Favor Follows Obedience. Because God is Shepherding.
February 8, 2026
Luke 4:14 (NLT)
“Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about Him spread quickly through the whole region.”
Authority is released after refinement. Do not despise your season of testing, for it has been your proving ground. The wilderness purifies. The fire removes what cannot go forward, so what remains can carry glory.
Luke 4:14 marks a turning point. Jesus, fully man, comes out of the wilderness having willingly submitted Himself to testing. Though He was without sin, He chose the path of obedience in human weakness, modeling the process every son and daughter must walk. He does not bypass formation. He returns in the power of the Spirit because He passed through the wilderness.
Jesus returned in power, and He taught. The Spirit makes the Word come alive, and the Word gives shape to what the Spirit is doing. In the same way, your wilderness season produces a life that matches the message. Your testimony carries evidence, substance, and alignment with the promises of God.
And this release is never just for you. When God sends you forward, it is for the healing of others, the lifting of burdens, the restoring of identity, and the setting of captives free. Practical love and spiritual authority begin to flow together.
Through it all, He is glorified. Luke says Jesus taught and was glorified by all. Isaiah says we are planted “that He may be glorified.” The spotlight belongs to Jesus. When He is the center, the oil stays pure.
So if you have been in a wilderness season, do not despise it. You are being forged. You are returning in power, anointed as sons and daughters of oil, commissioned to serve the Lord of all the earth.
What you encountered in the hidden places of your wilderness was not for survival alone, but for service. The oil was formed in intimacy and tested in the fire so it could be poured without mixture.
Zechariah 4:14 (TPT)
“So he explained, ‘These branches are the two sons of oil who serve the Lord of all the earth.’”
This is your hour of divine alignment, where refined authority meets irreversible purpose. What has been prepared in you will now be released through you, not for your name, but for His glory, in Jesus’ mighty name.
