A081 The Desolate Place
Eremos: The Wilderness of Power
500 words: 3 minute read
A devotional based on a note from my Bible note-taking system.
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness…
Luke 4:1
42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him…
Luke 4:42
Jesus would often leave the towns or cities to find quiet, desolate places to pray or seek God. Over ten times in the gospels Jesus is recorded seeking out the quiet place.
The word often translated desolate place or wilderness is eremos. The eremos was Jesus’s place of power.
At the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the eremos. Jesus fasted and prayed. He was tempted. Through his temptation, he was catapulted into a ministry with power of the Holy Spirit.
The eremos was the place where Jesus was filled with the Spirit and power of God.
Shortly after Jesus begins his ministry he heads back to the eremos. This time, Jesus is known and popular. People begin to seek him out. They know he can heal. They know he has power and authority that others cannot even fathom.
The people of Galilee are eager to experience the healing and power of Jesus. They seek him out and find him in the eremos.
Little did they know they found Jesus but missed the Holy Spirit.
So often in life, we seek the things of God, but miss the ways of God.
The people of Galilee, found Jesus, but they were unaware that Jesus could give them much more than a single miracle. They could have the Spirit of God for themselves. Luke-Acts shows us this reality. The desire and plan of Christ was to pour out the Holy Spirit on everyone who would submit to him. Jesus wanted to teach them, not just show them. Jesus wanted to make fishers of men filled with the power of his Spirit.
Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day.
Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime
Sadly, we want the results of Jesus, not the lifestyle of Jesus.
We are more than satisfied seeing a miracle once, rather than doing the work to actually be in a place where miracles happen around us.
We like being with Jesus, but we struggle in the eremos. Jesus thrived in ministry because he thrived in the eremos.
Don’t seek Jesus only to quickly depart the eremos.
Seek the eremos and Jesus will pour out his Holy Spirit and power on you. The eremos is the the place of power. We need to return often. The Holy Spirit leads us back, but we fight to return.