ESOCS Devotional 10 January 2025 – What Controls Your Life?
MEMORY VERSE: “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.” Luke 4:1-23
TEXT: LUKE 4:1-23
Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, 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 shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you,’
11 and,
‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
23 He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum,[k] do also here in Your country.’ ”
Read Other ESOCS Devotional Here
No doubt every follower of Jesus Christ wants to be ‘full of the Holy Spirit and led by Him.’ But do we realize what that could mean? Where did the Holy Spirit lead Jesus after His baptism, and for what purpose? (vv. 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 have chosen for ourselves.
Luke tells us that Jesus ate nothing while He was in the wilderness. It may have 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 (v 3), their greed (vv. 5-7), and even their desire for miracles (vv. 9-11). The bottom line was that Satan wants people to serve him and his will, rather than God and God’s will. As you take a bold step out today, I beg you to be passionate about what preoccupies your heart, for out of it flows the issues of life. Be deliberate in your choice and conscious of the Comforter forthwith.
CHALLENGES
- What is your relationship with the Holy Spirit? How cordially do you relate with Him?
PRAYER POINT
- Father, help me to always be conscious in my undertakings and abiding in the spirit man. Amen.
FURTHER READING: Isaiah 10:21-34; 11:1-end; Luke 4:24-end
ESOCS Devotional 10 January 2025
