Jesus had to face the devil when He was tempted three times. Take the first temptation. ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread’ (v. 3 NLT). See that two-letter word at the start? ‘If.’ It immediately brings up feelings of doubt. Getting Jesus to doubt His identity was a massive attack. God had just told Jesus who He was at His baptism, ‘This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life’ (Matthew 3:17 MSG). God tells us who we are too. He says we are His children, loved, accepted and saved. But that word ‘if’ can cause us to doubt what He says about us. The devil reminds us of all our mistakes and flaws. He tries to make us think that the Christian life is just too hard, that we’ll never be good enough and that we might as well just give up now. But the truth is that our flaws are brought to light so that we can overcome them, not so we’re condemned by them. When the devil starts an identity attack, fight him with the truth of who God says you are. Then the enemy went on to say, ‘tell these stones to become loaves of bread.’ Jesus had been in the desert for 40 days so hungry is probably an understatement. What are you hungry for? Success? Love? Attention? We all have weak spots, but if we bring them before God then He can help us with them before the enemy can use them against us. A life totally dependent on God; that’s the kind of life that’ll defeat the enemy’s attacks.
What now?
Whenever you’re reminded of a mistake you’ve made, or a weak spot, use it as a nudge to spend time with God. Ask Him to help you improve and thank Him that the reminder’s given you an extra opportunity to talk to Him.