In The Desert

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil."  Matthew 4:1


God was pleased when Jesus was baptized.  Matthew 3:16, "As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water.  At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him.  And a voice from heaven said, 'this is my son whom I love; with Him I am well pleased."  But right after He was baptized, God sent Him into the wilderness to be tested.


I don't understand why this happens, but it does.  We do something good, in Gods eyes, then we are taken into an emptiness, or depression.  Maybe it's so we don't get prideful, I'm not sure.  Some of the best things that I have done have been followed by depression, or by testing, and if I don't remember this, the testing is very hard to get through.


In Matthew 4:2, the Bible says that Jesus was hungry from fasting for 40 days and 40 nights.  And when He was weak, Satan came to tempt Him.  Satan offered Jesus several ways out of His chosen path, but Jesus fought back with scripture, with the word of God.


It is so important to learn scripture, and the Holy Spirit will bring that scripture to mind when we are in need of it, but first we have to get it into our minds, study and memorize, and be ready for the ambush.


Tips for getting ready to battle:


1. Pick out scriptures that mean something to you.


2. On Paper, print out several scriptures then cut each scripture out.


3. Tape the scriptures up anywhere you spend a lot of time.


4. Every time a scripture is in front of you, repeat it, and repeat it often.


Then: Pray and refocus


Also: Learn songs, it's easier for a melody to come in to your head.


The adversary is waiting to attack.  We have to be ready for conflict, so yes, study and memorize scriptures.