Baptism Opens the Spiritual Heart to More of God’s Will
Obedience to Jesus’ mandate to be baptized opens the spiritual heart to more of God’s will and empowerment in your service to Him. Matthew 3:16 says, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him.”
In Matthew 4:1 we read, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” The primary reason for the temptations of Jesus after His baptism was so we could have a Lord who has been tempted as we are, yet He did not sin. Because He was victorious over Satan’s temptations, (Hebrews 4:15) we can, “…approach the throne of God with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
To be tempted (πειράζω peirázō) means to experience trials, to prove either a good or bad sense, soliciting to sin. (The Complete Word Study Dictionary, New Testament) The purpose of this temptation is to learn the true nature or character of a person, to cause someone not to succeed at the endeavor to which God has called them too. (Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains; Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament)
Many think that just because they obeyed the command to be baptized that they will no longer face trials and temptations. The promise is that when trials and temptations come, we have Jesus, in whose Name we are baptized, He will send His Holy Spirit to empower us to overcome (Romans 8:34) and comfort us. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)
Jesus showed us how to conquer the temptations of Satan and the trials of life. Jesus’ victory over temptation enables us to trust in the promises in God’s Word and seek the whole counsel of Scripture as we face the lies of the devil, the world’s lures and the seduction of the flesh. When we trust in Christ to overcome Satan temptations, we find ourselves prepared to be used by God.
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