He was Totally Sold Out to the Father

Luke 4 says Jesus was filled with the Spirit after being baptized in Jordan and then the Spirit led him to the wilderness to be tempted. I was stalking behind him as he walked then he suddenly stopped and turned to me. He stared, as if knowing that I had a pressing concern. [Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay].

"What do you mean by being filled with the Spirit?" I asked.

He smiled and touched me, and then gestured to follow him. Then a thought came---"it's being totally sold out," a small voice said in my mind. After a moment, another word came: "Totally surrendered." Did that mean I had to be a perfect follower? Nope. You can fail a lot, do things wrong, and yet be totally surrendered in the eyes of God. Peter and Barnabas did wrong and yet were filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul and Barnabas quarreled.

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God's Spirit indwelt them. He (the Spirit) never left them just because they were wrong. Nor was the Spirit decreased in measure in them just because they failed. God's Spirit still dwelt in them 100 percent. So, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Grace makes all that possible. You cannot be 80 percent "filled," mind you, or have the Spirit of God just partially. You're either filled or not.

David did wrong and yet we never read that the Spirit departed from him as the Spirit did from King Saul. It's a different story if you're not totally surrendered. You cannot be lukewarm and claim to be filled. "Filled" doesn't mean perfect. It means totally surrendered. You allow God total free rein to unmold and mold you. Your free will never gets in the way.

These thoughts were in my mind as I followed Jesus to the wilderness. You could see how willing he was to be led there and be tempted by the devil. "Totally sold out" was written all over his face. Being filled made this possible---willing to be degraded, insulted and made fun of by a lesser individual and not retaliate with his divine power, without second thoughts. And surviving the ordeal required nothing less. Then the Word came to me: "If Jesus needed infilling before doing any ministry, how much more human servants?"

Jesus sat where piles of stones were scattered on the desert floor. He was obviously tired and hungry after 40 days of fasting. I knew the devil would appear any time then, but Jesus stared at me before the devil could make an appearance. Then this thought came: "In fact, before doing any ministry for God, you need to defeat the devil in the wilderness."

People pray to be anywhere except the wilderness, but it's in the wilderness where defeating Satan is most strategic. God watches you more when you're in the wilderness---he watches how you forfeit yourself of your rights and privileges there. He watches how you starve your ego. If your ego dies, you defeat Satan. If you defeat Satan in the wilderness, you'll make it anywhere.

If not, don't attempt any ministry. Defeating the devil is what really counts in ministry, not numerical results or achievements. A semblance of success while spiritually succumbing to the devil is zero in the Kingdom.

Hearing this Word in my spirit, I stared back at the Lord. He nodded in agreement. Then the tempter came. We know the rest of the story.