“No pain, no gain.” “Sore today, stronger tomorrow.” “The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle.” “Hard choices, easy life; easy choices, hard life.” These sayings are often repeated by highly motivated leaders, soldiers, and athletes to remind themselves that those who want great results in a career, on a mission, or on the ball field have to give everything in their training and preparation. These sayings and others like them remind us of the general truth that things worth doing are never easy. Understood in its right context, the same is true of our walk with the Lord. In fact, an episode from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry shows us that it is only those who deny self and submit to the plan of God who will experience the power of God at work in their lives. If you want God to powerfully work in you and if you want to be used by God in his kingdom, it is going to require an unremitting commitment to follow the will of God, come what may.

Jesus modeled this commitment during his temptations in the wilderness after his baptism, when the Holy Spirit descended on him. Luke writes, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil” (Luke 4:1–2). After Jesus withstood the onslaught of temptations at the merciless hands of the tempter, Luke records that “…Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country” (Luke 4:14). Jesus was full of the Spirit before the temptations, but after successfully withstanding that season of vicious temptation without ever sinning once, he came back to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. Just as the struggle that comes with lifting weights strengthens our muscles, in the same way, Jesus’ unyielding struggle against temptation filled him with the power of the Holy Spirit. 

We are to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) to keep in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:25) and to be led by the Spirit (Rom. 8:14), but these things cannot happen if we stubbornly cling to our own selfish will. If you feel like you lack spiritual power to face and overcome temptation, ask whether you are surrendering to the Lord or whether you are trying to hold onto some of your own will. Pray for strength to fully surrender to the Lord’s will. But if you dare pray this prayer, be ready, because the more we become like Jesus, the more we can expect to be tempted, and the more subtle the temptations may become. Remember, Satan doesn’t need to bother tempting those who are not serious about their Christian life. He reserves his attacks for those who are submitting to the Lord, for they are a great threat to his diabolical kingdom.