WALKING THROUGH YOUR WILDERNESS

WALKING THROUGH YOUR WILDERNESS   

          Have you ever prayed, "Lord, be relentless with me!" and really meant it? The heart burden of that prayer is an intense desire that God will bring to completion all His purposes for your life, no matter what it costs in sacrifice or suffering or discipline. If I honestly pray such a prayer, I may be setting the stage for difficult times ahead. Difficult? Yes! But full of excitement and fruitfulness and fulfillment!

          God will not pamper me, nor will He spare me the pains that are necessary to bring me up to the measure He designed me to fill.

          If God has appointed for you a task of deliverance or leadership, you will, in the process of preparation, walk through a wilderness experience that is a great deal more pronounced and intense than the common ordinary variety of trials that all believers experience.

          Jesus was in the wilderness forty days tempted of the devil, but he came forth from that intense time of testing in the power of the Holy Spirit and began to cast out demons, heal the sick, and bring deliverance to the captives. The word "drove" in Mark 1:12 indicates how important this wilderness experience was. "And immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness." This was no gentle leading. The word carries a burning urgency. Jesus was compelled by the Spirit. It was something Jesus, as a man, could not avoid if He was to fulfill all He was sent to do and to be.

          God gave Abraham a promise of unusual fruitfulness, prosperity, and influence, but between the time of the promise and the time of fulfillment lay a wilderness of 25 years of walking by faith alone with no sign of the promised blessing. This long dry spell was necessary to perfect Abram as the father of those who walk in faith and to help him accept the name Abraham instead of Abram. Abram means "exalted father" but Abraham means "father of a multitude."

          Joseph had to walk through an agonizing wilderness of reproach, resentment, false accusation, slavery, and imprisonment before he was ready to function effectively as the Prime Minister of Egypt and the deliverer of Israel in a time of famine.

          The apostle Paul walked through his wilderness in Arabia before he emerged as a leader among God's people in the early church. If we knew the spiritual biography of every man or woman whom God has greatly used, we'd soon see that they all had something in common. They could all point to a wilderness they had walked through before they came into an experience of abundant usefulness to God and humanity.

          Are you faced with a wilderness experience that you have sought to avoid? Is the Holy Spirit urging you to a course of action that will result in personal growth and development for you and deliverance for those who sit in darkness?

         If we can see the true nature of our wilderness and what God designs for us in it, we will be better able to bear the pain and inconvenience of walking through it. Here are some things to consider about your own personal wilderness:

          First, your wilderness is good for you. The Spirit drives or urges you into your wilderness because it is the will of God for you. And the will of God is always good.

          Second, your wilderness will be uncomfortable. It is a time of fiery trial, testing and discipline. It is said of Jesus that "Although He were a son, yet learned He obedience by the things which he suffered." Down through the ages, men and women of God who have been mightily used of God have gone through the fire and through the flood in some personal way. Praise God for the promise in Isaiah 43:2 that when we to through the floods He will be with us and they will not sweep us away. And when we go through the fire, we will not be burned!

          Third, your wilderness is a time of character building. The apostle Paul said, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us." Your wilderness will lead you through suffering, hardship, discipline, misunderstandings, and many other unpleasant experiences. But God is building into your inner man steadfastness, patience, wisdom, perseverance, knowledge, and forbearance. God's very likeness and glory will shine forth from you because you have walked with Him through the fire and through the flood.

          Will you now accept and embrace your wilderness and walk patiently through it for the glory of God? If you will walk through it with the praises of God in your heart and on your lips, God will bring you into a large and fruitful place! You will be totally fulfilled for you will see His glory revealed in you and through you to the building and expansion of Christ's Kingdom in the earth.

Robert & Joni Fitts


Where it all Starts
Out of the womb of prayer, praise and worship all things in the kingdom of God are conceived, nurtured, and brought to birth to the glory of God and for the good of mankind.

 A Declaration of Unity
I belong to everything that belongs to Jesus and everything that belongs to Jesus belongs to me! It's not us and them. It's just us! There's only one Body of Christ, and the problems of the church, the whole church, are our problems, for we are the church and we can do more united than we can do divided! So let's unify, simplify, and multiply!
 
Divine Appointment Prayer
Father, give me a divine appointment today with someone who is hungry for God, or sick, or in need, and give me grace to minister the love of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.
 
A Prayer for More Workers and More Miracles
Father, send more laborers into this harvest and grant us boldness to speak your word, by stretching forth your hand to heal and that signs and wonders be done in the name of Jesus. 

Winning the War on Terrorism Through Prayer
"Father, give every terrorist in the world an encounter with Jesus like Saul of Tarsus had on the road to Damascus."

LAW, NO! GRACE, YES!
The law demands, demands, demands, but gives me neither feet nor hands.
Now Grace and Truth are better things, they bid me fly and give me wings!