The good news according to Mark… the story of Jesus… next leads us into the wilderness…
Read Mark 1:12-13 in your Bible… or click the Scripture reference to read online…
Immediately after baptism… the Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness…
drove… the Greek translated here is a force-full word…
ekballo… 1 to cast out, drive out, to send out… to bid one depart, in stern though not violent language… with implication of force overcoming opposite force… to cause a thing to move straight on its intended goal…
–Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon
Dare I include… when this word is applied to a thing the example is… excrement from the belly into the sink…?
It paints a picture of something dire… necessary… urgent… a force you can’t ignore… (or shouldn’t…)
This is the driving out of Jesus into the wilderness… the next step after baptism… testing in the wilderness…
Building faith muscles to resist the lies of Satan… the one who accuses us of not being who God now says we are in Christ… is a necessary and urgent exercise every Believer must endure…
All of us enter a time of testing in our faith shortly after baptism… our receiving of the good news and commitment to His Way…
It is in the time of testing and temptation where roots grow deep into our love for Christ… faith increases… as we become more certain of what we do not see…
Times of testing… a withdrawing of God from our senses… is a normal part of living out the good news…
It is filled with purpose…
We may feel vulnerable… alone… abandoned… but we are not…
He is with us… He walked this way before us… He leads us here… ministers to us here… all to strengthen our faith…
Allow the dark seasons of the soul to do their work… grow you to be like Jesus…
Close your ears to the liar who accuses…
Increase your determination to believe Father God…
You are His beloved… with you He is pleased…
Even when it doesn’t feel like it…
Psalm 130… A Song of Ascent… one which leads us higher… is a psalm to hang onto in the arid spiritual wilderness…
If you are experiencing such a season now… open it up… in your Bible… or with the link… and pray this song… sing this song… to Him…
For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
Psalm 130:7 ESV
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