The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. (v. 12)
As you welcome the Holy spirit, it is to be led by Him, like a child of the Father is led by the Spirit of the Father. One key element of this journey is that the Father wants his children to rely on him more than on anyone else. He really wants to be their Father. The wilderness is a place where I was alone, and where I spoke only with the Father. I was nourished by the presence and the words of my Father. For anyone who comes to follow us, to welcome God as their loving Father, they have to learn to not live by pleasing people but first by pleasing the Father. He is such an amazing Father, with a love that surpasses all human love. In order to welcome fully this love, you have to fully welcome Him as your heavenly Father, and to follow Him in the education he wants for each. This education often begins by getting weaned from the human habit of pleasing many persons. You have to learn to please Him first, because that is what will give you the precious joy and freedom that is for each in your journey on earth. Since the Father and I are one, when you fully follow my direction, you also fully follow the Father’s direction. It is a little like when a child follows the directions of an older brother who is fully obedient to his father. He then receives the protection, the love and the directions that he needs to grow and mature to become an adult.
And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. (v. 13)
As I came to be humbly baptized, I was also tempted. In the wilderness - when there are no humans around you - you are able to experience both the strong presence of the Father and also the temptations of Satan.
Satan has failed. He has decided to disobey God and has lost his place of authority in the heavenly realms, but he still deceives many on earth. He is the father of lies, because it is only through lies that he gets power over humans. His power is not coming from the Father, but from humans who relinquish their authority as children of God and let the devil steal from them both their birthright and their dignity. It is what satan tried to do with me, which is more detailed in the Gospels of Matthew or Luke. The key point here is that he tried to make me doubt or to force me to prove to him my identity. I did not owe him anything and I did not need to prove anything to him. I needed to stay secure in my identity of a child of the Father, as any believer is invited to. In the security of this identity, I was able not to fall into the traps of Satan, the devil, and remain secure in the love of the Father. The Father is a fortress for his children that keep their trust in Him, who rely on him more than on their autonomous strength. If I did not rely on the Father during this time, as a human I would not have been able to stand. Then, as during all my life on earth, I did not use my divinity but simply showed the way that other humans could follow, the path of victory for every child of God.
One thing that is important to note here is that, when you remain under the loving protection of the Father, through your faithful obedience to His love, the Father’s creation is at your service. This is why I could peacefully stay with the wild animals and that angels were ministering to me. For each child of God that remains in me and I in him, the creation is not a threat but a servant, and they will experience the joy of seeing the holy angels come at their side and even serve them. Yet, this power is not for the proud, because pride rejects the fatherhood of God and loses all authority on the Father’s creation, thus facing dangers and threats that God never intended. It is in humble and loving obedience that this power can be wielded, and even Satan and his minions tremble before the words of a single child of God. It is in this way that from the mouth of children God has established both a power and a praise to His name.
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