- And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel. Luke 1:80 – For John the wilderness was a place he grew spiritually; for Jesus we know the wilderness as a place of his biggest temptations. See here that it’s not the place, but what we bring into the place that can make a spot sinful. A church can be filled with the sin of unforgiveness and pride while a prison can become a place of true worship. So what are you bringing with you into the places you go? Are you allowing sin to rule in those areas or God? Is your home, workplace, school, and church a place where you grow spiritually or bath in sin? Make sure you know what your carrying into each place. And like with Jesus in the wilderness, while He didn’t carry the temptations in with Him, He carried His Father’s Word into the wilderness to handle what was going to be there. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 606
- …for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb…Luke 1:15 – As I read over Luke chapter 1 this morning for our devotion, something I couldn’t help but notice was the Holy Spirit’s role in everything that happened surrounding Jesus’ birth. Here we see John the Baptist being filled with the Holy Spirit even in the womb. In verse 35 the Holy Spirit would come upon Mary. In verse 41 the Holy Spirit would come upon Elizabeth. In verse 67 the Holy Spirit would come upon Zechariah. The Holy Spirit would bring life to barren wombs. He would cause even the unborn baby in the womb to leap for joy at the presence of our Savior. The Holy Spirit would fuel praise of our God and gives words for the prophecies spoken in our chapter. Without the Holy Spirit’s work, none of this would have taken place. Without the Spirit of the Lord filling, overshadowing, and moving nothing we see take place in this vital time would have happened. We wouldn’t have had prophecies fulfilled. We would have John preparing the way and hearts for Jesus. We wouldn’t have had Jesus come into our world. The power and the movements we see take place in scripture were being done by the hand and Spirit of the Lord. As we continue to walk through Holy Week together, remember the only reason we have life, peace, and hope is because of the hand and Spirit of the Lord. We are able to exist in this eternal life because of what God did for us. We are secure in our salvation because of the Spirit. We have life because of Jesus. Let’s praise the Lord for how the Spirit moved in the days of Luke 1 so we could exist in the life we have now with Jesus. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2318
Daily DEVO 