40 Days in the Desert

40 Days in the Desert

A friend asked me to write about my thoughts of Jesus in the desert for forty days. I took this request and ran with it, and quickly discovered there was no way for me to write all of my thoughts in one post. I reread the account of Jesus in the desert in Matthew and Luke and I started to have questions. I began to study this topic in an effort to answer my questions and the more I studied the more I could relate this trying time to my life. Instead of relaying everything I learned from my studies I’m going to share the first five questions that came to my mind, the answers and close with a few thoughts that started me on this exploration.

  Let me set the stage: Jesus was baptized, accepted by God (his father) and “was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1)

Question 1: Why did Jesus go into the desert?

  We already know Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert but why? Jesus went to be tested or better yet tempted to know what it was like to be tempted by sin. This would allow him to stand before God on our behalf and to take on our sin to save us from eternity without God.

Question 2: What was the experience like?

  I wanted to know what the wilderness was like and how Jesus felt. I will answer the wilderness part in this questions and the feelings in another question. Jesus walked the desert for forty days. The desert or wilderness, one and the same for this topic, is not the sandy ocean you might have pictured. Instead it was a “region of rugged gorges and bad lands. This area was infested with wild animals.” (Pfeiffer, 201) The word infested, should clue you in on the fact that there were a lot of wild animals. I would picture the wilderness with the wild animals being everywhere, almost like there really wasn’t an escape from them. Jesus was alone, no disciples, in the barren, rugged land, with wild animals and his thoughts and prayers. The closest we could come to experiencing this today is to go hiking with nothing, sleep out under the stars and focus on God in our prayers.

Question 3: How did Jesus feel during this time?

 Jesus was baptized and I’m sure going into the wilderness Jesus was at one of the highest levels of his emotions, after all he was now fully accepted and recognized by God as his son. It would be safe to say Jesus was inspired and motivated to start his ministry when he was led to the desert. As the days past he became weary and weak like all humans would with no water, no food and no shelter to speak of. At his weakest, Jesus felt the elements of the wilderness with every step and that is when the devil comes into the story.

Question 4: Why was Jesus tempted?

  I never put much thought into why Jesus was tempted. Hang with me as I dive into this question. Jesus wasn’t just tempted once, but three times while he was in the wilderness. Let’s look at each temptation:

1. “The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” (Matthew 4:3) The devil wanted Jesus to depend on his own powers instead of putting his trust in God’s word.
2. “If you are the Son of God’, he said, ‘throw yourself down.” (Matthew 4:6) The devil follows this with scripture to try to influence Jesus to do what he is asking of him. “Satan attempted to confuse Christ by using scripture out of context.” (Willmington)
3. “All this I will give you’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:9) The devil tempted Jesus with worldly possessions.

 According to Willmington, “the purpose (of the temptations) was not to see if he would, but to prove that he could not sin” and “to provide the believer with an experienced high priest.” Jesus had to be quick on his feet and know the scriptures by heart to respond to these temptations, especially with a weak body. Jesus was tempted so he could be our Savior. The intro into his ministry is a rough forty days in the desert with rough land, wild animals, and the devil tempting him. The cross keeps me in awe of Jesus, but the desert puts a new perspective on what else he did for us.

Question 5: How did Jesus respond?

  We all know that Jesus responded to each temptation with scripture but the importance of this can easily be overlooked. Once you understand that, “Satan’s supreme object in the temptation ordeal was to cause Christ to act by himself, independent of the Father,” you realize the weight of Jesus using scripture to avoid the temptations. (Willmington) Jesus responded as we all should in a time of temptation/trial he leaned on God’s word to see him through the struggle. Jesus had the power to take care of himself during the forty days, he had the power to destroy the devil right there but he chose to lean on God’s word so that you and I could have life with him for all eternity.

 This post isn’t really my thoughts on Jesus in the desert but I felt it was important to share what I learned from my studies. I am not a Bible scholar and could be way off with the few thoughts I did share but this brief study opened my eyes to the depth of this story and I hope the few items I shared with you does the same. There will be more posts that come from the understanding that I now have of this scripture and my thoughts on it. Until next time, “May Yahweh bless you and protect you” Numbers 6:24

1. Pfeiffer, Charles. Baker's Bible Atlast

2. Willmington, Dr. Harold L. Willmington's Guide to the Bible

Abandon

Abandon

“I want to live with abandon, give you all that I am, ever part of my heart, Jesus, I place in your hands.” Newsboys

The song “Live with Abandon” by the Newsboys came out a couple of years ago and my son didn’t understand all the words. On the way home one day, after hearing this song, he asked, “Why would you want to live with a bandit?” It gave us a good laugh and we told him the actual words they were singing. His response, “Oh, that makes more sense.”  As I think back on this funny memory it brings a rather odd question to mind. Would you rather live your life with a bandit or with abandon?

Hang with me as I explain what I mean by this odd question. My son asked a good question, do we willingly live with a thief? Who would want to live with someone they could not trust? Yet, there are many people who do live with a bandit. The only purpose of the devil is to destroy the kingdom of God. Satan wants to steal your life from you, to keep you from living for God. He is so good at being a bandit you don’t even realize he has stolen from you until it is too late. For the non-Christian, life can be full of fun, success and everything could be going great. When your life is this wonderful you tend to not need God, or at least that is what one thinks. Flip the coin, if you are a Christian, you do not get a free pass. The devil with do all he can to bring you down, he can not have your soul, but he can cause your life to be miserable. There are times, we get caught up in the negative things of live, I am  one of those people, and forget that when I start doing this the devil is winning. Why, because I am not working for God when I am focusing on poor pitiful me. The bandit has entered your thoughts, your home, and will still life right from under you. Is this you? Are you caught up in your struggles? This drains you physically and spiritually, and eventually no one wants to be around you. Which turns into a cycle, the thief has entered in and is slowly stealing from you. So, I ask again do you want to live with a bandit or with abandon?

How can you live with abandon? To live with abandon you simply need to give up control of your life, give up your dreams, possibly withdraw from loved ones, and follow Jesus. When you read those words, did you think there is no way? It sounds absolutely horrible, but is just the opposite. Living for Jesus isn’t easy, and it will not get easier. The truth about living with abandon is you can’t assume you will get by with telling God one time I will live for you and you alone, I am abandoning my life, my dreams, for the plans you have for me.  This is a daily commitment. I made the mistake of thinking I said it once, I can continue my life now. In order to truly live life with abandon, you have to die to self daily and give God control daily. Each day is new, and so is God’s mercy but since yesterday is no longer today, I have to renew my commitment to God. I will admit this has not been an easy lesson for me to learn. “Commit your activities to the Lord,and your plans will be achieved.” (Proverbs 16:3) This verse can be taken out of context, remember you have to be in God’s will. I have been caught in this before, it is my plans and things should go the way I think or want them to go, but that isn’t always the case. “A man’s heart plans his way,but the Lord determines his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9) I am learning that my plans don’t always line up with God’s plans for my life and this throws a big kink into things. Those things being my plans, but also my attitude. I’m stubborn and I want things to go how I have them planned, and when that happens, well, lets just say I’m not always the nicest person to be around. I am working on this, but it is a slow process. Let’s change gears and focus on what I have learned from trying to live with abandon:

1. My life will take a direction (probably many directions) that I didn’t plan.
2. Rejection, although it hurts, try not to take it personally, God is simply redirecting me.
3. My suffering is God buffering me, so that I am polished for what’s to come.
4. What I see as a shut door, often a slammed door in my face, or worse a smashed finger from the door being shut, is God moving me to a door not yet opened, something better.
   
   

When we choose to live life with abandon we have to remember that we need to live life daily and not weekly or monthly or yearly. As Christians we are most effective when we give God our lives daily and listen to what His plans are for our lives. So, I ask yet again, would you rather live life with a bandit or with abandon? Until next time, “May Yahweh bless you and protect you.” (Numbers 6:24)  

“I want my life to count with every breath.” Newsboys
Live with Abandon

Momma

MOMMA

(a letter to you)

Momma,

    As a baby I needed you all the time but as I grew so did my independence. Life threw a curve ball that no one was expecting and thus tossing us into event after event that would leave us not understanding the purpose. My independence seemed to grow stronger as I grew older and so did my own childish view of you. 

   

    I haven't always been kind to you and I hope you'll forgive me. I use to hold so much anger and hurt towards you. As I get older and the world is no longer about me, I see how unfair your life has been. I realized all too quickly how unfair my life was as a child, but now I see the truth you kept from me. Life wasn't fair to you either. 

     I am in awe of your strength, and will power to keep goin' even though life keeps giving you storms to walk through. I'm not sure how you are able to stand, much less take on life the way you have. 

 










 Now that I've been a mom for ten years I can see how much you really love me. How you hurt when I hurt, how your heart broke when my heart broke and yet you never showed it. Instead you showed me you have to hold your head up, keep walkin' and never give up. While I may not completely understand the whys, and we won't always see eye to eye, I'm proud that God gave me you as my mom. My admiration and love grows daily for you.
Love always,
  Kimberlea Sue Whitmire Hardy

HAPPY

MOTHER'S 

                                  DAY!!! 

WALLS

“There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, 

no barriers except those ourselves erect.” Ronald Reagan

Why do we build walls? I am questioning both, the figurative and the literal wall that we build. My first response to this question is to protect ourselves. Since this answer came so quickly I wasn’t completely satisfied. I decided to do a little research on three famous walls and linked them to the figurative walls we build around our hearts. Travel with me as we explore the Great Wall of China, The Berlin Wall, the wall of Jericho, and what they have in common with the walls we build around our hearts.

How many walls do you or have you had built around your heart? If you are like me,  you have or had many walls protecting your heart. It is your defense to keep you from getting hurt. If this is you, you built your walls like the Chinese did when they constructed The Great Wall of China. There are many walls that make up The Great Wall of China and much like the walls around our hearts it took years to build, 2,ooo to be exact. While building the walls many laborers died and were buried in the wall. Many times we are so consumed with building our walls that we push our feelings down so deep they become buried. Overtime, we become numb to these feelings and more walls go up to help us suppress them.

Eventually, those walls that were built to protect us from getting hurt prevents any type of emotion from entering or leaving our hearts. Nothing enters in and nothing goes out, much like the Berlin wall. The wall separated the communist from the capitalist or East Germany from West Germany. The citizens of East Germany were fleeing to the West to escape the communist rule. To prevent the citizens from fleeing they built the Berlin wall, also known as the Iron Curtain. The Germans could no longer travel from East to West and vice versa. The issue at hand wasn’t dealt with and caused more turmoil amongst the Germans. The walls around our hearts keep us from dealing with the issue that caused the hurt and can eventually cause more harm. The thicker the walls and the longer they stand the harder it is to remember why they were built in the first place. After standing for thirty years the Berlin wall was knocked down, but not before President Ronald Reagan expressed his feelings about it. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

I pray God will put someone in your path that will say, “tear down this wall!” Hopefully, it won’t take thirty years to knock down. It’s possible that it could take seven days. I know what you’re thinking, there is no way the walls that I built could be knocked down that quickly, nor do I want them to be knocked down. I know that is how I felt, and I’m pretty sure the people of Jericho felt the same way. After all, the retaining wall was 12-15 ft. high and on top of it was a 6 ft. thick, 20-26 ft. high mudbrick wall. At the highest point, the wall around Jericho stood 46 ft. above ground level. The citizens of Jericho built this enormous wall knowing nothing and no one could knock it down. It’s the same with the walls we build around our hearts, they are built with the intentions of them never being knocked down. The truth is, if those walls aren’t knocked down you could be missing out on the best life God has to offer you.

There is no way the Israelites could’ve entered The Promise Land through Jericho without a miracle from God. Maybe you feel the same way, I know I did, the only way the walls around your heart are going to fall is by a miracle from God. It may hurt and be difficult to allow those walls to fall but think about what you could be missing on the other side. It was, “by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after being encircled by the Israelites for seven days.” (Hebrews 11:30) It is by faith that God can knock down your walls. You have to trust Him and know He will see you through. Will you be “brave and courageous” and let God knock down your wall so you can reach your promised land? Take it one day at a time and leave the rest up to God. I pray you will start marching, trusting and keeping the faith that God will knock down all walls keeping you from the best God has planned for you.  Until next time, “May Yahweh bless you and protect you” Numbers 6:24