THE WILDERNESS Isaiah 40:1-5 Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lords hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The wilderness is not a season of difficulty of a non-believer but rather the season of persecution, trials and rejection of a believer as an appointed time of occurances by God. The suffering of an unbeliever is not part of the package of Gods divine purpose because 1) light has no fellowship with darkness (2Cor. 6:14), and 2) all things work together for the CALLED of God (Romans 8:28). But the hardship of a child of God called according to His purpose has everything to do with his destiny. Without the wilderness, you cannot fully qualify as a TRAINED soldier in the army of the Lord. Why? Because it is in the wilderness that a straight highway is prepared for the Lord to travel; valleys are filled (dormant gifts are realized and put to work), mountains are made low (any worldly exaltation is forsaken for the sake of Christ), crooked places are made straight (walking upright in discernment) and rough places are made plain (purity and sanctification for God). All this is done IN THE WILDERNESS. God has to strip you of anything and everything ungodly so that you might live a totally holy and blameless life (Philippians 2:15). If we are to be made Gods sanctuary, a temple for God to dwell in, we have to be as He is -INCORRUPT!!! If you read Psalms 73, you will see the characteristics of those that live in death; they are not in trouble as other men, they are surroundedby pride and violence, are corrupt, speak wickedly concerning oppression and they blaspheme. Now, you cannot see all these until you are in the wilderness where God opens your eyes! For in death you are surrounded by darkness until LIFE brings light, then will darkness flee!! You cannot enter the wilderness of God until you have been unchained by Him. It is not until you have been released from the grip of satan that God promotes you to enter the wilderness where you will undergo His training. A blind person wouldnt understand why certain things are happening to him/her. Infact that person would only listen to the wiles of satan and think he/she is just unfortunate in life, then ask God Why me?... But a person risen to life with Christ and baptized with the Spirit of God would be taught by the Holy Spirit that for God to surely have the drivers seat and throne in his/her life, some changes would have to be made. Some habits would have to die and there would have to be a loss of the world and everything that is pleasing to it so as to gain Christ (Philippians 3:8), therefore, even the loss of certain friends would become inevitable!! I read something interesting one time. It said, I asked God to remove my enemies from me and I started losing friends... Everything related to good, precious, pleasing, fun, interesting and desirable IN THE FLESH would have to die!!!! In other words, these things wouldnt be fascinating to you anymore because you are prunned by God, and by discernment, these things are the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21)!! Do you know that God sees you as a champion and not a loser even after you commit a sin after receiving Christ as Lord and Saviour?? Simply because God is GOD (Exodus 3:14) and the power of the blood of His Son Jesus did the one thing that no other blood could ever do -REDEMPTION FROM DEATH (Colossians 1:14). God knows that you cannot survive without Him, moreso if you have even tasted of His redemption. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the STRENGTH of my heart, and MY PORTION forever -Psalms 73:26. No matter how far you have fallen, grace will bring you back to God (not your power or your might) because you will not find a love like Gods love out there! God does not half-train His children because He is running out of time..NO!! God is the author of time, for He created the hours that the sun would be up at daytime then when it goes down to give room/time for the moon to take over during the night. He will keep you in the wilderness for as long as it takes so that when you come out, you are fully baked and made ready for your destiny!!! A friend wrote, If you saw the size of the blessing coming, you would understand the magnitude of the battle you are fighting! I was amazed! A father who wants the very best for his child will endure his childs hardship as long as it produces the best of fruit!! Wisdom reads, Chastise thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying -Proverbs 19:18. So, when you go through severe trials, count it all joy (James 1:2) because it is for your own good (Romans 8:28). Thats why we should give thanks IN ALL THINGS -1 Thess. 5:18. The wilderness is for our own good, but also for the good of the Kingdom of God, for the Kingdom is perfect, as is Christ, therefore ONLY PERFECTION BUILDS THE CHURCH OF CHRIST!!!!!!! AMEN!!!
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 20:38:33 +0000
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