Follow Jesus' Blueprint

Spiritual discipline and growth is patterned by Jesus for all of us to follow. He gives at least 4 examples in the wilderness narrative alone—and Matthew 4:1-11 is a parallel text to compare with (Synoptic Gospels). The text is written from a testing perspective, which I have preached on many times. However, I want to approach it from a discipline perspective without doing the text injustice.

1. We have to always be led by the Holy Spirit in this Christian journey (v1). In order for us to grow spiritually, we have to “die to self” and be led by the Spirit at all times. Paul mentions in Galatians that the spirit and the flesh are always at war with one another. “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust for the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do things that you wish” (Gal 5:16-17 NKJV).

1a. We have to embrace fasting.