Daily Bible Reading 5th May 2026 // Luke 4:13-15
13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
We look now at the outcome of the temptations. Luke uses a phrase in 14, 'in the power of the Spirit' which stands over against 'being full of the Holy Spirit' in 1, and seems to require some comment. G. Campbell Morgan helpfully says, 'Between the condition prior to temptation and that following it, there is a distinction and a difference. It is that which exists between the plenitude of the Spirit and the power of the Spirit. The plenitude of the Spirit is the result and evidence of holiness of character, and is in itself capacity and sufficiency for service. The power of the Spirit is the consciousness which is born of victories won, and triumphs achieved. He entered upon temptation full of the Spirit, that is to say, in possession of all power necessary for the fulfilment of His work. But power bestowed becomes truly powerful when it has been tested through the process of temptation. What is seen in perfection in Christ, is a lesson that men do well to lay to heart. Fullness of the Spirit becomes the power of the Spirit, through process of testing. Herein is revealed the value of the trials and temptations that beset the pathway of the Christian worker. In the experience of all those who know anything of what it is to follow in the footsteps of the Lord in God-appointed service, the power of the Spirit is never realised save through some wilderness of personal conflict with the foe. From such experience entered upon in the fullness of the Spirit, men go out either broken and incapable of service, or with the tread and force of conscious power; in which way, depends upon the attitude in which the enemy is met. If in the spirit of self complacency, then the devil is invariably the victor. If in the spirit of resolute abandonment to, and abiding in, the will of God, the foe is routed, and consciousness of power is the inevitable sequence.'