What One Day With the Holy Spirit can Lead To
[9] In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. [10] And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. [11] And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
[12] The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. [13] And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. (ESV)
Mark 1:9–13 ESV Read More
A lot went on when Jesus got baptized. For one thing, John the Plunger was right, Jesus should be the one doing the baptizing. Jesus wouldn’t put Himself above anyone though, and He submitted to John’s baptism like everyone else that wanted to be committed to God.
The Holy Spirit came down like a dove on Jesus. It wasn’t a dove. It was like a dove. That might have become so cliche that we miss it. For the first time described in the scriptures, the Spirit of God visibly came down upon someone and rested on them. When Moses met God in a burning bush, it was known as the “Shekinah” glory of God. It looked like fire but it didn’t burn. The Shekinah glory of God filled the temple when they dedicated it, and all of the priests had to run out of the building. That glory shown all over the sky when angels declared to shepherds that a savior was born.
This is different than God’s glory, this is the very SPIRIT OF GOD and it came down and landed on Jesus. There are times where the Spirit of the Lord came upon Elijah and he worked some miracle, but this was different. As much as Jesus was wet from plunging into the Jordan River, He was also covered in the Holy Spirit. It was enough of a change that it was like going from being dry to being soaking wet. That change immediately drove Him and guided Him.
The guidance of the Holy Spirit isn’t always where we would expect. God can guide us with circumstances, advice from a friend, a line in a song, a scripture, a sermon, etc. I know one person that was saved when she looked at a painting with the words of 1 Corinthians 13 on it (Love is patient, love is kind…) and she called out to Jesus in faith in that moment and asked for that kind of love.
A man, driving in his convertible in the midst of a mid-life crisis and a horrible health diagnosis, heard “I Can See Clearly Now” on the radio and felt the love of God in Jesus that he never believed before. Nobody saw the Holy Spirit land on these people like a dove, but their lives were changed in those moments.
When the Holy Spirit landed on Jesus, it compelled Him to go out into the wilderness and fast and pray for 40 days. That kind of dependence and closeness would prepare Jesus for 3 years of intense life in God that would end up in martyrdom and resurrection. Jesus didn’t talk about it to John the Plunger, but He probably knew how it would work out generally, if not specifically. The Holy Spirit wasn’t leading Him across 3 years of ministry all at once, He was leading Him a day at a time for 40 days.
Those 40 days of obedience would turn into years and eventually accomplish our salvation! That’s why Paul urges us “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Hebrews 3:15 ESV) because every day of following the Holy Spirit can lead to another.
We might not need to go into the wilderness for a 40 day fast, but God is calling each one of us today, by His Spirit, to follow Him in great ways.
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