MAKE ME MORE LIKE JESUS
We have all heard variations of the phrase, “make me more like Jesus.”
A few years ago, many Christians wrapped their wrist with a WWJD bracelet. This wrist band may have made the statement that the wearer was asking this question, What Would Jesus Do? But the reality was displaying the letters WWJD gave no power to perform such a request.
Have you ever asked, “what enabled Jesus to be all that He was?” You might think, well He was God, it was easy for Him. Yet, as you study His life you realize there was so much more in the equation. Jesus was dependent on the Holy Spirit.
The life and ministry of Jesus put on display a dependence on the Holy Ghost that no prophet, king or servant before ever displayed.
Jesus spoke of the ‘Spirit’ in the four Gospels a total of 95 times.
A few examples reveal how the Holy Spirit was intimately connected with Jesus throughout his entire life.
An angel said this to Mary prior to Prior to her conception of Jesus, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35; cf. Matt. 1:18, 20).
When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, the Father anointed him with the Spirit. (Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22).
Then Jesus was immediately driven into the wilderness by the Spirit for a season of testing (Matt. 4:1; Mark 1:12; Luke 4:1).
Luke says that Jesus was “full of the Spirit” when this happened; he afterward returned to Galilee in “the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14).
In Jesus’ first sermon, he claimed to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy of a Spirit-anointed ministry of redemption and restoration to Israel (Luke 4:16–21). Peter’s summary of Christ’s ministry describes “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38). When skeptical religious leaders accused him of casting out demons by satanic power, Jesus said, “if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matt. 12:28).
Here’s a question for you as the Holy Spirit Weekend is only 5-days away. If we want to be more like Jesus, do we need to be more dependent on the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives today?
WWJD!
