Mark 1:9-12

Mark 1:9-12 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

Matthew 4:4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

In the above passage, we see Jesus baptized by John, filled with the Holy Spirit, and then led into the desert. We find the Son of God being prepared to minister to a lost and dying world. He was set apart by his baptism in water, consecrated by the Spirit, and finally seasoned by the temptations in the desert. During his time in the desert, the angels ministered to him. We know that the desert experience represents a land that cannot sustain him physically or emotionally. Consequently, angels came to minister to him. How do angels minister? What do they do? And why would the Son of God need them to help him? We cannot really answer these questions, but what we can speculate is that they were desperately needed, so we can assume that they came to remind him of heaven, a better land, his heavenly home. They probably came to remind him of the Father's love, mercy and goodness. More importantly, they reminded him of his purpose, and the glorious victory he was going to win for the human race. They definitely came to feed his spiritual life, for Jesus needed his spirit built up more than his flesh needed strengthening. In other words, he needed daily manna from the heavens above: "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." He needed a super jump-start to his spiritual life every day. And the angels provided that for him in this desert place.

We also need that jump-start to our spiritual lives every day, for we are definitely living a desert experience. WE might be baptized in water and in the Spirit, but we are still in a desert place. We are still aliens in this world. This world is not our home; it will not sustain our Christian walk. We will die spiritually if we try to live exclusively off this sparse land we are inhabiting. Yes, for believers there are signs of God's magnificence and presence in this place where we abide temporarily, but that isn't enough to sustain our life in the Spirit. The beauty of the mountains, the valleys, the rivers cannot cause our spiritual lives to flourish. We need the Holy Spirit's intimate, daily presence in our souls to prosper, especially because we are also living with wild animals--those who would seek to harm us, to embarrass us, to defeat us at every turn. They know that we are aliens and that we cannot live successfully off the desert's resources. They know that we don't count this present Earth as our final destination, so they desire for us to fail in our spiritual lives, in our daily walk. They want us to be hypocrites: those who pretend they are alive in God, but who are really just like they are: dead in their sins and trespasses.

However, God has not left us without resources. He gave us his Word to sustain and to enrich our spiritual lives. His Word is our daily manna if we take advantage of it. God's Word through the acumen of the Holy Spirit will keep alive every Christian who partakes of it. These daily breakfasts are written to help you in your walk with Christ. They are written to give you food for today. Yet they are no substitute for your own searching of the scriptures; they are to be an adjunct to your daily devotionals. They should give you something to think about today, something that your spirit can feed upon and add to the table the Lord sets before you. Sometimes I have tried to write these breakfasts prior to the day I send them, but the Lord tells me to write them the morning I send them. He tells me they must be new manna because the old will rot. The previous day's manna will decay before it reaches your mouths. Therefore, today, hear the words of the Lord. Today, allow this breakfast and your own readings to give you strength to face the wild animals and the sparse desert. When Paul speaks of putting on the whole armor of God, the Word of the Lord is your sword. Do not go out to face the enemy of your souls who is a roaring lion without your powerful weapon in readiness to defeat him.