This is part one of a two-part article. Find part two at this link.
I pray that you will download the truth from this teaching into your heart and that it would impart in you an understanding of how to do spiritual warfare in Yeshua’s name.
Jesus said: “To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God,” (Rev. 2:7b, NASB 1995).
I want you to understand that we were not put on earth to make it our prize or home. We are here to overcome! In fact, our time on earth is a test (a procedure intended to establish the quality, performance or reliability of something). And if we think we are going to have all our longings and desires fulfilled through the things of this world, we will fail the test and end up being very disappointed. Beloved, the things of this world can never satisfy the deep longing we each have within our soul.
I want you to consider this: We all have within us a deep longing—from the time we enter this world until the time we leave this world. It is as though there is a banner written over the top of our head that says, “Desire.” As a newborn, you wanted milk. You wanted to be close to your mom. You wanted to be held. And from the time you became a toddler, you wanted your toys, you wanted this, you wanted that. And as you age, you know what? The crying-out of desire continues to emanate from you.
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Our longings do change as we age, but since the time we were born, the primary banner over mankind is the banner of desire. People are pursuing fortune and fame. People wake up in the morning trying to better themselves. They want more income, a bigger house, a new car, food, love and so on. Everything people do in the natural realm is motivated by their cravings.
Human beings are vessels that are yearning. And because we are created in God’s own image, we are able to use our thinking process. We use our minds to figure out how we can have our desires fulfilled, even the desire to be close to God, which is still a desire. In fact, it is the greatest desire of all—the desire to please Him, the desire to experience His presence and the desire to know Him.
Jesus said: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).
Jesus is appealing to the yearnings of humanity to find rest and peace. Beloved ones, you and I are creatures of longings. And it is important for us to understand this and to know that there is nothing wrong with it; God created us to be this way. The problem comes in when we try to satisfy this craving, these desires that we have, in the wrong way. We go astray when we try to fulfill the desires within us by taking in the things of the world, thinking and believing that those things will fulfill us.
Beloved, why did Eve succumb to the deception of the devil and eventually lead Adam into the fall? She did so because she wanted to have her earthly desires fulfilled. She looked at the fruit and thought it would be good to eat. It looked pleasant to the eyes, and she thought if she ate it, it would make her wise. And so what did she do because of her desires? She ate of the fruit. Her craving was used of the devil to lead her astray. When she ate of the tree, she did not know she was eating something bad. But the devil came to her as a false light.
“No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14).
We have a deep neediness and a strong desire to have that neediness fulfilled. What the devil does is come to us with all his false light: “If you do this, you will be content.” “If you buy this, you will be pleased.” “If you eat this, you will be satisfied.” “If you engage in an intimate relationship with that person, you will be fulfilled.” He appears to us as a false light, making us think if we take his bait, our desire will be quenched, just as he did with Eve all those years ago in the garden.
What we need to do is resist! We need to resist yielding to false desires. We need to resist trying to fulfill ourselves or make ourselves complete by taking Satan’s bait. We need to resist in Yeshua HaMashiach by embracing the power of the Holy Spirit within us and by practicing spiritual discipline and discernment. We need to learn how to resist false light.
“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
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Rabbi Kirt Schneider hosts the impactful television program “Discovering The Jewish Jesus,” which is available in more than 200 million homes in the United States and nearly 200 nations worldwide. In 2021 he began broadcasting on radio and now airs across America. Rabbi Schneider imparts revelation of Jesus’ Jewish heritage and His fulfillment of Messianic prophecy. Questions of how the Old and New Testaments tie together and how Yeshua completes the unfolding plan of The Almighty Yahweh are answered with exceptional clarity. www.discoveringthejewishjesus.com/about-2/rabbi-schneider/
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