Today’s Reading : Luke Chapter 4
It is amazing and a blessing for me to reach adulthood. When I look back over my time as a child, teenager, and young adult, there were many times that God blessed me to escape the potential pitfalls and detours. One of the benefits of being an adult and a parent is that you have the ability to have retrospective and prospective views. It seems that on a daily basis, I am constantly guiding my children in a better path than they are taking. “I would not advise eating that berry”, “Try riding you bike on the side walk and not in the middle of Main Street”, “ If you hold your sister’s arm like that it might come out of place”. These are the things that I can see would be beneficial for them and not require a hospital visit.
When we read Luke Chapter 4, we are getting a brief glimpse of Jesus growing. Luke 4: 1-2
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.
In the beginning of the chapter we are given powerful information in two verses. In these verses we see a transformation. Jesus has just been baptized by John the Baptist. This was the fulfillment of two prophecies: John has completed his mission of preparing the way for Christ, and this was the beginning of the transformation of Jesus before his ministry. As was the custom of Christ, he starts his ministry by taking time with God. He is growing into His work. But he is not alone, he is full of the Holy Spirit( God the Spirit).
The time that he is in the wilderness is forty days. God the Son is filled with God the Spirit being mentored with God the Father. The trinity is in unison during this growing period. This time could be equated with the forty years that Moses was being prepared and groomed in the wilderness before he was made the savior of the Israelites. Each day that Christ was growing in his ministry he was filled with a year’s worth of information and insight. He is growing exponentially. How much would we be able to grow if we concentrated all of our being to God the Father and filled with God the Spirit?
Throughout those entire journey, Christ has been repeatedly accosted by the enemy. These forty days, he has been in communion with the triune God but this did not stop the assault of the enemy. At the conclusion or the commencement of the journey Christ is barraged with the heaviest weapons that the enemy has to offer. He is questioned is authority, his place in the world, and also has the scriptures used against him. But his journey has prepared him for this test. Many times when we have completed a wilderness experience, we feel tired and ready for a rest and refreshment, but we have to slow God to reveal the respite. He will open up the door for us to find growth and peace in his will.
As we continued grow spiritually and physically, we have to understand that we will have wilderness experiences, but the only way that we will be successful is to carry God the Spirit in us by God the Son’s blood to continue in communion with God the Father. Grow strong.
Be blessed