Spirit-filled people are not exempt from temptation. Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness followed His anointing with the Spirit at His baptism. The Spirit is not given to us to help us avoid temptation but to see us through it and to shape us like our Lord in the process. The Spirit brings discernment in the hour of test, and strength when we cry out. Temptation does not diminish the Spirit in us. We depart the test with Spirit-endowed energy to serve.
“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil … And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit” Luke 4:1-2a, 14a.
