The Three Temptations - Part 15
Heidi and Rolland Baker
I remember attending two days of meetings in which Heidi Baker was speaking. In the first meeting, I noticed that she was wearing an all-black outfit. I think it stood out to me because of its relatively plain look, in contrast to the colorful outfits that other speakers often wore. The next day, she got up to speak again in what looked like the very same all-black outfit.
It dawned on me that she might be wearing the same outfit because it was the only outfit she had to wear!
I remembered a moment in the film, Mama Heidi, in which Heidi relates a story about her son coming to her and saying, “Mom, I’m really happy you give away all my stuff, but just to let you know, I only have one t-shirt on and one t-shirt left, so we might have to just slow down for a minute.” (Velu)
Also in that film, Heidi’s husband, Rolland Baker talks about experiencing the truth of God’s Word in their lives as missionaries:
“Our life has been a continual story of giving away, and losing, and burying our dreams, and giving away everything we have, and dropping our ambitions, and not trying to achieve the things that we used to want to achieve, and not trying to collect wealth, and get high salaries, and get reputation, and try to make something of ourselves. That’s just all dropped away, dropped away, dropped away… . But in the process we have found that the Bible is exactly right, that when you lose your life for Jesus’ sake, you will find it, and if you try to keep your life in any way, you’re going to lose it. And that’s the truth. That’s the absolute truth, because what that is really doing is saying, ‘Jesus, I love you more than anything else, and so I am willing to choose you over everything else.’ And He says, ‘Well, if you do that, then I will love you in return. I’ll give everything back to you.’” (Velu)
God has honored the sacrifices that the Baker family has made on the mission field. Through their ministry, over 10,000 churches have been started, thousands of people are fed every day, countless people have been healed, and over fifty people have been raised from the dead. (Grady)
And they have never lacked.
In one experience, when Heidi felt overwhelmed at the needs that were facing her, Jesus reassured her by saying, “I died that there would always be enough.” Heidi said that, since that experience, she has never said ‘no’ to a child. She believes for them all! (Velu)
The Bakers have watched God provide in miraculous ways ever since.
**“**There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.”—Proverbs 13:7 (NKJV)
There is an amazing freedom that comes when we give up the pursuit of our own personal empires of wealth and influence, and instead, take up Jesus’ command to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).
It is then that we can begin to live on a higher plane, rising above the cares and worries about money and status. Instead, as we lay down our lives for Jesus’ sake and the Gospel’s as we are commanded in Mark 8:35, then we suddenly enter a realm in which we have unlimited supply of wealth and influence when it is needed to accomplish God’s purposes.
“And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”—Philippians 4:19 (AMPC)
To The Ones Who Overcome
Each of us will be confronted with the three temptations that Christ Jesus had to overcome before He could fulfill His purpose in life.
How you respond to each of these three temptations will help determine the extent to which you fulfill your purpose in life.
These three temptations have been described in different ways. Some teachers have summarized these temptations as “girls (or guys), glory, and gold.”
John describes them this way in 1 John 2:15-17:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (NKJV)
“The lust of the flesh” is the first temptation.
“The pride of life” is the second temptation (in the order that Matthew writes it. Luke switches the order of the second and third temptations.)
“The lust of the eyes” is the third temptation.
These three temptations have been a part of life since the very first temptation of mankind in the Garden of Eden. The old serpent actually found a way to wrap all three temptations into one act of disobedience:
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.—Genesis 3:6 (KJV)
In this one act, we see the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life taking down the entire human race.
But for those who overcome these temptations, there are great rewards.
Something happened to Jesus after He overcame the three temptations in the wilderness.
When Jesus went into the wilderness, He was *filled *with the Holy Spirit, as we are told in Luke 4:1-2:
“Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.” (NKJV)
But when he came out of the wilderness after having overcome the three temptations, He was a different man. He was not only *filled *with the Holy Spirit, but He returned with the power of the Spirit!
“Then Jesus returned **in the power of the Spirit **to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.“—Luke 4:14-15 (NKJV)
Those who overcome the three temptations in the time of the end are described for us in Revelation 12:11:
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (KJV)
The first temptation is overcome by the blood of the Lamb. It is only by fully entering into the freedom that Jesus achieved for us through His death that we can fully and completely overcome the needs, desires, and lusts of the flesh.
“And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires.”—Galatians 5:24 (AMPC)
The second temptation is overcome, not by taking control of our lives and doing things our way, but by laying down our lives as bond servants to do the will of God, becoming obedient even to the point of death.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”—Philippians 2:5-11 (NKJV)
The third temptation is overcome, not by building our own empire according to our own ambitions and goals to build our own legacies, but to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, not glorying in our own empires, but glorying in the word of our testimonies of what God has done through us to establish and advance His kingdom.
For the ones who overcome, God reserves the highest rewards in the Kingdom of God.
“To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”—Revelation 2:7 (NKJV)
“He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”—Revelation 2:11 (NKJV)
“To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”—Revelation 2:17 (NKJV)
“And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—
‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—
as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star.”—Revelation 2:26-28 (NKJV)
“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”—Revelation 3:5 (NKJV)
“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.”—Revelation 3:12 (NKJV)
“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”—Revelation 3:21 (NKJV)
“He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.”—Revelation 21:7 (NKJV)
References:
Baker, Rolland, & Baker, Heidi (2003). *Always Enough: God’s Miraculous Provision among the Poorest Children on Earth *(Reprinted ed.). Chosen Books.
Grady, J. Lee (n.d.). Heidi Baker’s Uncomfortable Message to America. Retrieved July 2013, from CBN.com: http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/churchandministry/Charisma_Grady_HeidiBaker.aspx
Stafford, Tim (2012, May). Miracles in Mozambique: How Mama Heidi Reaches the Abandoned. Christianity Today, 56(5).
Velu, Eric (Producer), Velu, Eric (Writer), & Velu, Eric (Director). (2004). Mama Heidi [Motion Picture].
