“The Spirit
then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness” (Mark 1:2 NLT).
You have to go
through the wilderness so that you can identify with the wilderness that other
people are in. There are more people searching for themselves in the wilderness
than there are on the mountain top of victory because they have no one that is
willing to lead them from of a place of being lost and then found. You don’t go
through situations in life to stay there. You go through in order to come out
better than you were before.
There are
instances in which the spirit of God will cause you to go into a dry place, but
that place is meant to be used as a teaching point not a living quarters. We
cry and complain in dry places. We misunderstand God’s intentions and we ask
Him” Why me?” Some of us never get the lesson that God wants to teach us, and we
end up making our tent in a place that God never intended for us to call home.
You are not the
first person to go through a wilderness and you will not the last. In the
wilderness, you can choose to be a victorious example or a victim. Jesus is an
example of what it looks like to go into the wilderness and come out empowered.
“Then Jesus was
led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil”
(Matthew 4:1 NLT).
There is so
much temptation in the wilderness. The devil likes to use God’s teaching points
as a tool to make you leave the Lord, but you have to know how to fight the
temptation and depend on God even when you feel as if He is not there. Jesus
was in a fleshly place of needing things, but every response that He had was
spiritual. Jesus was offered the fleshly manifestation of things that God had
already given Him in the spirit, but it was not time to see them just yet. Your
faith that God has given you the victory has to be stronger than your desire to
see the victory out of the season that it was appointed to manifest in. Purpose
is like a baby on the inside of a woman’s womb. You can’t rush the birth of it
because every part of will develop in stages/trimesters. Let your baby form and
in due season, it will come forth.
The devil will
give you things that you can touch when you are not in the season to touch them
yet. You have got to have faith in God and in His timing. You have got to know who
you are so that the devil will not be able to tell you who you are not. Jesus
was powerful, but wisdom allowed Jesus to know when to tap into that power.
Jesus could have ended all His problems in the wilderness, but He had us on His
heart and choose not to.
Some of the
wildernesses that you travel through will be used as a testimony to show others
that they can make it. The devil will offer you a quick way out, but you have
go to know the voice of the Lord so that you will not follow the voice or the
advice of a stranger. Every seemingly good opportunity is not from God, but it
is a distraction meant to take your focus off of your destiny.
Like Jesus, Joseph
was tempted in his desert. He went to jail because he did not heed to a woman’s
advances toward him. Joseph was lied on and placed into prison because he had
integrity and understood why he was in the wilderness that he was in. Seek God on
His purpose for allowing you to walk through dry places. Seek God on the
lessons that He wants you to learn and ask Him for the strength to withstand
temptation.
The wilderness does
not have to place that you die in, but it can be a place where you are groomed
for your purpose. “John grew up and became strong in spirit. And he lived in
the wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel” (Luke 1:80 NLT).
“For we do not
have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has
been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15 NASB).
The good news
about Jesus is that He truly does understand whatever wilderness you are
traveling through. Sometimes we feel alone and misunderstood, but those
feelings provide you with an opportunity to get closer to the Father if you
press through them. Feelings can lie to us, but the truth of God remains the
same. He said that He would never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8).
He also gave us a comforter that teaches us and reminds us of everything that
Jesus has said (John 14:26).
I don’t know
what wilderness you are in right now and I don’t know what wilderness you have
just come out of. I don’t know what you need, but I know a man named Jesus that
does. I pray that God will protect you
in whatever valley you are going through, and I stand with you in faith that
you will come out of it stronger, wiser, and fuller than you were before. I
pray that you will be overtaken by grace, love, joy, and peace today. I pray
that you will super naturally be encouraged through Jesus Christ today. I pray
that the Spirit of the Lord will overtake you and I pray that you understand
what it means to be drowning in the love of God. I thank God that He will allow
you to be a mentor and tour guide that will help others come out of the
wilderness that God is allowing you to survive right now. I pray that you don’t
give up on this process and I thank God for the destiny that is about to come
forth out of your womb, In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Note: You go through the wilderness for two reasons. One reason
is to get equipped for the assignment that you are about to walk in and the
other reason is because of sin. Jesus was released when He came out of the
wilderness and He became connected with His disciples (Luke 4-5). Jesus went
through the wilderness, He didn’t stay there. The Israelites were supposed to
go through the wilderness, but sin kept there until those that disobeyed God
has died. Be like Jesus. Get every lesson that God wants to teach you and then
go out into all the world and preach the gospel.
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