Led by the Spirit: What DID Jesus DO?
It was Christmas.
I was just a little girl, and we were at that point on Christmas Day when we were at my Grandma Mary’s, my dad’s mom’s, house. Dinner was over, the presents were open, and we were sitting in the living room.
I don’t know what happened, and I was too young to remember who brought it up, but somehow the topic of speaking in tongues made its way into the conversation, the conversation that very quickly became an argument complete with my folks and my grandma throwing Bible verses around like they were swords.
Looking back now, I think the lesson God was trying to teach me was that he never meant for the Bible to be wielded like a weapon, but that’s not how I saw it at the time. How I saw it at the time was that my grandma and her church were wrong, and my parents and our church were right.
The absurdity of the scene would make any logical, loving human being shake their head in disbelief and disgust.
My grandma was extremely active in her apostolic church, and my parents were immersed in our high-control church. Despite the fundamentalism running rampant in both faith communities, there were theological differences that both parties were convinced were going to send the others to hell.
My grandma believed you had to speak in tongues to prove you had the gift of the Holy Spirit; whereas, my parents believed you had to be immersed in baptism to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And, everyone was convinced they were right and the other was wrong.
It was a lovely Christmas.
I don’t remember how it ended, but I do know that was the last time we had any theological discussion (read: argument) as a family at a holiday get-together.
There was no listening for the sake of understanding happening in that living room; there was only listening for the sake of argument and listening for the sake of attack.
I wouldn’t suggest this approach to the holidays unless you’re trying to find a way to alienate your entire extended family and end the get-together early.
As I’ve grown older and maybe a little wiser, I recognize that everyone in that room wanted the same thing, but they were going about it all wrong. They each wanted everyone else to experience the Holy Spirit, but they were so dead set on having the only right answer as to how to experience the Holy Spirit that I don’t think they would have recognized the Spirit if it had become a human and walked into the room.
See, we spent way too much time in our church talking about the things we had to do to receive the Holy Spirit, but we didn’t talk about the guidance of or even the Spirit itself. It was almost as if we were taught that receiving the Spirit was enough–that was what was going to save us.
The irony of this is that isn’t how Jesus approached the Spirit at all.
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Heeding the Nudge of the Spirit
I talked last week about the little we know about the childhood of Christ. As I was rereading Luke to prepare for this series, I was struck by something I’d never noticed before. There are several instances in the first few chapters where Luke talks about Jesus being shown favor by God or being loved by God. In Luke 2:40 TPT, Luke tells us that: “The child grew more powerful in grace, for he was being filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him.” Then, again in verse 52 after Jesus was sitting with the Jewish leaders listening and questioning, Luke tells us, “As Jesus grew, so did his wisdom and maturity. The favor of men increased upon his life, for he was greatly loved by God.” It wasn’t until Jesus was immersed in the spirit of prayer around the time of his baptism and the beginning of his ministry that we saw the Holy Spirit descend on him like a dove and land on his shoulder. Luke explains it like this:
One day, Jesus came to be baptized along with all the others. As he was consumed with the spirit of prayer, the heavenly realm ripped open above him and the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in the form of a dove and landed on him. Then God’s audible voice was heard, saying, “My Son, you are my beloved one. Through you I am fulfilled.” Luke 3:21-22 TPT
Then, at the beginning of chapter 4, Luke explains how “From the moment of his baptism, Jesus overflowed with the Holy Spirit” (verse 1). What happened after this is mind-blowing if you take some time to process it.
Jesus was thirty years old and beginning his ministry, and the first thing that happened was that the Spirit led him into the wilderness for an “ordeal of testing by the accuser” (Luke 4:2 TPT)--before his ministry ever began, the Holy Spirit led him to be tested by Satan.
Interesting, right?
How easy would it have been for Jesus to be like, “yeah, no thanks.”?
His example here, though, is where our attention should land, though, isn’t it? It isn’t when or how he received the Holy Spirit or the proof that he had the Holy Spirit; it’s his heeding of the nudges of the Spirit that are the important piece.
If Jesus was baptized and received the Holy Spirit, what’s it matter if he isn’t following the guidance of the Spirit? Just like, if Jesus spoke in tongues as a gift of the Holy Spirit but wasn’t heeding those other nudges, what’s the point?
How you receive or manifest the Holy Spirit is between you and God, but how you heed the nudges of the Holy Spirit is what’s truly important.
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What Following the Spirit Means in Our Lives
Let me ask you a really honest question here–how many times have you found yourself in a similar situation to what Christ experienced after he began his ministry and was led by the Spirit? How many times have you heeded the nudges of the Holy Spirit only to be faced with intense spiritual attacks?
In the spirit of full transparency, I’d be lying if I told you I haven’t just come to expect the attacks after I lean into a nudge.
I’m not a prophet, and I don’t have all the answers, so I can’t tell you with 100% certainty that it’s the guidance of the Holy Spirit that results in these attacks, but I can tell you what happened to Jesus, what has happened in my own life, and what I’ve seen over and over again in others’ lives. While these attacks absolutely suck, we can take comfort in the fact that God has provided us with the tools we need to weather them–just like he gave the Israelites the tools they needed to survive their 40 years in the wilderness and Christ the tools he needed to survive his 40 days there as well.
So often we read this scene between Christ and Satan, and we see how Christ responds to Satan’s trickery with scripture, but if we ignore the first part of this scene, we miss the fact that it was the Holy Spirit who led Christ here in the first place. I can’t help but think this rings true in our own lives as well. Instead of focusing on the attacks and the fires themselves, maybe we need to shift our focus a little more to the refining that comes from those tests and those fires and the fact that God gifts us with what we need to survive them.
Like I said, I’m not a prophet and can’t say for certain when the Spirit is leading you into a refining fire vs. when Satan is just attacking you because you allowed the Spirit to lead you, but I know this to be true: God will not let your pain and your refining be wasted.
Whenever I think of this, my mind always goes to Esther when she faced the choice of whether or not she would approach the king uninvited and face death. In chapter 4, Mordecai writes her a letter that ends with the rhetorical question, stating that just maybe she had been created/put in this position of royalty for such a time as this (14).
Esther didn’t have an easy road to travel. In fact, it infuriates me when I think about the things Esther experienced, but God didn’t waste her pain or her experiences. He used them to allow her to save her people.
You might find yourself in a similar boat today–maybe your circumstances are infuriating and you’re being attacked left and right. If that’s the case, know I see you. I’ve been there. Whether you got yourself there, the Spirit led you there, or the accuser is preying on you there, Mordecai’s question is for you too: perhaps you have been created for such a time as this.
Heeding the nudge of the Holy Spirit isn’t always easy in our lives. It can require sacrifice, testing, and lots and lots of refining. If we truly want to live our lives like Jesus, we have to know what Jesus did. And, one of the first things he did in ministry was to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit and continue to do that throughout his ministry–even when it conflicted with the religious teachings and leaders of his day, but that’s a topic for another day.
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Reflections:
What does it look like in your life to heed the nudges of the Holy Spirit?
What are the moments of refining you’ve had to experience when guided by the Spirit?
What happens in your life when you ignore the Holy Spirit?
