The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me
For His youth, it seems that Jesus knew that he had a divine mission. He knew that He was to be about His Father's business. As He prepared for his earthly mission, the adversary tried to plant doubt in the Savior's mind of who He is. He used the word "If" a lot when tempting Him.
"IF thou be the Son of God."
Jesus Christ had communed with His Father, He knew who He was and could not be shaken from that truth. How often does the adversary try to get us to forget who we are? How often does he tell us "If, you are good enough", "If you are important," and similar doubts that he puts in our minds. We can question who we really are and if we are valuable and important to God at times. If Satan gets us to question our identity to drag us down, it is easy to see how he attempted the very same thing of the Savior. His tactics really don't change.
Lucifer promised to give the Savior power. Power that really was not his to give. As Christ had already been blessed with that power and He was to inherit all that the Father has by fulfilling his mission so the offer from Satan was hollow. It was not his power and glory to give at all. It was a lie or an illusion. Which also reminds me of things that Satan may promise us, if we do this we will have "fun", "pleasure", or whatever, but it is fleeting, it is not the true eternal joy and happiness that God offers us, it is an illusion, a mere imitation.
Unlike us, the Savior did not waiver from His mission. He stayed the course and he did not give in to temptation. And each time he was tempted, he used the Word of God, the scriptures to deny Satan what he wanted. That is a great example for us to follow. When tempted, lean into the word of God. Use what the scriptures have taught us.
To prepare for his mission, Jesus went into the wilderness to commune with God. We can do the same to prepare for our own life missions. The more that we spend time with God, the more that we can see clearly what He needs us to do while we are here on earth. The more that we will have scriptures come to mind when we need them, and we will also be open to hearing the Holy Ghost guide us and direct us. Many people have said that we pray to talk to God, but read His Word to have him speak to us. Not just through the words on the page, but through the spirit, and through inspiring us.
Sometimes, people feel guilty or ashamed that they were tempted. We can learn here that being tempted is something that even the Savior went through. It is resisting that temptation that we need to focus on. Resist it. We are all tempted, there is no shame in that. It is whether we give in or not that matters. And of course, all of us fall short and will give in to some temptation one time or another, which is why it is so important that we have a Savior, and that He atoned for us, so we can repent, and do better.
In Luke 4:16-32 Jesus Christ uses Isaiah's prophesy to convey to the people that He is of whom the scriptures speak. He shared one aspect of His mission with them that he would fulfill. When the people heard Him, they had difficulty accepting Him. And Christ said that a prophet is not accepted in His own land. And He also shared that it was not to Israel only that He would do His Miracles, but gave several examples of those that were Gentiles that the prophets had performed miracles for in the past. This angered the people enough that they wanted to throw Him over a cliff. Imagine being face to face with the Savior, and being upset that the miracles were for others. It is a human response, they likely thought "What about us?" "Are we not the chosen people?" Yet, they wanted a sign and did not have faith. And it is always after the trial of faith that miracles happen. Today, let us look towards having faith in Christ, and then watch for the miracles to happen in our lives and the lives of others.
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