All this I will give you, he said, if you will bow down and worship me. Matthew 4:9
Whatever satan offers results in worship for him when accepted. Satan is worship hungry, and he does everything he can to get it from whom it matters the most: God’s children. What he offers are legitimate human needs, but receiving them from him is catastrophic. If he could demand worship from Jesus, he will do the same of us? But will he find you well positioned in God, like Jesus was, when he does? Satan offers immediate glory in exchange for our worship, but his offer will mean nothing to those that are entrenched in God. However, if our desire for the mundane exceeds our desire for God, we are bound to fall into satan’s snare, and receive from him the glory that he offers.
When our craving for material things surpass our desire to be in the centre of God’s will, then we cannot escape satan’s trap. Each time we assume that our life depends on possessing something in this world, we can be sure that satan is not far from us. He succeeded against Adam and Eve, and you and I are his next target, he will succeed if we let him. The three Hebrew boys were faced with a threat over their lives when they refused to bow down and worship the king’s idol, but their commitment to being in the centre of God’s will overrode their desire to live. This must be our disposition towards all things in this life.
Satan makes no free offer, whatever he offers is at the expense of the soul of the receiver, and it is always in exchange for worship. I pray that he will be made to retreat from you as he did with Jesus, but this can only be, if like Jesus, we are single focused on doing only the will of God.
Toni
