One of the greatest weapons in the devil’s arsenal is inferiority complex. He works so hard to make us doubt who God says we are. Every time God gives us a special identity in line with our purpose the devil whips out self-doubt and if we allow him to minister those lies into our heads we will miss out on God’s gifts.
I know you know what I’m talking about! Have you ever refused to do something merely because you believed you were not good enough to carry out the task? Have you ever gotten upset at the thought that someone thinks you are awesome but you can’t see that in yourself? My friend I have some bad news…that’s the devil. He tried it with Moses (Exodus 4:10-13), he tried it with Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:7) and he even tried it with Jesus. Every time God affirms our purpose, the devil counter-effect’s with a spirit of inferiority.
Let’s look at Luke 3:21-22….Here, God affirms Jesus as His Son whom He loves and is pleased with. What happens next is totally unexpected. The story continues at Luke 4. We read that the same Spirit that descended upon Him like a dove led Him into the desert where He was tempted by the devil. I know right? How Can God tell Jesus that He is His son and then just lead Him to be tempted? Furthermore, when the devil is busy tempting Him, we don’t read anything about God intervening. Why did God allow all this? I will tell you why. This is exactly the same reason why God allowed the devil to test Job (Job 1:8).
When the devil tested Jesus, please notice how he always started with “if you are the Son of God…” (Luke 4:3-11). This was not because the devil doubted that Jesus is the Son of God, the devil knew who Jesus was long before He was born of the Virgin Mary. Satan was rather testing if Jesus knew who he was- a true question of Identity.
In this passage we read about how he tries to make Jesus perform all these crazy stunts to prove what He already knew JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD! Thank God our perfect saviour knows His facts well. Duh? God had already prepared Jesus by telling him who He was “You are my son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased (Luke 3:22). All he had to do was show the devil his confidence in His father’s words.
What do you do when the devil tells you that you are not good enough? What do you do when doubts about who you are in Christ surface? What do you do when your identity is questioned? Let me tell you what you should do..You must know your Father’s word, what Daddy God says about you and believe it. Not only believe it but live it! James4:7 says if we “submit to God and resist the devil, he will flee” from us. In Luke 4:13 we hear that the devil “left him”, until an opportune time. When we beat the devil he will go back to his drawing board to come up with a different strategy but if we keep believing Gods word this is a fixed match and we will always come out VICTORIOUS!
Remember God will never put more on you than you can bear. When you are tempted he will provide a way out for you (1 Corinthians 10:13).Trust God when He tells you that YOU CAN DO IT!
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