“Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are my beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22 NKJV)

Insomnia is never fun. Not long ago on a Wednesday night after struggling to fall asleep, I woke up again after two or three hours. As well as being frustrated with the pressure of having to work the next day on little sleep, the demonic darts started pushing all the wrong buttons (“You’re too old,” “God is finished with you,” “people have forgotten about you,” “you’re nothing,” etc.)

I felt like I was being flushed down a large black toilet. A black demonic cloud was descending over my mind.

Then I heard a still small voice: “the baptism of Jesus”. This phrase may not send the demonic hordes running in everyone’s life, but it did for me. As I thought about Jesus’ baptism, as I grabbed hold of that key, the demonic cloud and dark thoughts left. I fell asleep, waking up just in time to get ready for work.

Let me share the background to this key. During the “renewal” in the 90’s God was doing wonderful works of healing of wounded emotions and thinking in many people including me. He had impressed on me to read that passage in Luke at that time, and had said, “That’s how I feel about you – I love you, I am pleased with you, you are my son.”

I could not fathom this at first and argued with God – of course God loved His perfect Son Jesus – look at all the wonderful miracles He did – I am just a frail human being who has never done anything to compare with Jesus.

Then the most amazing revelation finally filtered through. At the time of His baptism Jesus had just been a working joe who had not done anything amazing. He had not yet begun His teaching and discipling ministry that we read about in the gospels, or done any miracles. It was not about what Jesus had done, but who He was – God declared His acceptance of His Son!

And God has adopted me, and you, and it’s not about what I can do or not do, but it’s about relationship. God, through His Son made us His kids and He is best pleased with us, because we are His kids!

Having experienced growing up as a kid with little sense of self-worth or acceptance, God used this passage to heal a broken “kid” and gave it to me as a key for myself and others.

So when the black cloud comes and tries to suck you down a tunnel of condemnation or depression, you can use this key to speak out loud to the enemy and watch him retreat, just as Jesus used the Word to send the devil running when He was in the wilderness just after His baptism.

Since God reminded me of this key of His Word, the following night I read it out loud for all to hear, and although I still spent a lot of time lying awake, there was no demonic cloud or thoughts. I had a key and the enemy knew I would use it!

Pleasant dreams.