And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days being tempted by the devil.
– Luke 4:1-2
The scroll of the Prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
– Luke 4:17-18
So do you see the relationship between these two parts of Luke 4? Both revolve around the fullness of the Holy Spirit on Jesus. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit”, Luke 3 starts, “was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days where he was tempted by the devil.” So just think on the most basic level, today you will be tempted by the devil. You will face temptation to sin all day long today. You face it even right now.
Luke 4 portrays the importance of walking in step with the Spirit.
So how important is it? How vital is it to walk in step with the Spirit at every moment and to pray for this? To pray that you would live in step with the Holy Spirit. That you would walk in obedience to his Word and in step with his Spirit all day long? This is probably the most constant thing I pray for. God, please keep me in step with your Spirit. Knowing we live in a spiritual world, we are involved in a spiritual war every single day. Do not be blind to this. There is an adversary who wants to destroy you today. There is an adversary who wants to destroy your life, your relationships, your work… Just every facet of who you are. Don’t let your guard down. Walk in step with the Spirit.
And then, later in Luke 4, to read about how the Spirit of the Lord was on Jesus. And he’s quoting here from Isaiah 61, “to proclaim good news.” So the same Spirit who will empower you to overcome temptation is the same Spirit who will empower you to proclaim good news to people around you. That they also can be free from the power of sin. And that they can experience life in relationship with God.
Luke 4 encourages us to seek the power of the Holy Spirit daily.
And I just want to encourage you to live in the power of the Holy Spirit today on both of those levels. Live in the power of the Holy Spirit to resist temptation, to be holy by the power of his Holy Spirit in you. At the same time, pray for boldness from the Holy Spirit to proclaim good news to people around you today, to share the gospel with somebody around you today who doesn’t know it.
Oh God, we pray that you would help us to walk in step with your Spirit today. I pray that over my life. I pray that over every single person’s life who’s listening to this right now, who knows you, your Holy Spirit inside of us. God, help us to realize in a fresh way, even right now, the wonder of this reality that our bodies are temples of your Holy Spirit. That you are dwelling in us right now. That your Spirit is in us to lead us, to guide us, to direct us, to empower us.
God, we pray, help us not to live in the flesh today. Help us to walk in step with your Spirit at every moment today. And in the process, God, keep us, guard us from sin. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, as you taught us to pray Jesus. And we pray for power from your Holy Spirit to be witnesses to the gospel today, to proclaim good news to people around us by the Spirit of Jesus in us.
Prayer for the Sutradhar People
And God, in the Spirit, we intercede for people who’ve never heard that good news. Specifically today, God, we cry out for the Sutradhar people of Bangladesh and India. 700,000 of them, no known followers of Jesus among them. God, we pray that the gospel, the good news would spread to the Sutradhar people of Bangladesh and India so that they might be saved from sin. God, we pray that you would send Spirit-led, Spirit-filled followers of yours to the Sutradhar people that they might be reached with the good news, the favor that is found in you through faith in Jesus. We pray all this according to your Word in Luke 4 as temples of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
