We have received power to strip ourselves in the desert and overcome the flesh 

Many believers agree that Jesus was an Example to follow (the Way), but very few (if any) agree to truly follow Him. Everything Jesus did as a man was symbolic; it was a shadow of things to come. 

After being baptised with water, which for us represents receiving the Spirit of God after receiving the Word of God and believing, the Lord was led into the wilderness. In the same way, when we receive the Holy Spirit, he guides us, inspiring us to leave everything behind and set ourselves apart in the desert, isolated from the world. 

Unlike us, the Lord, who is the perfect Example, did not resist the Holy Spirit, but allowed himself to be led into the desert without any resistance. In that desert, the Lord fasted for 40 days and resisted all kinds of temptations in order to overcome His flesh. In this desert, the Lord won the victory over his flesh, by going against its desires, by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus had to go through this wilderness and overcome in order to work through the power of God. But we want to work directly after receiving the Spirit of God, while our old man has not yet been crucified. We are zealous to shout that it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us, when in truth we still live (our old man), and Christ does not fully live in us. 

Believers are so hypocritical that they are able to take Christ as an Example concerning all sorts of carnal things, which in reality have a symbolic meaning that they do not understand; but when it comes to taking the Example of Christ to really do the will of God, that is to say to strip ourselves of our flesh, in the desert, then no one wants to take Christ as an Example anymore

No one can be saved without going through the wilderness, because it is in this wilderness that God will sanctify us and that we will complete our sanctification. It is in this wilderness that we will receive the revelations necessary for our sanctification; it is there that Christ will grow in us, and that our old man will be totally crucified (dead). 

It is in this wilderness that we will shed our sinful nature, so that we can put on the nature of Christ. For unless our old man is totally crucified, we cannot put on the new man, created according to God, in the righteousness and holiness that Truth produces. 

When the Pharisees asked Jesus why His disciples did not fast, the Lord answered them this: 

Mark 2:19 And Jesus said unto them, Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. 21 No one sews a new piece of cloth to an old garment, or else the new piece will take away the old, and the tear will be greater. 22 In the same way, no one puts new wine into old vessels; otherwise the new wine will break the vessels, and the wine will spill out, and the vessels will be lost; but the new wine must be put into new vessels.

The Lord teaches us in this passage that the disciples could not truly fast, because they had not yet received the deposit of the Spirit, that is, they had not received the power to divest themselves completely of their sinful nature. And he says that when he (Jesus) is cut off, then the disciples will fast in those days. 

We know from the scriptures that the disciples could not receive the Spirit of God before Jesus' resurrection; but on the very day of his resurrection he gave them the deposit of the Spirit, as we see in John chapter 20, when it says: He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

It was on the very day of his resurrection that he transmitted this Spirit to his disciples, because he had done everything possible to transmit it to them. On that day, he gave them the POWER to BECOME children of God, through victory. He gave them the power to overcome the flesh in the wilderness, to crucify the old man, to strip themselves of their sinful nature, in order to put on the new man.

That is why 40 days after giving them this Spirit (40 days during which he taught them about the things concerning the Kingdom of God); he told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise, that is to say the Power from above (the new birth). And that while waiting for this promise, the disciples remained in sanctification, fasting and prayer; and in fellowship, as we see in Acts 1. They lived in an upper room, and were daily in the temple (which represents the presence of God), praising and blessing God; as we see at the end of chapter 24 of the Gospel of Luke.

When we believe in Jesus Christ and decide to truly follow him, we receive by faith and for free, the gifts of the Spirit; that is, the power to overcome and become children of God. That is why Jesus says to those who have received water from the source of living water free of charge: He who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God and he will be my son (Revelation 21:6-7).

If, then, we have received the deposit of the Spirit, we must now give up everything and allow ourselves to be led into the wilderness, without worrying about anything, in order to be totally sanctified there. We must give ourselves fully into God's hands, so that he can make us vessels of honour, sanctified, useful in his hands, and prepared for every good work. 

We are not to do as Martha did, who wanted to work through the flesh, but rather as her sister, Mary, who sat at the feet of Jesus receiving his teaching, so that we might be sanctified, prepared, for salvation and for the work of God. 

We must strip ourselves of our sinful nature by going against ourselves, against the will of our flesh. We must die in order to bear fruit, for if the grain of wheat that falls to the ground does not die, it does not bear fruit. We must become new wineskins, to be born of God, for new wine is not put into old wineskins, but into new ones.

We must strive to enter through the narrow gate; that is, we must force our way in, make an effort to enter, for many will seek to enter but cannot. The Kingdom of God is forced, and it is the violent who seize it, so we must absolutely do violence to seize the Kingdom of God.

The Lord has done everything so that we can do it by the power we have received by faith, free of charge, through his sacrifice. The Lord has done His part, and it is up to us to do ours. We have received the POWER, the AUTHORITY, to OVERCOME and BECOME children of God by the new birth. This grace that we have received is sufficient for us to do this by faith and love.

Let us not take the grace of God in vain, for it is by the price of His blood that He has enabled us to receive this power. Let us not limit the Power of Him who can do, by the Power that works in us, far beyond what we ask and think. The Lord gives us two laws, so that we can achieve this by the power He has given us: faith and charity.

Without these two laws, it is impossible to overcome and be born of God. Faith consists in loving God and trusting him fully; in believing that he is able to fulfil his promises, to make us perfect, like Christ the man; without any doubt, but with a firm assurance that he can do it. And charity consists in putting into practice, in handing over our whole selves to God; in offering our bodies as a living sacrifice, out of Love for our families and for our brothers and sisters (the Church).

It is impossible to do this without loving the Truth (Christ) and without having the assurance that God will do it in us; and it is impossible to do it without having Love of neighbour as a motivation. And to have this faith and love, we must have the knowledge of these things, which is why I am sharing them with you after having received them from God.