No Such Place As God-Forsaken

Wanna hear my mind-blowing connection today?  TOO BAD, here it is :)  My devotional was on dangerous shortcuts that we take sometimes to get the things we desire or take a path we want to take, but where God may not be leading us....part of it talked about Jesus's temptations while in the desert.  So, I was thinking through the passages about His temptations because the "insight" part of the devotional really intrigued me as it was something I had never considered....That the Spirit actually led Jesus into the wilderness where He was tempted.  Not that the Spirit tempted Him....Satan did that, but doesn't it seem weird that the Spirit led Him to this place where He would be in need and possibly weaker because He was physically tired, hungry and thirsty?

So, I was thinking about Jesus being led to this...can I say "God-forsaken" place?  The beauty in this is that you do realize there is NO SUCH PLACE....MAN, I am such a spoiler, I even picked that for my post title :)....ANYWAY, I was thinking about Him being led there and wondering why the Spirit would not only allow that, but lead in that way...and my mind jumped to THE LORD'S PRAYER.....and BAM, a light bulb for me!  I would challenge you to read the account of Jesus's temptations and then The Lord's Prayer.  It's like Jesus was saying, "Satan hit me with his best shots when I was weakest and these are the ways he will try to hit you too....so, here is the way you should counter him and you will not fail!"  Don't you think he would have "pulled out the BIGGEST guns" on the Son of GOD?!  So, to me, the prayer we are supposed to pattern all our prayers after is perfectly matched to what Jesus encountered in HIS WILDERNESS.  It's like it taunts the devil every time we say it....."You had your chance, SATAN....remember this and this and this?....but, you are a LOSER!"

Jesus had to go there and be weak, physically, when He went so that He could overcome evil not only by His death, but also in LIFE!  He had to show us that we have the power to overcome evil by our dependence on God, standing on God's Word, and glorifying Him.  The Spirit doesn't tempt us, but we may (probably will) be led to a walk through the wilderness....a testing to see how our faith will handle our trials and allow us to be strengthened in our resolve if we choose wisely.  If you will pray the Lord's Prayer or pattern your prayers after this prayer...you will remind Satan that he has NO POWER over you and the VICTORY IS THE LORD'S!

As It Is In Heaven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEXx0mfxe-E