How to Survive a Desert Experience

We call them “desert” or “wilderness” experiences, which are normal for most Christians. They start innocently enough – through illness, death, job loss, even the hormonal changes that come after a child’s birth can bring it on through postpartum depression. And somewhere along the way, we lose our feeling of closeness to God. We become disinterested in anything to do with the church or the Bible. We make excuses to avoid our Christian friends because we don’t feel “spiritual” enough. Before we know it, we are wandering in the desert, wondering if we have lost our faith in God forever or if we were ever saved in the first place. But there is good news. By looking at Jesus’ desert experience, we can have victory over Satan’s attempts to lead us away from God. Today, if you are going through one of those times, it is my hope that you will be encouraged by what you find.

In Matthew 4:1-11, it is clear the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for one purpose - to be tempted by the devil. Why did Jesus need to be tempted? To show us how to avoid temptation. So let’s look at the types of temptation we face and how to meet them head-on.
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Physical Temptations​
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​​Physical temptations include everything that the “flesh” lusts after. These consist of everything from sexual temptation to drug or alcohol addictions, and yes, even food temptations. Jesus’ first temptation was hunger and the promise of food. His response to this was to quote scripture that not only put Satan in his place but, at the same time, reminded Jesus that His strength to resist temptation could only be found in God’s Holy Word.

Emotional Temptations
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Satan next tried to tempt Jesus into killing himself, with a promise that in modern terms, would be akin to saying, “Everything will be okay because God loves you and you won’t go to hell if you do this because He would never want to see you hurt.” Thoughts of suicide are genuine when we are emotionally depleted. They occur when we feel alone, when life becomes too hard, when we feel like there is no hope and no one who cares, or when it feels like God isn’t there or doesn’t love us. Our thoughts can easily slip into dark places that look like a way to escape our problems. But in reality, suicide is a selfish act that leaves those who love you left to pick up the pieces and forever be wondering what they had done wrong, or what they had missed. Jesus’ response to this kind of temptation was to quote Scripture and remind Satan that it is wrong to put God to the test. 

​**Note - Depression is a severe illness that is not Satanic in nature, but is mostly a biological or hormonal issue. Unfortunately, if you are a Christian, it can be exacerbated by well-meaning Christians who think it’s from the devil. Satan DOES NOT cause depression, he only uses it for his advantage. If you are suicidal, please talk to someone!** 
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Worldly Temptations
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This world has a lot of temptations, and most of them have to do with money. According to the world, when you have money, you have power. Unfortunately, this has turned the hearts of many well-meaning Christians. We see it in TV evangelists who use God as an excuse to buy a plane, an airport, or multi-million dollar homes for their children. ​

How Do We Defeat Temptation?
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​Jesus’ desert experience lasted forty days and forty nights. He was alone, yet not entirely. He was God in the flesh and could have asserted His authority to rise above His flesh and blood body to return to His heavenly abode. But He didn’t, because if He had His whole purpose for coming into the world would have been moot. Instead, He allowed Himself to experience what we experience every day - temptation. He had to learn how to resist the urges of the flesh and rely on God alone, and so do we.
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Jesus promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

We know we can trust the Lord and His promises. Yet we often feel alone and that God has left us in the lurch. More often than not, we are the ones who have strayed from God. During these times, we must remember how Satan tried to deceive Jesus when He was in the wilderness. His temptations began with one word: if. Each temptation was meant to plant a seed of doubt in the Saviour’s head. Also, each attack was aimed at something new. We must remember, Satan is always scheming to try and get us to stop believing in and trusting God.
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“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Does God allow wilderness experiences to happen to us on purpose? Yes, indeed, He does. But why? He allows us to go through these spiritually dry times to strengthen our faith in Him and test our faithfulness. This was the reason Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert – to be tempted to sin.

Like Jesus, we must also be tested with temptation.
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When we look at Christ’s temptations in the wilderness, we begin to see a pattern in how Satan works. We can use this knowledge to “fight against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:11).

How Satan Works to Destroy Your Faith in God

• He will cause you to doubt who you are in Christ.
• He will always attack when you are at your weakest.
• He will tempt you to test God (i.e. thoughts of suicide).
• He will tempt you with what the world has to offer.
• His attempts to lead you away from God will be subtle and disguised as something pleasant.

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​In Matthew 4:1-11, we learn Jesus was hungry. Immediately, Satan tempted Christ in two ways:

• He tried to cast doubt on who Jesus was by using that one little word we talked about earlier: if. “If you are the son of God…” He was daring Jesus to prove Himself.
• He attacked Christ when Jesus was at His weakest: hungry for food.

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Satan then goes on to tempt Jesus further, each time using the word "if." He was continually questioning Christ’s divinity and authority. Jesus’ response to Satan’s attacks can teach us how to stand firm when we are going through our own wilderness experiences.
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Five Things to Remember to Defeat Temptation:
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• Satan is a liar and loves to make us doubt God and our relationship with Him.
• We need to memorize scripture, as it is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17).
• God is always with us. His Holy Spirit will never leave us. EVER.
• We should never put God to the test, but trust Him no matter what happens during our wilderness experience.
• We should not try to fill the emptiness we experience during these times, with things the world has to offer.

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Six Ways to Help You Survive in the Wilderness:
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• Be in the Word Daily – Read and study your Bible, no matter how bad you feel.
• Trust God in All Things – He could be testing you ( Job 1:6-22).
• Praise and Worship – Praise God, especially when you don’t feel like it.
• Prayer – Even feeble attempts at prayer are better than no attempts at all. Talk to God about how you are feeling. Don’t believe Satan’s lies that He doesn’t care or can’t hear you. Scripture confirms that it is not true (Hebrews 13:5)!
• Be in Community – With a worldwide pandemic going on, it is not safe to go to church. Fortunately, there are always ways to meet with other Christians. Phone calls, Skype and online services help to meet the need for corporate worship and fellowship. 
• Friends and Family – Tell someone how you are feeling, and enlist their prayers.

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If you do not spend time praying and reading your Bible daily, you can easily be deceived by Satan. You may rehash your past, and be filled with regret, distancing yourself from God’s healing forgiveness. You might fall prey to false teachers. You may even doubt your salvation. Jesus knew the Father’s will because He spent time with Him daily. His faith was strengthened because of His wilderness experience, which enabled Him to meet future trials, firm in the knowledge He was not alone.

​If you feel lost in the wilderness right now and your faith seems dry, and all seems hopeless - be encouraged! God has faith in you to triumph over temptations of all kinds! Remember, Satan cannot attack us unless he first gets permission from God (Job 1:6-12). So keep your eyes on Jesus’ example, pick up your Bible, because it is the Sword of the Spirit and the Word of Truth and is your only way out of the wilderness. It will defeat any lie or scheme the devil is bringing against you.