The New Way

 

Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus didn't operate as God while He was on the earth.  In Philippians 2:5-8 we're told that Jesus emptied Himself of His God-like power and became 100% man.  Even though He was 100% God, He chose to be a man, act like a man, think like a man, and to be led by the Holy Spirit.

 

In my book, Transformed!, I developed a model to show how Jesus operated while on earth.   You can read it if you want more information.  We'll cover it briefly here.

 

 

 

               

Let's start with the outer circle. It represents the physical BODY – muscles, nerves, bones, organs.  Jesus was fully human, so He had a physical male body.

 

Now the 2^nd circle represents what I call the SELF.  Inside His physical body, Jesus had a SELF just like you and me.  You may call it by different names but it's the thinking, emotional, talented you that is different from your physical BODY.  It contains your dreams and goals, likes and dislikes, motivation, and ego and beliefs and thoughts and personality.  It is the real you.  You know that if any part of your physical BODY is removed – you are still you.   Jesus had a SELF just like you and me.

 

The inner circle represents a special place where the Holy Spirit of God lived inside of Jesus.   We talked about this Holy Spirit being part of the Trinity of God.  So, even though Jesus was living in a human BODY, with a human SELF, He was in constant contact with God through the Holy Spirit.  

 

You'll see in this study that the Holy Spirit told Jesus what God wanted Him to do.  He guided Him.  He performed miracles for Him.  He told Him what people around Him were thinking.  The Holy Spirit indwelled, empowered and guided Jesus.

 

You'll notice that there are arrows all over this model.   That represents that the Holy Spirit was speaking to and giving orders to Jesus' SELF.   Then Jesus' SELF was giving the order to His BODY.  

 

We are told that Jesus was sinless.  That means that He obeyed what the Holy Spirit told Him to do 100% of the time.  He was 100% obedient to God.

 

We've talked about 3 specific lies that Satan used when he tempted Jesus.  They didn't work with Jesus.  Jesus stood strong and didn't cave in.   But they were very good attacks!   I know because they've worked on me!  

 

It seems to me that Satan uses these same 3 lies repeatedly because they are so effective with humans.  Now, Satan is not limited to these 3!   He is constantly creating new ways to tempt me and you and others.  But my recommendation is that you learn these 3 lies because they seem to be the most common ones.  Then you can recognize them quickly and put a stop to Satan's attack like Jesus did.

 

So, what are the 3 lies?