Second Week - 6
Jesus begins the life He chose

Jesus is the way, the truth, the life. Well, how did He truthfully live His life? What was His way?

Jesus kept the Law, rationally, and was the "just one". He obeyed the Holy Spirit moving in Him. He found the desires His Father planted in Him.

What I want now: What ideas and images filled Jesus' mind in the desert? in the Jordan? I want to know them, and to love the one who entertained them. I would then follow Him.

You want to live at balance among all your desires, so that you can calmly put a reasonable priority among them, acting out those you chose to act out and with some sureness suppressing some others. You know that enacting a desire strengthens it, and refusing to act on a desire gradually lets the desire itself weaken and become more manageable by your intelligence and free choice.

One thing to note: Sometimes you find yourself keenly drawn to do something or to have something. You would really prefer to be at balance, but this desire keeps you off balance. In this situation, do not be afraid to beg God to grant you the gift of truly desiring the opposite action, or the desire not to have something. God answers that prayer, and keep in mind that God is the source and origin of all that is in us, even of desiring.

PRAYER MATERIAL FOR THIS WEEK:
1. Matthew 3:13-17
Jesus leaves home and is baptized. He leaves His mother and His lifelong friends. He stands with sinners getting baptism for the remission of sins. He is confirmed mightily by the Spirit ? a confirmation He will never forget. Think about what it was like when you left home.

2. Two Standards

3. Matthew 4:1-11
Jesus faces temptation in the desert. The Spirit drives Jesus into the desert for forty days. He faces three temptations by evil. God’s messengers comfort him.

4. Luke 4:14-22 and John 8:28-29
The mission of Jesus is made clear in the passage, which He read from Isaiah 61. This mission is not His own idea but divinely ordained by the Father. The Father never leaves Him on His mission.

5. The Pioneer - Wellspring - Christ

6. The Call and Mission of the Apostles

7. God with the Apostles in their Mission

PRAYER FOR WHAT I WANT:
Lord Jesus Christ,
You left behind You all power and security
to embrace the terrible risks
of loving God in all
and loving all in God.
You walked through every valley of darkness,
You faced the full force of evil,
so that You would know a way
to lead us out of sin and death.
No desert could dry out Your love for God.
No selfishness could dry out Your love for us.
Lord, show me Your way.
Amen.