May 2 - Led by the Holy Spirit

Read Luke 4:1-13

Context: Jesus was just baptized by John in the Jordan River.

Text:
1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'[a]"
5The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7So if you worship me, it will all be yours."
8Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'[b]"
9The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10For it is written:
" 'He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'[c]"
12Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'[d]"
13When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. (NIV)

Footnotes:
Luke 4:4 Deut. 8:3
Luke 4:8 Deut. 6:13
Luke 4:11 Psalm 91:11,12
Luke 4:12 Deut. 6:16
taken from www.biblegateway.com

The Trinity is one of the most difficult concepts of the Bible to fully understand. One God, three persons. Each is separate, yet all are one. I find it fascinating that Jesus, fully God and fully Man, can be filled with the Holy Spirit... is that because of the man He was, or for another reason? The Spirit clearly led Jesus into the desert and it can be presumed that the Spirit stayed with him for the next forty days of fasting and praying. If you read on in the text, we are told that Jesus returned to Galilee in the 'power of the Spirit'.

Jesus, God himself, relied on the Holy Spirit to give him direction and power. Do you rely on the Holy Spirit? For what purpose?