SCRIPTURE: "Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit, to be tempted by the Devil. And having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards He hungered. And coming near to Him, the Tempter said, If You are the Son of God, speak that these stones may become loaves. But answering, He said, It has been written: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but on every Word going out of the mouth of God." Mat 4:1-4  (KJV)

One would think, at first glance, that old Satan himself was just tormenting "the new kid on the block" when he began to tempt Jesus. But, take another look at the text for today. We sometimes skim right over that first verse there, and it's  such a vital piece of information for you and I to apply to our lesson here today. It says,

"Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit, to be tempted by the Devil." Mat 4:1 (KJV)

A good share of we Christians believe that we are led by the Devil into the wilderness to be tempted of the Spirit. not the case. the Bible makes it pretty clear that it was the Spirit that led our Lord into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil. Huge difference wouldn't you say? In fact the WORD tells us in James 1:13 to:

"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: "

As we look at this same account in the book of Luke we find that Luke puts it this way...

"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness," Luke 4:1 (KJV)

Now, if we look back at yesterday's devotional message we find that Jesus had just gone through an awesome experience where John Baptizes Him and when He came up out of the water, the WORD tells us that and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and  lighting upon him:

"And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."  Mat 3:17 (KJV)

In Mark chapter 1:9-11 and Luke 3: 21-23 we find the writers saying that the HEAVENS OPENED and the Spirit in the form of a dove (Mark 1:10) or as the account in Luke records it... in a bodily shape like a Dove (Luke 3:22), Descending upon Him, and then that Booming Voice which was that of God the Father saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased".

Okay... how many know that if that happened at your baptismal service, you would be feeling pretty high by the time you hit dry land. You may not even hit dry land for a while since most of us I'm afraid would be on the proverbial cloud 9 for some time to come.

Well Pastor, Sunday School teacher... Mom, Dad, when was the last time you got a such a charge from God the Holy Spirit and totally on cloud 9 with the AWESOMENESS of His Presence, and almost as soon as you left the church building or your prayer closet or your study room... you got hit right between the spiritual solar plexus with the news that one of your kids just got arrested for stealing, or worse?

What about you Preacher? When was the last time that you got so full of the Lord throughout the week, studying and praying and looking forward to delivering your sermon Sunday morning, and just before you left for the church building Sunday morning your shoe string broke, you ripped your suit jacket, spilt coffee on your backup suit jacket, fell over the kid's bike in the driveway, got to the church only to found it had been broken into, tried to go into the office to regain your composure and your wife shows up at the office door with your suit pants in her hand.

Well, I had a worse scenario I could have gone with, but I thought I would give it a lighter side this morning.

We all know what I'm talking about, and that's why those who live from "experience to experience" have a lot of "valleys" in their lives, because they think that unless there always having a "mountain top" experience - there  must be something wrong. In fact, I had a little lady tell me one time if she wasn't dancing in the aisles and jumping a few pews... she hadn't been to church. Well, that's a good thing to shoot for I guess, to be wanting to "have church" and feel the power of The Holy Ghost in all of our services. But friend, there's something to be said about those valleys. They're where we're supposed to take our "mountain top" experiences to where those who do not Name the Name of Christ live day-in and day-out - never knowing that there is such a thing
as a mountain top experience.

This is where we find the Lord, being led by the Spirit into a time of fasting... and what always attends fasting? The symptoms of the flesh. Did you know that everything you do out of obedience to God or in response to God's prompting in your life is countered with temptation to steal away your joy and to destroy your faith and even you if possible. That is a mountain top to a valley experience in a matter of minutes... if you're not careful.

When I was a young man in my late 20's my wife and I both had automobiles and I was the acting Dean of a Local bible college in the city of Des Moines, Iowa. A fine young man by the name of Timothy came to our Bible college; and after a short while he was out of money and couldn't afford to pay his gas bill - so he had not heat in his home. It was more important to him to pay his tuition and purchase his books. Well, we were in the coldest stretch of winter and we would try everything to get him to come on over to the dorm and stay in one of the guys dorms... but he refused. He said it wasn't fair that he would get such treatment for free when his fellow college mates had to pay for their room and board.

Well to make a long story short... we ended up giving him various odd-jobs at the College, and soon he got his lights back on and things started looking better for Timothy. One day he came into my office all excited and wanted me to agree with him in prayer because he had a great job offer, but he needed a car to get back and forth to work everyday. It even would mean that he could bring his wife and family up from southern Missouri to Des Moines to live with him. I assured him I would and we prayed right then as well.

Well, the Lord started working on me and, as I said at the beginning of this little caveat, my wife and I had two cars and one was just a couple of years old while the other was about 10 years old but it was paid for. So I decided to obey the Lord and give him one of our cars. Because we were giving it to the Lord he gave Timothy the better of the two... so that he would have good, reliable transportation to get back and forth to work.

The next week after giving him our better car... the other one locked up and I mean... she was done for. We had the car towed directly to the junk yard and we began our search for another car. Let me tell you, it was tough going for a few weeks. Timothy tried everything to give us that car back.. but instead I accepted a ride in and there from him to make him feel okay with it.

Osella and I never lost that "mountain top" experience of giving Timothy that car... because we let it stand as a "foundation to faith" in believing God for our needs. And I'm not blowing our horn here... but we have given several things away at the leading of the Lord including offerings that were bigger than our combined salaries for the week. Yet, in every case... we were so blessed by the Lord in being able to "obey Him": and quite frankly - that's where the blessing "found it's root". Cars and couches and brand new suit jackets and coats and money are all "things", but to obey the Lord is "faith work". It's what lets you know way down in those valleys that "there is a way out", and there is a blessing that's just waiting to be claimed.

Are you walking through a valley today and maybe for a very long time now? Maybe you have just had a mountaintop experience and have been just hit between the eyes in such a way that you don't feel there's anyway you will ever recover. Well, friend... what do you know that the desert is known to be filled with? If you said sand - you're right! Where did God make use of that word before in the Bible? Think way back.

"That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. " Gen 22:17,18 (KJV)

What was that in relation to? Anyone remember? Obedience. When Abraham took His son Isaac and was going to sacrifice him unto the Lord and the Lord told him to not sacrifice his son but God provided the Sacrifice, and told him because he was willing to do all that God asked... that he would bless him.  Furthermore he told him that as the sand upon the sea shore - that through his MULTIPLIED SEED that ALL of the nations would be blessed.

In fact the book of Hebrews makes reference to that Genesis account in Hebrews 11:12 where it says:

"So from one man, though he was physically as good as dead, there have sprung descendants whose number is as the stars of heaven and as countless as the innumerable sands on the seashore." Hebrews 11:12 (KJV)

You may be in a valley now - you may have even laughed at God when He spoke to your heart and called you to do something in His Name that you thought was way outside your expertise or realm of possibility.

Listen, you will never reach the mountain top until you take that first step toward it.

Let's pray.

Father... I have found myself from time to time in a funk at the bottom of that mountain feeling as though my legs are weighted down with lead. For me to climb anything is in those moments, is next to impossible. Oh Father, I come with all of those things that I have held me down and not only kept me from climbing, but kept me from wanting to climb... and I release them all to you right now, and simply trust you for the outcome. In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen.