In Matthew 4:1, we find Jesus being led into the wilderness immediately after being baptized by John and immediately after the Holy Spirit had descended on him. Mark tells us he was immediately sent into the wilderness for forty days to be tempted by Satan (Mk 1:12).  The word translated sent, more often means driven or forcibly led. What we see is Jesus being strongly compelled by the Spirit to go into the wilderness to face Satan during the entire forty days.  The final temptations are recorded by Matthew, but the language suggests that Satan was whispering all along the way.  

In the same way that Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they had received power from the Holy Spirit before they began to preach the gospel, it is apparent that Jesus could not have withstood the temptations of the devil without the Holy Spirit.  Neither can we.  The more we allow the Holy Spirit to manifest himself in us, the more we can withstand temptation.  I’m not speaking so much here about spiritual gifts but spiritual maturity. In the past few years, we have seen numerous Christian leaders fall to temptation. They were abounding in spiritual gifts, or at least in natural talent, but had a shortfall in character.  Paul tells us to earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but as we do, we must desire even more, the character of Christ to be formed in us.  The temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness were preparing him to carry the weight of his ministry and his ultimate sacrifice.

Most of us want to achieve our goals in life without paying a great price for it.  That is very human.  In Matthew 4, Satan saved that temptation for his finale.  Matthew tells us, “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him” (Mt. 4:7-11).

Ultimately, Jesus will rule over all the nations of the world.  Satan was offering him that position without the cross – worldwide rule without the suffering.  The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way that we are – yet without sinning (Heb. 4:5).  This final temptation must have appealed greatly to his flesh.  Thankfully for all of us, he resisted.  In part, he was able to do so because he had already said no to temptation countless times in his forty days in the wilderness.  Each time he said “No,” he was strengthened in his spirit.

Here is the thing.  If we are given a crown without a cross, we will eventually fail.  That crown might be leading a large church, leading a nationally known ministry, gaining the coveted promotion at work, the marriage you have desired for years, recognition in the sports or academic world, winning the lottery, etc.  Satan knows our vulnerabilities and he will exploit them whenever possible.  

The ultimate example of this principle is Saul and David.  Saul was anointed one day and became King the next.  He was thrust into a position of power and significance he was not ready to carry.  His rule was marked by insecurity, manipulation, the fear of man, and even attempted murder.  David was anointed one day but was not given the crown for years as he ran from Saul, led men in the wilderness, learned to desperately depend on God, and even learned to control his temper.  Saul was given power and success without his heart being tried and his character developed.  His reign ended in catastrophe.  David assumed the crown after years of his heart being tested and is remembered as Israel’s greatest king…even with a serious moral failure in his life.  Men with character can recover even from failures, while those without character will be crushed.  Saul became an insecure and conniving man.  David became a humble man.

The lesson is not to despise the waiting, but trust that God is developing you to steward the fulfillment of your dreams well…if they are godly dreams.   The warning signs of men being given positions and recognition beyond their character is all around us…sports stars, politicians, celebrities, lottery winners, preachers, etc. whose lives are marked with addiction, a string of broken marriages, fraud, insider trading, moral failures, etc.  

When we have a dream or desire that would carry with it notoriety, huge financial success, power, influence, and so forth, we must first ask the Lord if that dream or desire is from him.  It may be a dream planted by the enemy for your destruction.  If you genuinely sense it is from God, next check your motives for pursuing the dream.  Is it obedience, bringing glory to God, extending the kingdom, or for personal significance?  Be honest with yourself! If it is about your personal significance, ask the Lord to change your heart.  If it is all about you, he cannot give you that desire since he loves you.  It would be to your detriment.  If the dream keeps illuding you, be open to the possibility that God is preparing you to fulfill that desire through the waiting.  Remember, his time table rarely matches ours.  If you can accept the waiting and still work with integrity, faithfulness, and thanksgiving, then you will be ready for the desire or the dream to given to you.  God will only give us more when we have been faithful with what we already have (Mt. 25:21).

Too many times in the waiting, we begin to resent the people around us, manipulate situations to get what we want, become critical of those who have what we want or who we think are standing in our way. We begin to doubt God’s care for us and maybe become angry with God because he hasn’t given us what we wanted. These feelings are natural, but need to be reined in and adjusted to be in alignment with God’s word and his promises for you. That constant testing and realignment is what develops our spiritual maturity and prepares us to steward well what we believe God wants for us. 

Paul, as a Pharisee, was once driven by selfish ambition and a desire for recognition. But after meeting Jesus, his heart was changed.  He said, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:11-13. 

Paul found contentment because he had learned to see the hand of God in whatever circumstance he was in.  He believed God was using that circumstance to either develop his heart or to bear fruit in a difficult situation by demonstrating Jesus to those who were watching his life.  May we do the same when our life is not yet reflecting the dreams and desires of our hearts.

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them.” So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere (Lk.9:1-6).

In the passage above, Luke tells us of the moment Jesus gifted the twelve apostles and sent them out on their own.  I think there are two important lessons we can draw from this account. First, the twelve had been living with Jesus and seeing him heal the sick and cast out demons on a daily basis.  Perhaps, he had invited them to do some of those things themselves as he was training them to carry on his ministry after his departure.  But the presence of the Master had been a security blanket for these followers of his.  If they stumbled or fell short he would instruct them or pick up where they had failed and finish the job.  

But now, it was time for them to try their wings.  Not only was he sending them out without him, but he was telling them to take no staff, no bag, no bread, and no money as they went. The crucial result of this outing would be for them to learn that the Father would provide and  work through them supernaturally as they preached, healed and delivered.  Many of us, and perhaps myself as well, have rarely been put in a position in which we would fail, be imprisoned, starve, or die without his miraculous intervention.  When we do find ourselves in those circumstances and see the Father keep his promises in supernatural ways, our faith can blossom.

We actually need to let the Holy Spirit put us in those positions more often that we normally do. Sharing our faith with someone hostile to the gospel, sharing a word we believe is from the Lord with a stranger at our favorite coffee shop, or praying for a man we just met at the grocery story to stand up and walk away from his wheel chair are moments in which we will be foolish failures, unless God shows up. The axiom is true that unless we take risks, no faith is required.  But when we do risk, faith grows.  Even if our prayers do not heal on that occasion or if the “prophetic word” simply leaves the recipient puzzled, God is pleased that we stepped out in faith and that we risked failure doing what we believed he wanted us to do.

Remember when Peter saw Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee and impulsively leaped from the boat to join his Rabbi.  He took a few steps of faith, but then allowed the crashing waves to take his attention off Jesus.  Of course, as he sank, Jesus pulled him out of the water.  We may think Peter was foolish for doing such a thing, but as many have noted, no one else in the boat was even willing to try. I have to believe Jesus was more pleased with Peter at that moment than with the eleven others who huddled inside the boat.  

Faith only grows when we see Jesus deliver us from difficulties that we know we would not have survived or succeeded in without his intervention. We need to look back and recognize his deliverance in our past but also be willing to step into risky situations in the present to do his will.  As we do, faith grows and our spiritual gifts increase.

A second lesson here is more subtle.  The text tells us that the twelve were given power and authority to heal, cast out demons, and preach with power.  Judas was among those twelve and so we must assume that he also healed, cast out demons, and preached.  The question becomes, “How could he have experienced those amazing manifestations of God through him, and still betray Jesus?  Sometimes giftings run far ahead of character.  Not only did he betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities, but we are told he also stole from the money people gave to fund the ministry of Jesus.  Great gifts, no character.

As we seek to grow in spiritual gifts, we should seek even more to grow in character…to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  Some men have been thrust into notoriety on the basis of their extraordinary gifts…preaching, healing, prophecy, and so forth.  And yet, the weight of their “success” was more than their character could support.  It’s not to say that true men of God cannot be ambushed by the enemy in a moment of vulnerability, but when influential leaders have been hiding sin for years, there is a flaw in their character.

Sometimes, the enemy convinces gifted people their notoriety, their large churches, and their leading roles at huge conferences are marks of God’s approval so they minimize their sin or somehow believe that God will give them a pass for their transgressions.  Sometimes, they choose not to confess and deal with the sin because they believe it would cost them the notoriety and influence they love. However, God does not approve and eventually will reveal the sin if the man or woman does not confess and repent.  The lesson is…in the kingdom of God, the fruit of the Spirit is always of greater value than the gifts of the Spirit.  We must make sure the fruit always runs ahead of our gifts.