Thanks for joining us on this journey of building a consistent habit of reading our Bibles every day. The Bible reading plan we are using this year can be found here: One Year Bible or here on the Bible app. As always, if you miss a day, don’t feel compelled to go back and catch up. Just skip it and start back on today’s date. I am reading the NLT this year, but feel free to use whatever version you prefer. Now here are some thoughts from today’s readings:
Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
– Luke 4:1
For the third time we see Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. It’s still astonishing to me. It makes sense to us because we know the rest of the story, but does it make sense if you replace Jesus’ name with your own? Not so easy now, is it? Jesus fasts, He beats temptation, then He begins His public ministry that changes the world. My story isn’t quite that simply and I’d be willing to bet yours isn’t either.
The question is, do you understand the wilderness seasons in your own life? We sometimes blame the devil for a season the Holy Spirit brought us to because we don’t see the end results. We all face seasons with this same pattern: we go into a wilderness, we press into God (if we choose to), the enemy tempts us, we enter into a time of great victory (if we overcome the temptations). We have also faced situations with much different responses and much different results.
Are you stuck in this season over and over again? The two steps you may be missing are to press into God when you get into a wilderness season and then, knowing that the enemy wants to make you stumble when you’re pressing into God, you overcome that temptation with God’s help! Then you will undoubtedly move into a season of great victory.
What step are you missing in your current situation? What can you do to make sure you don’t fall into temptation?