from the mountain, saw the boy at his worse, didn’t bat an eye, and healed him immediately. Afterward the disciples asked him why they couldn’t get it done and Jesus told them that type of healing could only come from prayer and fasting.

Letting the bible interpret the bible has changed my life, and when we look at it we will see that God leaves an extraordinary trail of breadcrumbs to some of His greatest truths. So I asked myself, ‘where in the bible did it show Jesus praying and fasting?’ It hit me like thunder…the only place it talks about Him doing these activities together is in the wilderness, where He had His showdown with the devil and won. I believe the victory He gained over the devil in the privacy of that wilderness gave Him the power to go public with His ministry and defeat the devil at every turn. If He could whip the devil in private He could certainly do it in public.

So how does this apply to us today? Does this mean that we need to go out to the wildlife refuge, pitch a tent and fast for 40 days in order to gain some victory in our lives? I don’t think so, because I believe that we have ample opportunity to apply these principles in our personal wildernesses we go through on a regular basis. Spouse not loving you the way you need? Wilderness opportunity. Boss not recognizing your efforts? Wilderness opportunity. Finances a wreck…well, you get my point.

So let’s take a look at what Jesus did and did not do when He was in the wilderness. The first thing I find intriguing is we have no record of Him begging God to shorten His stay. Evidently he was okay with being out there. He also did not go around telling everyone that the devil was trying to whip Him and ask to be put on the prayer chain to give Him strength. I’m not saying those are bad things, I’m just noticing that they were not how He gained victory. What I see is that He went out there with a renewed mind (a word had just been spoken over Him by God about Him being a pleasing, beloved Son) and He stood on that word, trusted God and defeated the enemy with the written Word.

Furthermore, I believe that what the devil offered Him had to be tantalizing, or they would not have called it a temptation in the bible. We are often tantalized to give up, we go in to despair, or we pray for deliverance out of the wilderness of our circumstance. Jesus did not do that. He stood on what He knew, used it against temptation, and won such a substantial victory in private that He had full authority over the enemy in public for His ministry. That really, really resonates with me. After all, how can I take authority over the devil in my public life and ministry if I can’t take authority over a chocolate chip cookie in private (as Joyce Meyer would say). So for me, I am going to try to look at my wildernesses as opportunities of great gain, not something that is out to get me. Anyone want to join me for a hike?

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