Leaders in the Making

MEDITATIONS FOR LEADERS IN THE MAKING (Unwavering Faith)
"Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." - Matt. 4:8, 9

As God, everything Satan offered Jesus was already His. But as man, it was not.

In order for Jesus to redeem man of sin and restore his inheritance lost in the garden through Adam, He had to be born of a woman, and live life as a man in obedience to the plan of God. Through the suffering of the cross, all power in heaven and earth (which included the kingdoms of the world and their glory) was given to Him. Satan offered Jesus a short cut to attain what God had promised Him if He would bow down and worship him, but Jesus chose to ". . . become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." If Jesus had taken Satan's short cut, we'd still be in bondage today and our inheritance would still belong to Satan.

David faced a similar challenge. As a boy, the prophet Samuel had anointed him God's choice to succeed Saul as king of Israel. As the favor of Israel moved from Saul (due to Saul's disobedience) and onto the young man David, David became a fugitive (forced out of his inheritance) pursued by Saul to be killed on sight. Twice King Saul and His men unwittingly placed themselves in a position that was advantageous to David and his men to destroy them. Each time David forbade his men to do Saul or his army harm (1 Sam. 24:4-6; 26:8-10). David's unwavering faith that God would make him king over Israel prevented him from taking a shortcut to the throne through murder (2 Sam. 2:7; 5:1-5).

If David had taken a short cut to the kingdom, he would have lost the favor of Israel and a civil war would have consumed the nation making it a laughing stock before its enemies instead of a testimony of the true and living God.

AS LEADERS IN THE MAKING you will have a type of King Saul in your life. The test? Will I take what God has promised me through manipulation, schemes and politics, or will I wait (trust) on God to bring His promise to pass? Satan would have us panic and justify using whatever vice necessary to get what's rightfully ours, however, we must understand, it's not rightfully ours until God gives it at the fulfillment of our obedience to Him (2 Cor. 10:6).