(The Holy Spirit Led Life – Part 2)
by Kelly Dixon
Reading: Luke 4:1-13
by Kelly Dixon
Reading: Luke 4:1-13
When I was in the middle of my college career, I became a junk food junkie. My diet was made up of chips, candy, sodas, etc. If it was a junk food that the convenience store carried, then I liked it. When I was on campus in between classes I would stop for a “treat” and when I was off campus I would stop as well. The pounds were packing on from this habit and the Lord started to show me how unhealthy I was becoming and how that interfered with my everyday living. I now recognize this as being God’s Spirit convicting me, but then I was just noticing the effects of the pounds on my body. Because I knew I had to do something different, I began to search out ways to “limit” myself from the habit that I had developed. So I started not taking money with me when I was on campus. That solved the in-between class snacking, but what about stopping at the convenient store when I was off campus? I had to have my wallet with me while I was driving. I finally came to the conclusion that I must put my purse in the trunk. So I took my driver’s license, student ID, and lipstick (got to have lipstick available) out of my purse and placed the rest of my purse along with my monies in the trunk. I remember saying a little prayer to God about helping me to overcome. My technique sounds silly; after all, I can still open the trunk and get the purse out when I needed to do so, right? Sure, but the action of doing so would bring to mind my commitment of not eating the junk food and that would bring to the forefront of my mind the choice I was to make. When temptation came, I had to take extra steps to give in and there would be more time to meditate on what I was actually doing.
As I think back to this story today, I would like to think my prayer to God was a real commitment to Him to follow His will and that when I say I took “more time to meditate”, I was referring to meditating on His Words in regards to this situation. Reality was at that point in my Christian walk, I was seeking God to help me because I agreed with Him on this issue. Not because I felt it was His will for my life. This was a little prayer of reassurance of success rather than a commitment to God in my eyes. To state it bluntly, I was using God to “stack the deck” in my favor of success. Even though today I recognize the fact that it was the Holy Spirit convicting me, my actions towards dealing with the conviction did not take into consideration what the Lord wanted for my life. They were not Holy Spirit led and I wasn’t seeking what the Lord’s Word said in regards to this aspect of my life.
In Luke 4:1-13, we have the account of Jesus when the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness and the devil tempted Him there. In the beginning of this passage, it states that Jesus was “full of the Spirit.” Now this may seem like the Bible is stating the obvious. After all, Jesus is part of the Trinity. He is always full of the Spirit. However, I believe this is written for us not only to realize this fact about Jesus, but that we must be led by the Spirit to overcome the ground of temptation the way Jesus did when He was tempted by the devil. Even though we would like to think that the Holy Spirit will always lead us “beside still waters,” (1) that is not always true. If God sees we need go through a time of testing to reveal more of Himself to us, then the Holy Spirit will lead us into a time of testing. This is not to state, however, that all times of testing in our lives are because the Holy Spirit has led us there. We must examine our hearts during each time of testing to make sure we have not brought it on ourselves through sin or unwise choices. This is where I was in the case of my junk food; I had made unwise choices that led me into the sin of not taking care of my body - God’s temple.
Satan roams this earth like a roaring lion seeking whom he shall devour. (2) His game is temptation and he loves to see a Christian in grounds of temptation. Temptation is totally of the devil and not of God because God cannot be tempted nor does He tempt anyone. (3) We are in grounds of temptation when we have set ourselves up to be in a vulnerable state. Usually we do so by not allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us from the beginning. Grounds of temptation happen when our sin or unwise choices have put us in a place that allows the devil to tempt us when we are weak. We then usually give in because of where we are at that time. As Christians, it is not our leisure to place ourselves wherever we see fit. Instead, it is our responsibility to be in the places where the Spirit leads us. When we make unwise choices and place ourselves in an environment in which we are “game” for the devil, then we have not lived up to that responsibility. Instead, we have allowed our flesh to show us the way to go instead of letting the Holy Spirit lead us in the way we should go.
To be Holy Spirit led, we must realize that we need to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us before temptation is present. The Holy Spirit will tell us, “don’t do that” or “do not go there” (4) because He knows that place is a ground of temptation for you. My ground of temptation for the junk food was having my purse readily available to me. When it was on the seat right beside me, it was easy to grab and go into the store without a second thought. However, when I placed it in the trunk, it allowed time for me to think about what I was doing as I went to unlock the trunk for my purse. When the Lord tells us not to place ourselves in certain situations, then He is leading us out of that temptation before we are to be tempted. We must stay tuned to the Holy Spirit to not be led into temptation. When we do, we can realize that whenever we place ourselves on the ground of temptation then we are weak and do give into sin.
Prayer:. Heavenly Father, show me the grounds of temptation in my life. Help me to see how You are leading me away from those grounds. Guide me in taking action to not put myself in places that make me vulnerable to the devil. Do not let me fool myself that I can withstand the devil when I am placing myself in vulnerability. However, if I do find myself in such a state, give me wisdom and strength to resist the devil as Jesus did with the Word of God. Afterwards, give me wisdom to not go to that ground of temptation again realizing by not doing so I am taking the first step to resist the devil. Through Christ I conquer all. Amen.
Ponder or Journal: Is there a sin in your life that you keep committing and are struggling to overcome? Think about the environment or atmosphere you are in when you commit the sin. Write down your thoughts. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you a way that you can avoid being placed on this particular ground of temptation. Write a commitment to the Lord to follow His Spirit to not be led into this ground of temptation. Pray this as a prayer of commitment and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself to you even more.
Scripture References:
(1) Psalm 23:2 (2) 1 Peter 5:8 (3) James 1:13-15 (4) Isaiah 30:21
As I think back to this story today, I would like to think my prayer to God was a real commitment to Him to follow His will and that when I say I took “more time to meditate”, I was referring to meditating on His Words in regards to this situation. Reality was at that point in my Christian walk, I was seeking God to help me because I agreed with Him on this issue. Not because I felt it was His will for my life. This was a little prayer of reassurance of success rather than a commitment to God in my eyes. To state it bluntly, I was using God to “stack the deck” in my favor of success. Even though today I recognize the fact that it was the Holy Spirit convicting me, my actions towards dealing with the conviction did not take into consideration what the Lord wanted for my life. They were not Holy Spirit led and I wasn’t seeking what the Lord’s Word said in regards to this aspect of my life.
In Luke 4:1-13, we have the account of Jesus when the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness and the devil tempted Him there. In the beginning of this passage, it states that Jesus was “full of the Spirit.” Now this may seem like the Bible is stating the obvious. After all, Jesus is part of the Trinity. He is always full of the Spirit. However, I believe this is written for us not only to realize this fact about Jesus, but that we must be led by the Spirit to overcome the ground of temptation the way Jesus did when He was tempted by the devil. Even though we would like to think that the Holy Spirit will always lead us “beside still waters,” (1) that is not always true. If God sees we need go through a time of testing to reveal more of Himself to us, then the Holy Spirit will lead us into a time of testing. This is not to state, however, that all times of testing in our lives are because the Holy Spirit has led us there. We must examine our hearts during each time of testing to make sure we have not brought it on ourselves through sin or unwise choices. This is where I was in the case of my junk food; I had made unwise choices that led me into the sin of not taking care of my body - God’s temple.
Satan roams this earth like a roaring lion seeking whom he shall devour. (2) His game is temptation and he loves to see a Christian in grounds of temptation. Temptation is totally of the devil and not of God because God cannot be tempted nor does He tempt anyone. (3) We are in grounds of temptation when we have set ourselves up to be in a vulnerable state. Usually we do so by not allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us from the beginning. Grounds of temptation happen when our sin or unwise choices have put us in a place that allows the devil to tempt us when we are weak. We then usually give in because of where we are at that time. As Christians, it is not our leisure to place ourselves wherever we see fit. Instead, it is our responsibility to be in the places where the Spirit leads us. When we make unwise choices and place ourselves in an environment in which we are “game” for the devil, then we have not lived up to that responsibility. Instead, we have allowed our flesh to show us the way to go instead of letting the Holy Spirit lead us in the way we should go.
To be Holy Spirit led, we must realize that we need to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us before temptation is present. The Holy Spirit will tell us, “don’t do that” or “do not go there” (4) because He knows that place is a ground of temptation for you. My ground of temptation for the junk food was having my purse readily available to me. When it was on the seat right beside me, it was easy to grab and go into the store without a second thought. However, when I placed it in the trunk, it allowed time for me to think about what I was doing as I went to unlock the trunk for my purse. When the Lord tells us not to place ourselves in certain situations, then He is leading us out of that temptation before we are to be tempted. We must stay tuned to the Holy Spirit to not be led into temptation. When we do, we can realize that whenever we place ourselves on the ground of temptation then we are weak and do give into sin.
Prayer:. Heavenly Father, show me the grounds of temptation in my life. Help me to see how You are leading me away from those grounds. Guide me in taking action to not put myself in places that make me vulnerable to the devil. Do not let me fool myself that I can withstand the devil when I am placing myself in vulnerability. However, if I do find myself in such a state, give me wisdom and strength to resist the devil as Jesus did with the Word of God. Afterwards, give me wisdom to not go to that ground of temptation again realizing by not doing so I am taking the first step to resist the devil. Through Christ I conquer all. Amen.
Ponder or Journal: Is there a sin in your life that you keep committing and are struggling to overcome? Think about the environment or atmosphere you are in when you commit the sin. Write down your thoughts. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you a way that you can avoid being placed on this particular ground of temptation. Write a commitment to the Lord to follow His Spirit to not be led into this ground of temptation. Pray this as a prayer of commitment and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself to you even more.
Scripture References:
(1) Psalm 23:2 (2) 1 Peter 5:8 (3) James 1:13-15 (4) Isaiah 30:21
