Determined to Be Divinely Directed - Part Two
"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness." Luke 4:1 (KJV, emphasis added)
If you have spent any time watching the Olympic Games this week, you might have noticed the frequent reference to an athlete’s determination. The word determination has come to be identified with the words grit, gumption and persistence, such as: "With countless hours of hard work, sacrifice, and determination an Olympian athlete positions him or herself to win a medal in the Olympic Games.”
The evidence of determination in a soul’s heart is essential as well as inseparable from a person’s ability to successfully achieve one’s ambition. In other words: determination can be a decision or the motivation you need to get something done. However, each and every athlete competing in the Olympic Games could not get there on their gifts and extraordinary athletic ability alone. They also had to determine to place themselves under the direction and leadership of a coach.
While the athlete feats evidenced in the Olympics are highly impressive, there was a spiritual contest enormously and eternally more superior than any contest of mortals. In the account of the temptation of Jesus Christ, we see God clothed in humanity being confronted by the god of the world (Read Luke 4:2-13). Consider with me the matchless modeling of how to get it done by the Lord Jesus Christ. He determined to be divinely directed and thereby submitted to the leadership of the Holy Spirit when He was confronted with an unfriendly environment. He was isolated, starving, and deeply deficient of water, with His mind and soul being ravaged by physical and emotional pressures that no soul has ever faced.
Our Lord was indeed in uncharted territory. Being buffeted by a barren and harsh environment was not His only peril. An opponent who is matchless in manipulation, malignant and evil sought to suspend the Lord’s ministry and deter Him from His mission of saving humanity from eternal separation from God (eternal death) by getting Him to sin. I submit to you that the Lord determined in His heart and soul to not succumb or surrender to Satan’s seductions.
Did you notice how the Lord overcame the temptation and stepped on and silenced the screams of selfishness and the storm of satanic pressure? He determined to be divinely directed and submitted to the Holy Spirit. Before you decide on a mate, ministry or march to a career path I encourage you to determine to be divinely directed. Before you drink the bitter cup of divorcing your spouse, or as a single, surrender to an over-sexed society and thereby surrender your purity or capitulate to the call of the culture; make a decision! Whatever the voice or the vice, determine to be divinely directed and you will not yield or be yoked to destruction.
In closing hear the wisdom of God:
“Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.” Proverbs 1:33 (KJV)
I challenge you to determine to take heed, determine to be corrected and experience divine direction in your life.
For the Glory of God,
PBKSR