Day 103: What controls your life? - Luke 4 vs 1 – 13

1-2 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3-4 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”  And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”

5-7 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”

9-11 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written 'He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and 'on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” 12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. Luke 4:1-13 English Standard Version

No doubt every follower of Jesus Christ wants to be 'full of the Holy Spirit and led by Him.' But do we realise what that could mean? Where did the Holy Spirit lead Jesus after his baptism, and for what purpose? (vs 1-2).

Being filled with the Spirit is not a joyride or some new kick. The Holy Spirit comes to believers to lead them into God's will for their lives - and there will be times when God's will may not be what we would've chosen for ourselves.

Luke tells us that Jesus ate nothing while he was in the wilderness. It may've been that he wanted to focus all His attention on time with God and preparing for the mission ahead of him. To put it another way, he was not allowing His appetite to control Him. We often base our actions on what we 'feel like' rather than on what would be best for us. God's Spirit may be prompting us to get up a little earlier so as to spend some time in God's word and prayer – but our feelings are telling us how nice it is to snuggle up in bed a little longer.

In the three temptations Luke tells us about, can you see a common theme in how the devil went about his work and what he was aiming at?

It seems that in each case he is trying to get Jesus to doubt God's word! After all, that's how he originally got Adam and Eve to sin. He made them doubt that what God said was for their good. But his temptations were also in the form of 'quick fix' solutions. He offers to satisfy people's physical desires (vs 3), their greed (vs 5-7), and even their desire for miracles (vs 9-11). The bottom line was that Satan wants people to serve him and his will, rather than God and God's will.

But Satan wasn't able to sidetrack Jesus from being fully faithful to God. Remember, Jesus was fully man when Satan attacked him. He would've experienced the same hunger after fasting we would feel. Satan's suggestions could've had the same appeal to him as they would to us. But Hebrews 4:15 says Jesus 'faced all of the same testings we do - yet he did not sin.' How did Jesus respond to the temptations Satan tried to lure him with?

That's right – he used God's word to counter all of Satan's suggestions. Psalm 119:11 says: “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Does this show the value of spending time reading the Bible and thinking deeply about what it says? The more of God's word we store up, the more we will be able to see through Satan's lies that still flood our world. And we need to do that because vs 13 reminds us that Satan doesn't give up - he will look for moments when we are most vulnerable. 1 Peter 5:8 says: “Keep alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”