Led by the Spirit

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

LED BY THE SPIRIT

Luke 4:1-13

4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"  5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.   7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"  9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" 12 Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"  13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

NIV

First, we must believe these two are not strangers, as Jesus, being God, was there in the beginning because nothing was made that he did not make, and so Jesus was there when Lucifer was cast out of heaven, in fact, Jesus cast him to the earth, that He made. Therefore, this whole narrative happens, the devil, Lucifer, who became that old serpent that tempted Adam and Eve, those who were created in the image of God, was back to try his hand at the one who cast him down in the first place. Now, before we get to these three temptations and the answers of Jesus, we want to consider Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit and being led by the Spirit into the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. First, we understand it is not just these three that we are made aware of, for if the devil tempted Jesus for forty days, there must have been a lot of temptations thrown at Jesus. However, the point we were led to focus on was the Spirit leading Jesus into the desert which seems for the purpose of being tempted. We think of the desert that we once lived in which was not just for forty days, we lived according to all the temptations of the evil one and we ate nothing. Of course, we ate food, but spent our whole life before knowing Jesus, starving, because we did not have the real food of God, His word. However, there is a big difference between Jesus and us, as the Spirit led Jesus into the desert, and He led us out of the desert, where we were destined to die, to food that would sustain us onto life. The second difference is that Jesus was filled with the Spirit before he entered the desert, and we did not get filled with the Spirit until we left the desert. However, it was Jesus who sent the Spirit to us so that he would fill us to, not just the brim, but to overflowing. Of course, we are not at all trying to compare ourselves to Jesus, for He is God, and we are His creation. But we could not resist seeing these two situations between us and Jesus. Let us always allow the Spirit to lead us into all truth, which we find in the food God prepared for us, His word.