Wilderness Prayer
The Canon of Prayer; Day 40 #wildernessvictory
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (Matthew 4:1-11)
Today is day 40 of the 66 day prayer challenge; as I was meditating on what to pray today the Lord reminded me that forty days was the amount of days Jesus spent in the wilderness. Day 40; out of the wilderness and on to victory. As I meditated on Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness the Lord shows me four things that we can appropriate and incorpirate into our walk with Christ.
Wilderness.; 40 days marks the day of victory
After Jesus spent forty day and forty nights in the wilderness fasting; Jesus was faced with the biggest challenge aside from the cross and He secured the biggest victory only second to the cross. It was more than the temptation to turn stone into bread; more than jumping off a cliff or bowing to Satan. It was a challenge of identity. The King secures our victory by staying true to His identity. We must follow the example of our Savior and stay true to our identity; this is the key to our victory. Our identity as Kingdom citizens is our dominion as well as the key to victory.
Days of growing close to God
The forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness was a time of fasting; a discipline that causes one to grow close to God and grow in God. Let us be ever so mindful of the need to still ourselves before the Lord, fasting and prayer. Jesus tells us of the power of fasting; the power to cast out demons and move mountains. We spent forty days praying and I pray that we have grown closer to God. As we draw close to God, we draw on the power to overcome.
The time where things die off that inhibit the possession of God’s promise.
“For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not shew them the land, which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.” Joshua 5:6
As we look back at the Children of Israel who spent forty years in the wilderness until all those who kept them from possessing the promise land had died; we can glen a powerful priniciple. As we grow closer to God, growing stronger in God; there is a dying taking place in us; a dying of those habits, mindsets and attitudes that would delay or keep us from the promises of God for our live. This dying must take place before we can enter into our promise.
Discipline; the period of training
Again fasting is a discipline that strengthens of faith, our walk with God and helps us to embrace and realize our identity. We have been praying for forty day this takes discipline, lets continue to pray the Lord’s will, claim victory and walk in dominion.
Father we declare victory in and over our lives. Thank you for keeping us and empowering us for victory
This is the decree of the King.
