Immediately after the Father called Jesus His "beloved Son" at the Jordan River, Jesus went into the wilderness. The devil came to tempt Him. The temptation seemed to be about physical hunger and power, but the core battle was about identity.

Look closely at the words the devil used during the temptation.


"Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, 'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.'"Matthew 4:3 (NKJV)

The devil left out one crucial word. He did not say, "If you are the beloved Son of God." He omitted the word "beloved."

The enemy knows that if you remember how much God loves you, temptation loses its power. He cannot remind you of the Father's love because doing so would make his temptation fail. He must make you doubt the Father's heart before he can make you disobey the Father's word.

When you know you are the beloved of God, you do not need to turn stones into bread to prove your worth. You do not need to seek satisfaction in wrong places because you are already satisfied by His love. The enemy's primary strategy is to remove the word "beloved" from your vocabulary. Your defense is to keep it at the center of your mind.

The enemy's first goal is to make you forget you are loved.