If you are…

Have you ever been attacked? I was attacked on social media a couple of weeks ago by someone who doesn’t even know me—but said they were a Christian. If you’re like me, you get defensive and then angry. It’s so tempting to strike back in the same vein—but even harder.  

After two weeks of nursing my wounds, I finally went to God about it. He took me to Matthew 4 and the temptations of Jesus. I stopped on the very first temptation. Jesus had been fasting for 40 days and nights before Satan showed up. The first thing Satan attacked with wasn’t his hunger, necessarily…it was his identity. “IF you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”  Jesus’ identity is wrapped up in his name, Jesus, which means “Jehovah is Salvation.” Satan came saying, “Save YOURSELF!!  Prove your power. Turn this rock into a loaf of bread.”

Jesus may have become angry with righteous anger. But he knew the truth. So did Satan. Remember?  He was in heaven at one time. He knew who Jesus was and knew his purpose. At any rate, he knew Jesus’ identity which was wrapped up in his name. He’d come to be the savior for mankind, not himself. If Jesus had defended himself in anger and set out to prove who he was to Satan, he would have lost the battle. He knew that.  

Here’s what Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God.” Jesus knew there was no purpose in the short-term goal of proving who he was or in feeding his belly. He knew God’s long-term goal of saving mankind from sin. But he didn’t even feed Satan’s insatiable, hellish desires by feeding him any info about the future. He just said, “I’ll do whatever my Father tells me to do…one step at a time.” Jesus wasn’t controlled by his flesh. He walked in sync with the Father. He had no desire to prove a point with an angel which had been cast out of heaven because of sin.  

Satan will attack our identity and purpose—which is also wrapped up in our names. He’ll use people—even Christians. God is teaching me that when I become defensive, I’ve turned to my flesh. I’m in self-protective mode. Self. That should be a red light! I need to do what Jesus did. He spoke truth to Satan. He quoted scripture to him. And he revealed HIS purpose and HIS plan—to obey every word God spoke. 

I’ve still got a long way to go. It’s so easy to become defensive and want to prove WHO I AM!!  But it’s more important for the enemy to know WHO I SERVE.