Mark 1:12 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.

Jesus had just come out of the baptism waters hearing,“You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Then immediately the Spirit drove him. Mark 1: 13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him. While reading this today these two words stuck out to me.

DROVE – same word as cast out — as in to cast out the devil

TEMPTED – to be drawn away

Jesus and the Spirit took on the temptation of Satan head on. I love how ‘beloved son’ came before the Spirit drove him. Heb 4:15 says,  For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

‘When we are rooted in the truth that we are beloved children, we too can be driven by the Spirit to overcome our temptations. To find freedom and power in Christ. Jesus already walked the way and learned obedience in the things which he suffered. (Heb 5:8) and so can we. It’s a transformational walk but first we must walk through the wilderness with Jesus.

While having a conversation today, my friend Andy said, the only way to know you are healed is to be sick. This blasted me in the face because it is so true. How do we know that we are overcomers if we do not also first know suffering? The human reaction is to run from suffering all the while our human condition is one of great suffering. We are either walking into a struggle, in a struggle, or just coming out of one. There is no way around it. John 16:33 in this life you will have trouble but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

We just tend to think we ought to have it easy because Jesus is our savior. He never said it would be but He did say He would be with us.

Starla