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5. Then the devil took Him up to a
high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the habitable world in a
moment of time [in the twinkling of an eye].
6. And he said to Him, To You I will
give all this power {and} authority and their glory (all their magnificence,
excellence, preeminence, dignity, and grace), for it has been turned over to
me, and I give it to whomever I will.
7. Therefore if You will do homage to
{and} worship me [just once], it shall all be yours.
8. And Jesus replied to him, {Get
behind Me, Satan!} It is written, you shall do homage to {and} worship the Lord
your God, and Him only shall you serve. AMP
We see how the
devil came and tempted Jesus Christ, in the wilderness as he fasted for forty
days and nights after being led by the Holy Spirit. The devil presented before
Jesus Christ, the systems of the world, clothed in their glory and splendor. So
the world systems can cloth you, they can woe us in by what they look like. He
offered it to Jesus Christ, at the cost of a moment of worship.
The devil offered to Jesus, what he had stolen from Adam in the garden. At the price of disobedience
Adam lost his God given dominion, to the devil, in the garden. We were lost,
out of the garden and in the wilderness, robbed of our heritage because of that
act of disobedience. Jesus was the portrait in that moment of this and the only
thing the devil wanted to release this restoration, was something we Christians
today take lightly, WORSHIP.
Jesus
accepting this would have not only been the fall and subjection of man to the
devil, but also the fall of heaven, the entire kingdom of God with its ranking
would have been under the devils authority, by what seemed a simple act of
worship. Jesus bowing down in worship to the devil would have been like
forfeiting his power. God is the greatest because he bows in worship to no one,
that would have been lost had Jesus hearkened to the devil.
So what we
bow down to, we give the power to rule our life. It can be a moment of worship,
but it results in a life time of slavery. So be careful what you are bowing
down to in thought or in action.
With this
understanding beloved know that it is a battle for your worship. Some
wildernesses are their so the devil can isolate you to a point of giving up
your worship.
He might not appear to you as he did to the Christ, but the
bottom line is your worship. Your value is in your worship. Why is that you may
wonder. This is because you were created to worship God. So if the devil can
disconnect you from worship, he has disconnected you from your purpose, from
the very essence you are alive. He has robbed you of the core of your
existence. It’s not the things his after, it’s not your finances, it’s not your
marriage or academics, they are simply tools to derail you from worship.
But we have
seen in the scripture the response to this situation. The bible shows how Jesus
replied with the words “it is written”, he responded with the word. Jesus is the
very picture of the word, the body of the word. He is the word that came to
life. He is the answer when the devil confronts your worship. Jesus is the
answer when your worship is under attack. Never allow anything take away your
worship. For as long as you are still alive, press on into worshiping God.
Never give the devil your worship.
Remember, you are only as valuable as your
worship, your purpose. All ministry starts from worship.
