A
Journey In The Wilderness
A Journey In The
Wilderness is a step-by-step outline of the systematic way God brings
about the fulfillment of His promises to us. It is a prophetic teaching
which offers practical advice on how to bring your vision into reality.
The book uses the story of the Children of Israel's journey from
Egypt to the Promised Land as a paradigm. Each stage of their journey
has a specific meaning for us. 1 Corinthians 10 says that this story
was given for our warning and understanding. How we respond to God's
preparation in the wilderness will determine our fruitfulness and
ultimately our destiny. A Journey In The Wilderness will provide
Church leaders and individuals understanding about the season the
Church is in, and how to better respond to God in the stages of
this process.
Now, these things
happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings to
us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 1Corinthians
10:11
Some Topics Covered in the Book
* How to respond to God in the midst of difficulties
* How to go deeper in your intimacy with Christ
* How to find renewal in your private place with God
* How to cooperate with God in your
preparation for your destiny
* How to discern good from evil
* How to better walk in the Spirit
Since
the events of September 11th Christians have attempted to understand
and find meaning in the midst of the mayhem. Some people have doubted
the goodness of God, while others have been overcome by their fear
and pain and rejected faith in God completely. 9/11 was an event
in the western world which has spurred people to greater faith or
has caused them to deny it.
When
we read the scriptures about the promises of God concerning prosperity,
success, authority and victory, we see in our mind's eye visions of
material abundance, recognition, positions of respect and honour,
and the satisfaction of every desire. We create for ourselves a picture
of what the goodness of God is. Then we run into a "September
11th" in our lives and our faith is crushed. There are not many
people who can say they understand God's purposes in allowing this
or other tragic events. We are left only with our faith that God is
good, even though we don't understand how or when He will turn the
present evil into something good. We are confronted with, "our
ways are not His ways".
God
looks at the big picture, we only see the moment. He works toward
purposes we don't fully understand and in ways we cannot imagine.
His ways are not our ways. He turns to good that which has been meant
for evil. He brings new life out of death. He allows suffering to
bring good. This is in part, His way. It is certainly not our way
of doing things; our idea of good is carnal. God, however intended
for us to not only know His purposes, but to also understand His ways.
Moses
walked with God and learned to discern His ways. The operative words
here are "He walked with God". In walking with someone,
you soon learn how they do things. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians
10:11 that the story of the Children of Israel and Moses' journey
in the wilderness was given to us (the New Testament Church) for our
understanding and warning. Revealed in this journey (walk) was not
only God's purposes for the church then and today, but also God's
way of achieving those objectives. Why did the Apostle Paul attach
such importance to the testing and tribulations of God's people in
the wilderness? What was it that he wanted us (the Body of Christ)
to learn from this story? There are five principal tenets in the wilderness
story.
They
are:
1. There is no other way to enter into the promises of God except
through the wilderness. The New Testament equivalent to this premise
is, "you must give up your life in order to find it" (Matt.
16:25). It is out of death God brings new life. It is in this new
life the purposes and provision of God are manifest.
2. All those who are willing to follow the Holy Spirit and not walk
by the flesh will be driven into the wilderness to be tested and purged.
All the great men of God spent time in the wilderness. Not even Jesus
escaped this testing period.
3. The wilderness is a dangerous place. It is easy to become disqualified
from receiving the "prize", which is to live in the promises
of God and to bear fruit and become prosperous in the Kingdom. We
are warned not to become sidelined or distracted from the original
destination (objective) by unbelief, idolatry and impure motives.
4. The only way out of the wilderness is to abide in Jesus, walk obedient
to the Holy Spirit, and to overcome our enemies by using the weapons
of the Kingdom, which are:
(a) repentance
(b) the denouncing of our weaknesses
(c) abiding in the life of Christ, and
(d) fervent prayer in faith
5. Our
enemy in the wilderness is not primarily the devil, but the flesh.
Our goal as Christians is to walk in the Spirit. It is the flesh which
is at enmity with the Spirit. They are in battle with each other every
day for lordship of our life. Until the flesh is defeated in every
area of our life, we are not free to walk in all of the promises of
God. Like the Children of Israel who were called to depose the seven
nations who were more powerful than themselves, the flesh is an enemy
we can not defeat with our own efforts. Only the redeeming work of
the Holy Spirit can defeat this enemy. Even after the flesh is defeated
by the Holy Spirit, we must die each day and choose to walk in the
Holy Spirit.
Jesus
is not only the author of our salvation, He is also the finisher of
it as well. We can trust Him to bring us through the wilderness. He
wants us however to understand His objective of putting the flesh
under His authority in our life and to understand His ways in doing
this. The tests in the wilderness can be extreme but perfectly designed
to bring us to victory over the flesh. It is in this victory that
we are crucified with Christ and become seated with Him in heavenly
places.
If
we understand His objectives and ways, we will by experiential faith
choose to believe in God's goodness even when we don't understand
the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Paul's warning to us
is not to let unbelief or the other manifestations of the flesh come
between us and the Father. If we do, we will become stranded in the
desert and never achieve our purpose in God or live in all His promises.
From the fall in the Garden of Eden, God has planned to rescue man
from the tyranny of the Flesh. His plan is that we would enter into
relationship with the Father through Jesus and by obedience to the
Holy Spirit overcome the world, the devil and the flesh. Since the
early 1900's more people have been baptized in the Holy Spirit than
at any other time in the history of man. Millions of people are being
called into a journey which will either leave them derelict in the
wilderness or victorious in the promises and purposes of God. I pray
that the Body of Christ will heed the Apostle Paul's warning and learn
and understand God's ways and purposes in the wilderness. God is preparing
His people and a great victorious army who will overcome the world
and defeat the devil, and the flesh. Then the stage will be set for
Christ's triumphant return. Make straight the way of the Lord. Maranatha!
Paul
K. Weigel
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