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The
Driving of The Spirit
John the Baptist was attracting large crowds with his message of repentance.
People were responding to God’s messenger, and yet John spoke of
another that was coming so great “the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy
to stoop down and untie.
I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit.” And
with that introduction, Jesus came to John to be baptized, just like everyone
else.
It is truly a beautiful story…a story about the heaven being “torn apart”
and the spirit of God descending on Jesus like a dove…and a voice coming from
heaven saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Jesus was baptized, ordained by the Holy Spirit to start His glorious
ministry.
You know, you would think that a great celebration would follow this glorious
act, a time of rejoicing and worship…a wonderful send-off for Christ as He
goes out to win the world for God.
Instead, Mark states that the Spirit “drove Him into the wilderness
where He was tempted by Satan.”
“Drove” is certainly an interesting choice of words…and yet we can all
relate to the power of the Holy Spirit when we are seeking God’s will for our
lives. It
“drives” toward the direction He wants us to go.
It compels us to do His will…not because we have to, but because we
desperately want to follow His
leading. His
Spirit gives urgency to our lives and purpose in everything we do.
We must remember that being “driven” by the Spirit does not mean we go where
we want to go…rather, we go where God
wants us to go.
Jesus went into the wilderness, as Mark says, “with the wild beast”
to be tempted by Satan.
When we feel closest to God…when we accept His call for our
lives…where we commit our lives to Him…that is when Satan comes.
Satan is perfectly content to do nothing when we complacency live our
lives, just going through the motions with no passion for Christ.
But when we are moved to live for God, Satan get nervous and the
temptations come.
Christ would meet those temptations head on and with the power of the Holy
Spirit, He would defeat Satan in the desert.
The Spirit was preparing Him for the ultimate victory where He would also
defeat Satan on the cross!
The Spirit drives us…sometimes into difficult places…but always to
strengthen us and always for God’s glory.
The Holy Spirit is the greatest motivator in our lives.
Praise God that His Spirit drives us toward being His person in the
world. He
drives us into the wilderness where the wild beast are…but fear not, He is
with us, and through Him we are “more than conquerors through Him who loves
us!”
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