WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21
Scripture: Luke 4:1,2

Luke 4:1,2 states, “Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.” Jesus, as our great High Priest, walked through these baptisms in our behalf and is, in many ways, our best example. The first baptism of fire is the fire of purification and cleansing. Jesus did not need purification or cleansing because there was no sin in Him, but He did need to endure the temptations and the tests and overcome them for us. He did, for forty days, endure the fire of temptation and He overcame. The fire of purification and cleansing is God taking our hand and leading us through the cleansing process where His blood cuts away all failures of the past and makes what was at one time a weakness and failure a platform for our greatest success. His mercy, through the covenant of Sure Mercy, becomes the foundation. As we accept His sacrifice, God accepts His purity and imparts it to us. The fire of purification teaches us to follow the Holy Spirit and be the overcomer that the Lord has called us to be.