The Temptation of BREAD

Matthew 4.1,2 the Bible says that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil For 40 days and night, He fasted and became very hungry It's interesting to me because as I look at this text, I'm reminded that the first temptation was that of bread I mean, how does bread become the reason for someone to leave and abandon the will of God? And Satan had been anticipating this moment right from Genesis chapter 3 When he heard God say that the seed of this woman will bruise your head He was waiting for the moment that seed will show up on the scene And his very first encounter with the seed Interestingly, the first thing Satan throws out is bread Bread is not evil, food is for enjoyment But in a fallen world, we are prone to love things in the wrong way We are prone to be gripped and ruled by things that are not necessarily sin but can be because of the value that we give them over God A fallen world comes with faulty priorities Jesus' first temptation was to eat The very first temptation in Genesis was to eat Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 49 The Bible says, behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom Pride, fullness of bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy Esau ate his way out of the plan, ate his way out of his blessings Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6 When you give, when you pray, when you fast But some people today have somehow made one out of these three the center of their Christianity So they pray and they do not fast, they give but they do not pray And Jesus says that, hey, do not make one the center of your Christianity Because all three work out something in you Satan throws bread first It wasn't a test of bread, it was a test of desire Satan was simply asking Jesus Do you want the purpose and the will of God more than your body needs bread right now? Are you desperate for the will of God more than your body right now? Is desperate for bread, is your passion for God greater than your desire for bread? This is what I know God is able to know if the prayer of your mouth is the prayer of your heart He's able to strip your mountain of words down to the very intent of your heart Have a blessed friends!