Jesus was full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit! This will be said of us when we walk in the Spirit. Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit, free from the dominion of sin. Through simple faith in His sacrifice, we have been born of the same Spirit and made free from the dominion of sin. In the same way that Jesus was under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit, we also are under His influence. As we yield to Him, He will direct our steps.
Jesus spoke with boldness as He announced God’s willingness to deliver and heal people. When the religious people in the synagogue first heard Him speak, they were enraged by His familiarity with Jehovah God because He revealed their hardness of heart. They were so angry that they rose up to silence Him. They took Him to the edge of a cliff to throw Him to His death, but Jesus would not be pushed! He passed through the mob, and they were powerless to stop Him.
Why was He in control? Why were those demon-inspired people unable to destroy Him? Because He was full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit. Our enemies cannot control us or push us over a cliff when we walk in the Spirit. We may feel on the edge of losing control completely, but God is ready to restore our control if we reach out to Him now.
When Israel was wandering through the wilderness, they were given a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When the cloud began to move, there could be no argument, they had to pack their belongings and move with it.
The Spirit leads, He never follows! If we begin to lead, we walk alone. If we fight the moving of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we may discover ourselves out from under the cloud and alone in the scorching heat of the desert.
One very real hindrance in yielding to the influence of the Holy Spirit is one of Satan’s most effective weapons: false condemnation. He reminds us of our past pride, worldliness, or fruitlessness. Then he fills us with a fear of future failures. Despair and depression will draw us into a tailspin if we let our thoughts run rampant.
Satan will say, “Look at yourself. You call yourself a Christian! Do you think you could really be led by the Holy Spirit? With all of the problems and defeats you have had, you would be a fool to think your future can be any different.”
The difference between Satan’s condemnation and the Holy Spirit’s conviction is that Satan points to the past or the future. But the Spirit of God points us to the image of Christ and deals specifically with the present. God sees our past through the eyes of forgiveness and our future through the eyes of hope. He sees us in Christ. He does not want us to focus our sight on past weaknesses, but upon our present ability in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit of Heaven is the Spirit of Creation, the Spirit of the Resurrection, and the Spirit of Life. He has come to guide, direct, empower, and energize us when we yield to Him!
