Free Crash the Chatterbox: Hearing God's Voice Above All Others by Steven Furtick Page B

if we have allowed it first to delete the memory of who we are in Christ.
    Jesus crashed the chatterbox—in all its forms and functions—by the power of a transcendent, irrefutable declaration:
    “It is written.” 5
    Each time the serpent sounded off, Jesus spoke a better word.
Adam Reloaded
    The story of the temptation in the wilderness is the first record we have of the devil’s attempts to lead Jesus away from His mission by interjecting question marks and suggesting alternate routes. But Jesus had seen the whole song and dance before. In fact, it was the reason He came to earth. He was sent as heaven’s answer to the fallout that ensued after sin entered the world because the first man, Adam, forgot what God had told him.
    One of the ways Paul explains the identity of Jesus is by referring to Him as the second Adam. 6 It’s an important contrast. The first Adam was led away from the will of the Father by questions that contradicted the clear word of God. Jesus fulfilled the will of the Father by contradicting the devil’s questions with theclear Word of God. Such questions would not and could not work on Jesus. His answer would be the same every time. No amount of chatter could cause Him to deviate from the script in which He was the main character:
    It is written
.
    That’s why Satan’s temptation of Jesus had no more chance of succeeding than a Guns N’ Roses original lineup reunion tour. Because Jesus was
fully
loaded with the Word of God. He was literally preloaded with the truth of Scripture in a way that only He could be: He
was
the Word of God. So Satan’s interrogation of Jesus hit a dead end at every turn. It failed that day in the isolation of the wilderness. It would fail in a mob scene that marched Jesus up a hill called Calvary three years later, where scoffing voices dared him to make like Houdini and prove Himself the Son of God by coming down off the cross.
    And it failed at every assault it launched in between. The chatter surrounding the identity and ministry of Jesus was nonstop.
    Who does this man think He is?
    Doesn’t He realize He’s just the carpenter’s son?
    Who is this man that He forgives sins?
    None of it stopped Him. None of it slowed Him down. Jesus kept moving toward His mission—toward the perfect will of His Father—even when the false accusations of powerful men rendered Him bound and sentenced Him to die.
    Even when the masses who had previously enjoyed the benefits of the Bread Multiplier shouted in unison, “Crucify him! … Crucify him!” 7
    Jesus rose above the chatter and the cruelty with His silence—and obedience. In the words of Isaiah, He was “led like a lamb to the slaughter,” yet He did not utter a word. 8 The chatterbox blared, but He refused to talk back.
    And we’re left with a choice. Who will we follow in our response to the Enemy’s questions: the first Adam or the second?
    Will we entertain the Enemy’s request for an interview? Or will we speak in our souls and through our actions the response we’ve been trained to deliver: “It is written”?
    It’s a question we must answer again, as if for the first time, every day of our lives. Every moment, really. Every time the serpent calls us to throw ourselves from our rightful place in God down into emotional states, responses, and spiritual patterns that are the opposite of the life God intends for us. Every time hebaits us with self-pity, self-doubt, and the kind of self-absorption that factors God out of the equation, we are faced with a decision: Which voice will we listen to?
Snakes on a Plane
    Can I be honest? It’s the question I have to answer with every keystroke as I write this book. This chapter, for example, is being written on a fourteen-hour flight from Sydney, Australia, to Los Angeles, California. I have been in Oz for a week, preaching pretty much nonstop since I hit the ground last Monday. It was a great trip, but I’m tired, homesick, and emotionally and spiritually