Jesus was Led by the Holy Spirit

Matthew 4:1

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”

Immediately after the water baptism of Jesus, and the Father’s audible declaration of His love and pleasure with Him, the Holy Spirit, like a dove, descended upon Jesus and led Him into the wilderness to be tempted, tested and tried by the devil.

After my salvation in prison, I looked back upon my life and realized how many times I was tempted, tested and tried by the Devil in the desert of my past. I wandered through a wilderness of my own making for most of forty years. I almost always failed the tests. Can you relate to this?

Jesus, the man, passed all His tests and trials. He did not fall for the Devil’s temptation tricks. I believe the most important difference for Him was His obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Similarly, we need to be led by the Spirit!

Another critical factor was how the Spirit prompted Him to respond to each of the three specific temptations we are told about in Scripture (I am certain He had many more we do not specifically know). His Spirit-led response was to answer the Devil with a scripture very specific to the area of temptation.

Likewise, we should be putting scripture deep in our heart daily so that the Holy Spirit can help us access it every time we are tempted and tested.

TODAY’S CHALLENGE:

Talk with the Father about your need and desire to be led daily by the Spirit. Tell Him you want to be instantly obedient to the Spirit’s promptings. Ask Him for His help in learning scripture.

Dive Deeper: Study Matthew 4:1-17; Luke 4:1-14; Hebrews 4:12-13; Proverbs 4:20-23; Isaiah 55:10-11.