February 3, 2022
Pray Against Appetites
Lord’s Prayer Focus: The Father’s Guidance
Jesus taught us that in our prayers we should seek God’s guidance away from temptation. In the final sentence of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus prays: “And lead us not into temptation…” (Matthew 6:13a). Jesus shows us that we should be praying for God’s guidance. Guidance isn’t just limited to our next car, a new job, or what to study. We should pray for God to guide us away from and through temptation. The passages in this section show us specific ways to pray for God’s guidance and out of temptation.
Luke 4:1–4 (ESV) — 1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ”
Satan has a playbook and it is predictable. His strategy is something that can be known, and knowing your Enemy is one of the most important things we can do as we seek to overcome temptation. The first temptation Jesus encounters is the temptation of appetite. Jesus may have been fasting for these 40 days, yet He was full of the Holy Spirit. He was depending on the Spirit-life that He embodied and was now anointed with for ministry. However, this did not prevent him from experiencing real hunger in a real wilderness. It is interesting to note that v.2 mentions that these 40 days had come to an end, so Jesus was ready to eat. It is possible, depending on where Jesus was located in the wilderness, that He still had to journey for a time before He could find food. So the devil seeks to offer Him a shortcut by attacking His appetite. But the way he does this is not merely through the pain of hunger, but the question of Jesus’ identity – “If you are the Son of God…” (v.3).
This is the same tactic that Satan used with Eve in Eden (Gen. 3:1) and Israel in the wilderness (Exod. 16-20). “If your heavenly Father really loves you then why is He holding out on you? Why are you here in this wilderness? Is your Father really going to provide for you?” Satan continually tries to get us to question the Father’s presence, character, and leadership, and interwoven into those questions is the question of our own identity in relation to the Father. It is Satan’s attempt to get us to stop looking to and depending upon God and replace Him with something lesser. That “lesser” thing doesn’t have to be only food either. It could be a lustful desire to have a sexual encounter or some material possession, and the Enemy will go after our identity in Christ to get us to doubt that God is enough! “Is God really a good Father who’s going to take care of that desire? Doesn’t God seem way too restricting? Go ahead and take matters into your own hands!” The lie and the bait is that God isn’t all-satisfying, so we seek to fulfill those desires in our own way apart from Him.
The way Jesus overcame this temptation was to remind Satan of the truth, that “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Deut. 8:3). Food was not what truly sustained the life of God’s people in the wilderness - faithful obedience to God was what kept them alive!
For many of us, these 40 days of prayer and fasting is a reminder that one of the primary ways to overcome the temptation of appetite is to fast from whatever it is that you are hungering for more than God. It helps our trust and dependency to return to the Lord, and that God is the One who can truly satisfy our deepest longings and appetites.
Consider:
Prayer Points:
Lord’s Prayer Focus: The Father’s Guidance
Jesus taught us that in our prayers we should seek God’s guidance away from temptation. In the final sentence of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus prays: “And lead us not into temptation…” (Matthew 6:13a). Jesus shows us that we should be praying for God’s guidance. Guidance isn’t just limited to our next car, a new job, or what to study. We should pray for God to guide us away from and through temptation. The passages in this section show us specific ways to pray for God’s guidance and out of temptation.
Luke 4:1–4 (ESV) — 1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ”
Satan has a playbook and it is predictable. His strategy is something that can be known, and knowing your Enemy is one of the most important things we can do as we seek to overcome temptation. The first temptation Jesus encounters is the temptation of appetite. Jesus may have been fasting for these 40 days, yet He was full of the Holy Spirit. He was depending on the Spirit-life that He embodied and was now anointed with for ministry. However, this did not prevent him from experiencing real hunger in a real wilderness. It is interesting to note that v.2 mentions that these 40 days had come to an end, so Jesus was ready to eat. It is possible, depending on where Jesus was located in the wilderness, that He still had to journey for a time before He could find food. So the devil seeks to offer Him a shortcut by attacking His appetite. But the way he does this is not merely through the pain of hunger, but the question of Jesus’ identity – “If you are the Son of God…” (v.3).
This is the same tactic that Satan used with Eve in Eden (Gen. 3:1) and Israel in the wilderness (Exod. 16-20). “If your heavenly Father really loves you then why is He holding out on you? Why are you here in this wilderness? Is your Father really going to provide for you?” Satan continually tries to get us to question the Father’s presence, character, and leadership, and interwoven into those questions is the question of our own identity in relation to the Father. It is Satan’s attempt to get us to stop looking to and depending upon God and replace Him with something lesser. That “lesser” thing doesn’t have to be only food either. It could be a lustful desire to have a sexual encounter or some material possession, and the Enemy will go after our identity in Christ to get us to doubt that God is enough! “Is God really a good Father who’s going to take care of that desire? Doesn’t God seem way too restricting? Go ahead and take matters into your own hands!” The lie and the bait is that God isn’t all-satisfying, so we seek to fulfill those desires in our own way apart from Him.
The way Jesus overcame this temptation was to remind Satan of the truth, that “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Deut. 8:3). Food was not what truly sustained the life of God’s people in the wilderness - faithful obedience to God was what kept them alive!
For many of us, these 40 days of prayer and fasting is a reminder that one of the primary ways to overcome the temptation of appetite is to fast from whatever it is that you are hungering for more than God. It helps our trust and dependency to return to the Lord, and that God is the One who can truly satisfy our deepest longings and appetites.
Consider:
- Use these Scriptures to meditate on how God the Father defines your worth “in Christ?”
- Identify what “lesser” things you are seeking to satisfy your appetites more than God?
Prayer Points:
- Pray the truths of your identity in Christ as a reminder that what you have in Him is enough to sustain you today.
Posted in 2022 Prayer and Fasting