That Thing!.......Part 2

OK, at the risk of sounding like I'm over simplifying this, let me take this one step at a time and spell it out completely. In the Gospel of Luke chapter 4 and verse 1-2, the Bible says this: "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where He was tempted by the devil." Then in that same chapter, in verse 14 we read: "Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through the whole countryside." Follow the pattern: 1) Filled with the Holy Spirit. 2) Led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to defeat the devil. 3) Returns from the desert to begin ministry, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

That "THING" can be defeated by engaging it within the power of the Holy Spirit! Now while I'm assuming that many or most of the people who read my blog are at least open to the Pentecostal/Charismatic beliefs, the truth of the matter is that for many Believers, we have tried and tried to defeat the devil, and that THING in our life, within our own power and on the merits of our promises to God to NEVER commit that sin again. The problem with that, even though it is admirable, is that it shifts the focus of the power from the Holy Spirit to us and our promises!

Perhaps the truth behind that "THING" or those besetting sins, is that we endeavor to engage in spiritual warfare, which is necessary when engaging in ANY ministry, completely devoid of the power of the Holy Spirit? Perhaps we fail because the "foundation" of our promises to "do better" is based upon our efforts and not the "efforts" and empowering of the Holy Spirit? Now I sincerely believe that even when we are "filled" with the Holy Spirit to live this Christian life and do ministry, there will be times of "re-filling." We have to continue in a place of life and ministry within the power of the Holy Spirit, which requires us to be in a process of being "refilled" from time to time. And there is NOTHING that needs a fresh dose of the infilling power and presence of the Holy Spirit, then a Follower of Jesus who is about to do battle with the devil in the wilderness!

So, the question may be asked: "In the HEAT of the battle of the temptation of that "THING" in my life. When I am in the middle of the desert! How do I acquire the power of the Holy Spirit to defeat the devil like Jesus did?" Assuming that one has been baptised in the Holy Spirit (As I believe it is a second definite work after salvation), then the process for going into the "desert" and defeating the devil over that "THING" in your life becomes the "coupling" of your desire with the Holy Spirit's power! It is the working of volition with power! When you find yourself in the desert and engaged in battle over that "THING" in your life, then it works likes this: Your desire is that you choose to love the Lord and be obedient to Him more then you want your sin, and then you PRAY! What kind of prayer do you pray? Something like this: "Holy Spirit, you empower me and fill me, and Jesus promised that you would be my Comforter! I need You RIGHT NOW to comfort me in the heat and agitation of this temptation! This temptation is irritating to me, and to be honest, part of me wants it! Please comfort me, and by your comfort and ministry, empower me to say to this "THING"....... "Get behind me!"

There IS victory for the Follower of Jesus! And once you have beaten the devil over that "THING," then, and only then, will you be ready to "return from the desert in the power of the Holy Spirit!" Remember, immediately following His return from the desert, Jesus declared in the Temple that He was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 61, publicly declaring that first, Messiah had come and second, this was the beginning of His earthly ministry! And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, having defeated the devil in His life and returning in the Power of the Holy Spirit, NOW begins to validate the veracity of what He is preaching about the Father and His Kingdom, by verifying it with miraculous signs! And all of this was done through the power of the Holy Spirit! The SAME power the Church of Jesus Christ desperately NEEDS, if we are ever going to once again influence culture and society for Christ! Every Believer, and especially those who are on the forefront of the battle over the souls of people, NEEDS the power of the Holy Spirit! But, the Holy Spirit withholds the FULL manifestation of His power from those who are still harboring "secret sin; besetting sin;"....................... "THAT THING!" There IS freedom! There IS deliverance! Because there is AVAILABLE POWER through our Comforter, the Holy Spirit! Power to go into the desert, defeat the devil over THAT THING, and then return in the power of the Holy Spirit! Then and ONLY then, will the Church of Jesus Christ in America rise from the ashes of revivals past, and infuse our world with the life changing power of the message of the cross! Then and ONLY then, will we once again be a Church that brings glory and honor to Christ!

That.......THING!!! Part 1

Over a period of several weeks the Lord began to speak to my heart and reveal to me the multiple answers to my singular question: "Why don't we see the power Jesus promised here in America?" The answers to that question came over a period of several weeks's and I am going to give them to you, the reader, one at a time as well. This will give you the time to prayerfully consider these answers; prayerfully consider how they apply to your life; and hopefully, through repentance and by the Holy Spirit, put them into practice in your own life.

The first response from the Lord to my question of "Where is the power?" actually kind of surprised me! It wasn't what I anticipated could possibly be "AN ANSWER" to this perplexing question. However, what the Lord shared with me, as the first reason we do not see the power of the Lord in most of the Followers of Jesus here in America, is because we need to go to the desert and through the authority of the Lord, and by the Holy Spirit, defeat the devil over THAT THING in our life! Ok Steve, WHAT thing in my life are you referring to? I'm referring to .....THAT thing! You know,........ THAT THING! That thing (sin) that you just can't seem to get victory over. That one sin that just seems to keep haunting you, and calling to you, and defeating you! That sin that you keep going to the Lord and confessing and repenting of! That sin that you beg God to forgive you of and that you PROMISE to never do again, until you find yourself stooped in it's mire once again! And then the GUILT comes! Oh man, how the guilt comes! You KNOW what I'm talking about, and if your reading this, and this is resonating with your heart, YOU have been Divinely appointed to read this blog!

Ok, before we go any further, let's take a look in the Bible to our reference for this answer to my question. It's the temptation of Jesus, and it's in Luke 4:1-21 NLT:


1 Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,[a] 2 where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry.
3 Then the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.”

4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.’[b]”

5 Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,” the devil said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please. 7 I will give it all to you if you will worship me.”

8 Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say,

‘You must worship the Lord your God
and serve only him.’[c]”

9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! 10 For the Scriptures say,

‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you.
11 And they will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’[d]”

12 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’[e]”

13 When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
14 Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region. 15 He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
16 When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17 The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
19 and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.[f]”

20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. 21 Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

We are not going to take the time here to go over all of the truth that can be drawn-out of these verses, but I do want to share 3 things with you that stick out very blatantly: 1) Immediately after being filled with the Holy Spirit at His baptism, Jesus is led into the wilderness to do battle with the devil. While there, He is fasting, and after He becomes very hungry, tired, and spent, the devil attacks. And he attacks Him at the areas where he perceives he could be vulnerable! First is hunger. Second is fame. Third is His belief in the Father (who Jesus really is). The devil attacks Jesus with temptation, at the very places He would be most vulnerable! He still LOVES using this tactic on you and I, and has become quite proficient at it. 2) The second point is that only AFTER Jesus had defeated the devil in regard to those THINGS that He could be weakest at, did Jesus return to Galilee to begin to minister God's Kingdom. Notice the text says AFTER He had defeated the devil, He (Jesus) returned to Galilee. But He didn't just return. He returned "filled with the Holy Spirit's power!" 3) Jesus then goes to the temple and declares that He is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 61 and leaves from there and begins to do miraculous events which support and validate the Words of the Father and His kingdom are TRUE! Are you getting the connection? Why would God the Father mandate that God the Son MUST go into the desert in a weakened condition and in this weakened condition, do battle with the devil? The answer is to show you and I that we can defeat the devil no matter what our condition, not within our own human power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit! C'mon, make the connection! It was only AFTER Jesus was baptized and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him filling Him with His power, that He was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to first become weak, and then defeat the devil and his temptations. Only then, did Jesus go back into His hometown and begin to do miracles that validated His preaching!

So, how does this apply to Believers in America and our apparent lack of power? Simple, we are holding onto that THING, our "pet sins!" The sins that the devil attacks us with when we are weakest and most vulnerable. The sins that keep causing us to stumble and never quite reach our potential. Those sins we cry, confess, and repent over and over and over again! And the problem is, as humans, after awhile of not defeating these sins, we simply begin to peacefully coexist with them. We live for the periods of closeness to God and victory between the periods of defeat. And this my friend, is why we don't see the power of God manifested for many believers here in America. The "hidden" "besetting" sin renders us impotent in our kingdom battle against the devil and his forces! How can we bring "freedom" to those who are in bondage, when we ourselves are in "bondage?" The devil laughs! Ok Steve, what's the answer? The answer is: "Go into the desert, not in YOUR power or YOUR might, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, do battle with the devil, and DO NOT return to do ministry until you have defeated him and are ready to return and proclaim the Kingdom of God, validated with the power of the Holy Spirit!

In part 2 of this first answer to our question of "where is the power," we will delve into "HOW" we acquire the Power of the Holy Spirit to defeat the devil in the wilderness and overcome once and for all, ........... THAT THING!