By the Way: Yield to where the Holy Spirit is taking us

By Medicine Hat News on March 16, 2019.

Charles Spurgeon said that “trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of.” Like a mirror, trials and tests show us who we really are, not who we try to pretend to be in front of others. The problem with being deceived, is just that, we do not that we are being deceived, and for some of us, we have got so good at deceiving others, we have become so comfortable with the mask we wear, that we have deceived ourselves. It is only during a time of frustration, desperation, or anger that we get a glimpse of where we truly are in our faith journey.

During this time of Lent, we recall Jesus being led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. Interesting, not by the devil, but by the Holy Spirit for 40 days of fasting and praying. During the end of this period, when one’s humanity would be at its weakest, that is where Satan comes. Satan did not place Jesus in this position, following of the Holy Spirit did, yet Satan will never pass up an opportunity to kill, steal, and destroy.

In this place of testing, Jesus reveals to Satan who He truly is. Satan is subtle. He whispers his lies. He tries to skillfully sow seeds of doubt and mistrust. Notice Satan does not physically attack Jesus, he goes after His will and His choices. It is here where our flesh is weak, that Christ shows us where our true strength lies: the Word of God. Many Christians know the verse, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” but it is only in the time of trial and temptation that we demonstrate whether we truly believe this truth or not. Are we able to deny our physical needs and fleshly desires, and press into God’s Word, or do we satisfy our human desires at the expense of what we know is God, and what He has asked us to do.

During this season of Lent, I pray that we will yield to where the Holy Spirit is leading us, and allow ourselves to let the trials and tests to not only allow us to see who we truly are, without any mask or deception, but provoke us to confront who we are, and who we have become. Often those of us who are married and/or have children, know that is during conflict with the ones we love, that we truly reveal the condition of our heart. I also pray that in the areas of life where we are dissatisfied, we would look deep into the Word of God, which the Epistle of James also describes as a mirror, that reveals to us what we can be through Christ, and allow the Holy Spirit to help us be Christ’s heart, hands, feet in every situation, and to every person, regardless of the trial; that God’s Word would come alive in every word, thought, and action of our lives.