Luke 4:13 NLT
'When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came.'
Jesus has experienced three separate and acute temptations in the wilderness, and now the devil departs from him until a fresh opportunity will appear. Jesus had steadfastly resisted and therefore endured the struggle. For each of us there is the temptation to buckle under pressure. God does not deliver us from the struggle, yet is there when we reach out and use what lies within our resources to resist the temptation to crumble. Of course, the intensity of the struggle is real, and usually all-consuming. Here, Jesus, hungry and alone, draws upon scripture to battle against the mind games the devil plays with him.
We live in a society in which we are invited to establish normality on the terms set by others. In an age of mass media, platformed commentators shape our world view. Society is unfairly weighted in favour of those it defines as physically and mentally “able”. So, if born with a learning disability you will find life more challenging than if not. God’s kingdom makes no such distinction between us. This is purely a social construct; one that the Church has a responsibility to buck the trend of by speaking out and living entirely differently to the secular norms adopted by society.
Sadly, any sort of event in life that removes us from the carefully crafted social norms will place an increased burden upon the practicalities of living. Social commentators, politicians, health professionals, indeed many of the so-called mediating structures, will have little real feel for the realities of such burdens and cannot offer much apart from the prescribed responses of ill-informed social constructs. God alone understands, and alone works from the canvas of the kingdom of heaven. Where we persevere, against what many see as impossible odds, we shall both overcome the devil and find a peace, which the world neither knows nor can give. God’s is an upside-down kingdom.
QUESTION: What mind games does the enemy try to play with you?
PRAYER: May my faith and confidence grow, even though it is tested by the wilderness times.

Released on 28 Feb 2020