And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, if thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Luke 4:1-4

Moses spent 40 years in the Wilderness. Jesus spent 40 days fasting and praying and being tested by the Devil in the Wilderness. In Jesus’ case, there was nothing of the Flesh found in Him. Verse 14 of Luke 4 says that after He came out of the desert, He returned to Galilee “in the power of the Spirit” and news about Him spread through all the surrounding districts. This was the beginning of His public ministry. Scripture records that He was tempted by the Devil three times. The first temptation which corresponds to the first stage of this Process (the Wilderness) relates to His surrender to the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit who had lead Him into the Wilderness where there was no food. Jesus was willing to stay there until the Holy Spirit gave Him permission to leave the desert. The Devil tempted Him to provide for His needs by his own hand and turn the stones into bread. Jesus responded by quoting Deut. 8:3, “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Jesus was saying that the very purpose of the Wilderness is to humble the Believer and that the experience of the Wilderness was meant to teach submission to the Holy Spirit. God let Israel become hungry and remain in need to humble them. He was teaching them that they were helpless, and must completely surrender to the Father. They were to learn to wait on the Lord and not rebel by providing for themselves. They needed to learn not to complain but remain in faith about God’s love for them in spite of their need. These are lessons learned through the experience of the Wilderness. It is in need and humble circumstances that the Holy Spirit transforms and makes complete surrender and trust of the Father a part of our life. Life experiences truly change us. Being hungry and being humbled are painful at the time, but they are part of the maturing of every Believer. It is God’s process of integrating truth into our life. For the Children of Israel and for Jesus, the Wilderness was a physical place; however, for us as New Covenant Children of God, the Wilderness is a place of spiritual barrenness and difficult circumstances. The way God works to bring new truth to His people is to first bring it by revelation and thereby create the desire for this truth to become a reality in our life. He then begins a process of bringing the Flesh to the cross and resurrecting the Spirit Man in this specific area of our life, so we can live in the truth. This Process has been described as getting the truth to travel the twelve inches from our head to our Heart. It isn’t far, but it is quite a journey.

God has spoken promises to His people and those words are alive and will bring provision, deliverance, and life. We cannot live as Christians without hearing and experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Children of Israel had a cloud with them by day and a pillar of fire at night. They knew their God was with them. Life for the Christian must be surrendered and lead by the Holy Spirit or it is an empty existence of wandering aimlessly in life. Even if we know how to pray and trust God for our needs and are not being lead day by day, we are walking in some form of rebellion in our Christian walk. The Christian life is a journey and only the Holy Spirit knows the way. If we are not following Him, then we are rebels in the Wilderness. If it weren’t for “our Moses” Jesus, who sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us, we would be cut off in the Wilderness as the first generation of the Children of Israel were. We would never have a chance to live in the full blessing and peace of God, except by His grace. When we are following the Holy Spirit, it is the most exciting adventure any person could live. He promises to make us victorious over our enemies and to do exploits which are far beyond our own ability. Without a vision for our life, we are only waiting to perish. But as surrendered followers of the Holy Spirit, we will know purpose, passion, and the treasures of the Kingdom.

The second purpose of the Wilderness, as stated in Deut. 8, was to test God’s people. The Wilderness is a dry and wearying place. It is a place of need. It is hot. It is a place where survival is the only focus. It is a place of pressure, emptiness, and death of vision. At best, it is just an existence. The Wilderness is a big place. It can go on and on for hundreds of miles. It is a place where we can’t see anything, except more desert. It is death of everything God has promised us. It tests our faith in God to provide and to fulfill His promise of abundance and fruitfulness. Week after week, month after month, and year after year, there is nothing but emptiness and need. The circumstances may be financial, or medical, or some other “chronic condition”. No matter what the specific circumstances, they cause us to suffer. They become anguish to our soul. We know and believe God can deliver us in a heartbeat, but He doesn’t, and that is the test. When we are pressed on from all sides, will we believe that God still loves us, or will we rebel against Him?

The rebellion can be so subtle. It may be a seemingly harmless indulgence to soothe ourselves “when no one cares”. Our rebellion may be more overt and come in the form of taking control of the situation. Rationale like “God doesn’t want us to suffer” is true in general, but without the light of the Holy Spirit in the situation, we may be fighting against God. Only the Holy Spirit can be our guide in the Wilderness. There are times when suffering is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is easy to justify making a “place” for the Flesh if we do not see with Spiritual eyes the purpose God has for the situation. Jesus did not take His life into His own hands by turning the stones into bread. He waited for the Holy Spirit to tell Him it was time to leave the Wilderness regardless of how uncomfortable it was. He continued to believe in the goodness of His Father. He surrendered to His Lordship and acted in faith by agreeing with, and proclaiming the Scriptures (God’s word) for His situation.

The Children of Israel didn’t understand God’s purposes or why He allowed their needs to be so severe. Had they understood His ways and His purposes, they may not have grumbled and rebelled, but rather turned their energies toward searching their Hearts for their unbelief. The only way to survive the Wilderness is to constantly reaffirm to ourselves the loving kindness of God and our need to be sanctified. Putting the Old Man to death is not an easy job, but our God is like a skilled surgeon. Secondly, we must turn against our Hearts and ask the Holy Spirit to expose what unbelief is present in us, then confess it and allow God to bring these areas to death. There is no substitute for living through this Process over a period of time. The destination is a product of the journey. However, if we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, understanding God’s purposes and ways, we are less likely to rebel against His refining and more likely to minimize the time we spend working through this stage of the Process.

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him. “Abraham” “Here I am, “ he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham. “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven. ‘Abraham Abraham” “Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide.” Gen. 22:1-14 NIV

The story of Abraham and Isaac has always fascinated me. Whenever I have heard it taught, it has been from the perspective of Abraham. For some reason, I thought it interesting to look at the story from Isaac’s perspective. He was a young lad, probably about twelve or thirteen years old, when God told Abraham to sacrifice him. Isaac completely trusted his father. Even though there was no lamb for the sacrifice, which was quite unusual, Isaac trusted and never perceived that he would be harmed by his father. He was laid upon the altar and with love in his father’s eyes, the knife was raised to sacrifice him. We don’t know all the details, Scripture leaves them unclear, but I always imagined a trusting child, looking into the eyes of his loving father, who even then did not attempt to escape or distrust the love which he knew his father had for him. When we are on the altar of “self” sacrifice and we feel the cold blade of imminent destruction, we must look into the Father’s loving eyes and trust that nothing can separate us from His love. He loves us and means us no harm. His only purpose is to test, expose, and redeem us from the tyranny of our lusting Heart. God tested Abraham on the mountain, but he tested Isaac as well. When the angel of the Lord appeared and spared Isaac, he also provided a ram for the sacrifice. Then Abraham called that place, “The Lord will Provide”.

Our Promise Of Provision
Abraham was able to respond to God in obedience because he knew Him. He understood that God was both loving and kind and that no matter what the outcome of the sacrifice, God would still fulfill His promise. Abraham took no ownership in what God had promised He would do through him. He left it up to God to accomplish, in His way. He did not try to second guess Him, nor argue that perhaps He was making a mistake by killing Isaac. He operated in faith, trusting the Father. Sometimes, when God tests us we are able to respond in faith; sometimes when God tests us, it is to expose our unbelief. However, if we see our sin in a situation and quickly call upon the Lord to deliver us, we can turn a failure into a victory. Every situation that comes our way is for a purpose. Either we respond to it in faith or we respond to it in fear. If we respond in faith, then the situation has been provided for the glory of God. If we respond to it in fear, and we can see ourselves in the circumstances, we can turn it into an opportunity to allow God to change us.

I was praying for someone on one occasion and the Lord gave me a vision. I was looking down on a large wooden square with many pigeon holes (smaller boxes) in the square. In some of the small boxes there was light shining through and in some of these boxes there was no light shining through at all. When I inquired of the Lord what this meant, He explained that the larger box represented the man’s Heart. The smaller pigeon hole boxes were the various areas of his life. In some areas he was able to operate in faith (grace), and in other areas there was no light shining through at all. There was sin keeping him from the blessing that God wanted to bring to his life. Each of these areas God wanted to redeem so the man could enter into all the promises, but a lack of understanding of the ways and purposes of God were hindering the Holy Spirit’s work. The man’s lack of trust in the Father also prevented him from responding to God in faith, instead of rebelling against Him. He had God judged as an ogre with a big stick who was keeping him from the “good” things in life. The man did not see that the treasures of the Kingdom are of far greater value than anything that the world has to offer. Righteousness, peace, love, joy, grace, intimacy, spiritual abundance have the capacity to fulfill us beyond our wildest and most extreme expectations. What the world and the Flesh offer is pathetic by comparison. In order to correctly respond to God correctly, we must believe that God is good, not just in our head, but in our Heart.

I can’t speak for God, but I can speculate that even if we don’t always respond correctly, He is not offended, as long as we don’t shut down communication and turn against Him. If we shut down communication and lock Him out of our life by our judgment of Him, we become “shipwrecked” in the Wilderness. We run aground and cannot move forward. We, without sustenance, have cut off our only source of life in the Wilderness. Our old life becomes just a mirage on the horizon behind us. What was once there, is there no longer. We cannot go back to the way things used to be. They don’t exist any more. We must either go forward or dry up spiritually in the desert. There are no other choices for us, just as there was no other choice for Israel.

“Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side. Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow so great is their wickedness.” Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. Joel 3:12-14

God is taking a great risk with us by driving us into the Wilderness. Yet for Him there is no other way. He will prepare a Bride who is spotless and pure. Some will be sanctified and others will not survive the journey. “Many are called but few are chosen”. Matt. 22:14

Rebellion and Coping in the Wilderness
One of the most powerful tools we have been given as human beings is the power to choose. As with all of God’s gifts to man, we can use it for good or for evil. When God called the Children of Israel a rebellious people, He was making a statement about their spiritual condition. They did not know Him. The Wilderness, in itself, is designed to put us in intimate contact with our Provider. The circumstances may be the loss of a job, being falsely accused, illness, or other unpleasant situations of need which are beyond our control. The Wilderness is not a situation which is the result of our own sinful or unwise action. The Wilderness is also not a bad week, or even a bad month at work. It is a season of life characterized by a dryness of spirit and difficult circumstances.

Our reaction to the circumstances which God chooses for us will either draw us to Him or cause us to rebel. Rebellion is often very subtle and difficult to see in ourselves at first. The Heart is deceptive and the Adamic Nature is quick to self justify. We must be objective with our lives and use the enlightened eyes of our Heart (Ephesians 1: 18) to discern darkness from light, Flesh from Spirit, and evil from good. This is the only way to tell the difference between good and evil. Rebellion comes in many degrees, but it is all rebellion. When the pressure of the Wilderness is upon us, we may find ways to cope with it which are outside of God’s provision for us. Our provision is only in Him. He is the only One who will satisfy. It is difficult to respond correctly. In fact, the men and women who have in the past travelled this road are the ones Scripture describes a being “men of whom the world was not worthy” (Heb. 11:38). If the battle to overcome the Flesh doesn’t cost us everything, then it’s not over. It is a battle because the Flesh does not give up without a fight. When in the Wilderness or other stage of the Process, we may find ourselves doing things we have not “given into” since we were first saved. These failures, in themselves, are not particularly important, except that they may reveal what is going on in the Heart. More importantly they are symptoms, or leaves on a spiritual tree, but not the root cause. By seeking God, we can see what is the root of our actions. In this stage of the Process, what usually surfaces is the Heart reaction that God doesn’t really love us or He wouldn’t let us suffer in need. This is the Flesh reacting to God’s sentence of death for it; however, we will never overcome the Flesh, except by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can’t work harder and be better Christians. That is carnal Christianity, and the work of the Flesh. It is not by power or might but only by the Holy Spirit that we will become what God intends for us. When we work at overcoming our outward weakness (symptoms), it only covers up the deeper root areas God is attempting to expose in our Heart. We may be able to lop off a branch or two of the tree but the tree is still standing. When the Holy Spirit does His work, He lays the axe to the root of the problem.

The root issue God addresses in the Wilderness is unbelief which manifests as fear, anxiety, striving, stress, tension, irritability, sleeplessness, worry, etc .... We may be aware of what is going on within us, or we may not. But if this stress and tension continues to build, they will eventually boil over into some kind of coping behaviour. Some of us will go on a shopping spree, have too much wine at dinner, eat a box of chocolates or two, or try and cope by “vegging out” in front of the TV. Whatever the method of coping, they are symptoms of a rising level of fear. The more God puts us in circumstances which expose our unbelief, the more extreme our coping behaviour will become. Rather than becoming self condemning for these actions, we must see this as our cue to seek the Lord for a revelation of what is alive in our Heart that the Father wants to take to the cross. The Holy Spirit is the only way into freedom for the situation, and the rebellion or coping behaviour is only a symptom of what the Holy Spirit is putting His finger on. When we turn to rebellion or coping behaviour, whatever it may be, we postpone the confrontation with the Flesh that the Holy Spirit has prepared. In the Wilderness, when our behaviour becomes quite unchristian like and we recognize the symptoms, it means God is prepared to put his enemies to flight. The situations God chooses for us are always just what we don’t want. They are situations in which we have no grace. They make us confront our fears head on. The Wilderness journey is a journey of exposing all of our worst fears. Job said that the thing that he feared, came upon him (Job 3:25). If we fear, we are not in faith and therefore not able to be protected from it by God. He wants to expose and redeem these fears which are buried in our Heart and which are a part of the Flesh Nature. God’s purpose is to expose through circumstances the things we can’t do by grace (faith). Everything that happens to us happens for a reason. These circumstances are designed specifically for us, to expose and redeem all our weaknesses. The Wilderness is a place of fear of failure and weakness. We may appear foolish, or pathetic in the situation and be prompted by well meaning but ignorant Christians to rise up and take charge of the situation. Like Isaac, who was surrendered to his father on the altar, our lives are to be “living sacrifices”. When we appear to have failed in the eyes of those who have no understanding, we must believe that no matter what, God is faithful to His promise. If we follow Him in surrender day by day, He will bring us to the Promised Land. He is the only one who knows the way because each of us has a different path. If we take up our life, we will lose it, but if we fully surrender our life even in a dry and weary place, we will be resurrected new in Christ with Him.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Psalms 34:4 NIV

The Wilderness is not only a dry and weary place of need, it may turn out to be the greatest place of revelation and discovery of God in our entire lifetime. Usually, the Process prepares us for our ministry by refining our character, but also by revealing truths, wisdom, and understanding which will become the “cornerstone” of our ministry. It is not uncommon that throughout this period of the Process we will receive revelation which will be lifelong motivational truths which contribute to our perspective and make us an unique and valuable gift to the Church. What we learn in the Wilderness will tell us a lot about who we are, including what we specifically are called to do in the Kingdom and how we may do it.

God hardened Pharaoh’s Heart in order to send the plagues upon the Egyptians to reveal His favour and power to the Children of Israel. He performed a series of miracles which none of the Egyptian sorcerers could match. Yet He said that the works that He would do in the Wilderness with His people, Israel, would be much greater. They would be greater because He was going to directly involve Israel in the supernatural provision and deliverance. He would personalize their walk with Him. When they left Egypt, God told them to write down all the miracles that He had done for them to remind them of His loving kindness towards them. Moses was instructed to keep an account of all that had transpired between God and His people, and that from generation to generation they were to recount His deeds. There are two purposes for this. First, this would provide understanding of God and His ways for a people who would later experience their own personal Wilderness. Secondly, these accounts of God’s miraculous deliverance and love would encourage the faith of those who themselves were being tested in the Wilderness. One of the greatest weapons of warfare is the accounts of our fellow heirs who have also walked through the desert with a loving, powerful, and awesome God. If others lasted through this same Process, and left for us an account, we ought to make frequent use of this for our encouragement and understanding. Jesus wants to give encouragement (faith) in a dark moment and understanding, so we will not sin in the Wilderness against the One who loves us.

Power Of Choice
In the Wilderness, the power of our choice will literally determine our destiny. We will make our choices based on faith and knowledge of the loving kindness of the Lord, or we will be part of an unbelieving generation which will rebel against God and His preparation in our lives. We must understand His purposes and His ways and continue to believe He is the one who will reward those who diligently seek Him. If we sin, we have an advocate who will quickly come to our defence so that we can recover from our folly and move on. Our greatest pitfall is to judge God in our Heart and thereby bring the Process to a halt. It is not something we can always see, since our Heart is spirit and only the Holy Spirit can open a window for us into the spirit realm. It is wise for us to regularly check our relationship with God. As David put it: “Seek and know me, and see if there be any wicked way in me.” (Psalms 139:23-24) He understood that a Heart can turn from God in a moment and bring to a halt all that He is doing.

So as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ Hebrews 3:7-10 NIV

God took Israel into the Wilderness, in part, to humble them. I once thought of humbling as the occasional spiritual spanking God gave us when we got out of line. I have since come to see humbling in an entirely different light. I see the beauty of being of humble circumstances or position. Jesus’ whole ministry was characterized by this attitude. He could have “wowed” the most prominent people of Israel but He didn’t. Humility is also the character of the Holy Spirit. He will always lead us into a place of weakness, poverty and humility because that is His very nature. If we embrace humility, we have put on one of the greatest battle garments available to any Christian. In our weakness, God becomes our defence. We will find intimacy with Jesus in our lowest of moments because that is where He will be found. He is with the lowly, empty, and oppressed. As painful to the Flesh as lowliness is, it is the most beautiful state to be in because that is where Jesus can truly be found. As Believers, we are called to humility so we will be like Him. We will either choose humility or we will be taught humility by God’s humbling circumstances. Humility is one of the “pearls of great price” of the Kingdom which is worth selling everything for in order to acquire it. Our embracing humility and welcoming lowliness and poverty is pivotal in our acquisition of the Kingdom of God. It is in humility we gain intimacy with Christ. It is in our humility we gain grace which saves us from every enemy of the Kingdom. Jesus had all the power of the universe behind Him. He understood that it was not by power or by might, but by the Holy Spirit (Zec. 4:6). The Holy Spirit is manifest in His fullness in our lives only when we choose to humble ourselves. If grace and truth are to come to this world through the Church, it will come because we have chosen humility as Jesus did. We may think we have the right as heirs of a Kingdom to live as Kings, but this will not change the world. Preparation for our ministry will include learning the beauty of humility just as God taught all the mighty men of Israel. We too, must also be taught it.

Experiences In The Wilderness
Although the Wilderness is a seemingly endless place of need and dryness, it does have the occasional oasis. The Children of Israel camped by one which had twelve springs and twenty-five date trees. The twelve springs were intended for the twelve tribes, so each one would have their own provision. For us, the oasis that Israel came to in the Wilderness, is Jesus. He will allow us to find Him from time to time in the Wilderness. The rock, which poured forth life-giving water for them after three days of thirst, is also an example of Christ giving us life just when we think we can’t go on. Our prayer life is the foundation of our relationship with Jesus and although it may be difficult to draw near to God when we feel alone, it is important to push through. In the Wilderness we will feel we are just going through the motions of life. Only on occasion will we taste the sweet living waters of fellowship with Jesus. In the Wilderness we may wonder, “what is wrong?” “What has happened? We used to be zealous for God, now we hardly feel a thing and when we do, it is months apart. Condemnation, guilt, and fear can develop and become a further burden. We once used to enjoy revelation and the presence of God with little or no effort. Now we feel like our spiritual feet are lead and the heavens are brass.

David experienced separation from God in his personal wilderness. One character trait that pleased God was that he never forgot that God was good. Never did He accuse God with his mouth or his Heart of having anything but love for him. Many of the Psalms start out with him moaning about his circumstances to the Lord, but then he would begin to speak out faith and trust in God. He had lost His “spiritual eyes” but regained them when he sought the Lord. David took his problems to the Lord. He was renewed with fresh vision and faith that it was God who had him in these circumstances and it was God he could trust to deliver him out of them. This is the quality of a mighty warrior in the Spirit and a prerequisite for the remaining two stages of the Process. God was able to do mighty works through David because when the “chips were down”, he would start out in distress and end up in praise. This was warfare because it proclaimed his choice to believe and trust God to all the heavens. He proclaimed that He was agreeing with Him and putting down his unbelief. His proclamation of the goodness of God had the power to change circumstances. Praise and proclamation also change us. They get down into our spirit and water our soul. In the Wilderness, exuberant praise and worship seem impossible most of the time, but even the simplest proclamation will refresh our soul. We must, however, continue to believe and proclaim the goodness of God. It will be a cup of cool water in a dry place.

Weapons Of Our Warfare
The Wilderness is a battle ground and when we are in the thick of the battle, every inch of ground we take further strengthens us. We must learn how to strengthen our spiritual muscles and overcome the Flesh and its repulsion for God. Speaking in a prayer language (tongue) is a helpful and encouraging practice. The effects may not be felt immediately but when they are coupled with meditating on the Lord, there are both immediate benefits and benefits over the following few days. It is a way of doing both battle and ministering to ourselves.

If our church has a prayer time at the end of the service, we should get as much prayer as we can. God will do things at a Sunday morning “altar” that may not be available at any other time. If we have people we know really love us, we should let them pray for us every week. If they don’t understand what God is doing in us, then we should abstain from receiving prayer there. In the Wilderness, we are very vulnerable, and it is wise to be careful about being exposed to those who don’t understand what God is doing in us. It is difficult dealing with those who have no understanding or compassion for what the Lord is doing. We must avoid these situations at all cost. They will only serve to drive us further into the desert and into isolation, which only make the journey more difficult. The best way to get regular and personal prayer is to develop a prayer partnership with another person who will pray for us, and we for them on a daily basis. A person like this can be a tremendous help to us as we move through the stages of the Process, and we can do the same for them.

Confession
Most of what we have discussed in this section outlines our defensive tools. Confession is one of our most powerful offensive tools. Acknowledging the truth to God about ourselves or about Him is powerful. When we agree with the truth, then we are able to move forward in our walk with Him. The Process is about entering new truth, and it starts with confession. In order to agree with a particular truth, it requires us to humble ourselves. When we humble ourselves, we receive grace from God and He comes and gives us the gift of repentance. We cannot repent of anything. We only “turn” from our wicked ways when God comes and transforms our Heart. He gives us a revelation of the folly and destructiveness of our sin, and when we see it, we become like God in the matter, which is to no longer be tempted by it. When we are no longer tempted to indulge in the sin, it has no power over us and we are free to “turn” from it, which is true repentance. Confession is the start of the process, and humility is the other key agent in the process. When we strive toward defeating our sin by our own efforts, God will wait until we are completely defeated and have a humble Heart before He comes. He lets us “stew” in our helplessness and inability to change ourselves until we realize we have no power within us to overcome sin. Then we can truly be saved from it, by grace, through Him; humbling, but true. We cannot defeat sin in the power of the Flesh. Jesus said, “can a house divided against itself stand?” (Matt. 12:25)

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed,.... James 5:16

James 5:16 describes how we should use the tool of confession to both align ourselves with truth and to humble ourselves. We are to confess our faults to one another (humble ourselves) and pray for one another (confess the truth), so that we may be healed. We should embrace the opportunity to humble ourselves. It is the doorway to both healing and the treasures of the Kingdom which are righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). The Holy Spirit has been sent to us as our comforter. He has been sent as our teacher. It is through humility we have access to Him. It is the Holy Spirit who will give comfort and understanding of what God is doing. He delights in revealing what the Father is doing, and it is His job to comfort God’s people in their time of trouble. We may call on the Holy Spirit for comfort and understanding. He is a friend and a constant companion for those who will walk with Him in humility and surrender.

Fasting
Whenever we cannot see with the eyes of our Heart what the next step is in the journey, it is good to set aside a few days to fast and pray. The very nature of fasting subdues the Flesh and puts it under the authority of the Spirit. It strengthens our will and underscores our choice to make the Holy Spirit Lord. When we fast, it is vital to let someone close to us know that we are seeking God and to have them pray for us during that time. This increases the result of fasting. It is important to fix the amount of time and the nature of the fast before starting. It is very easy to compromise on the length or the method of the fast when we are in it. A compromise in this area is a minor form of defeat. The time during the fast is usually a slow uncomfortable death. I have found that some of the best revelations come at what I call the “golden hour”, which is shortly after breaking the fast. Using fasting to get understanding, or revelation or as a regular way of “putting the Flesh in its place” is helpful in our walk and a discipline which will bear fruit for the Kingdom.

Denouncing
Our words have power, and as powerful as it is to proclaim the truth, it is also powerful to denounce the power and authority of a particular sin in our life. Once we can see what sin the Holy Spirit is exposing, we should ask the Lord for forgiveness and denounce it. I am particularly careful about superstitions, but I have noticed that if a sin is denounced three times it seems to have a greater effect. I have found some Scriptures that support this, but I only recommend it for your personal observations. I say, if it works, do it, especially if it frees you from sin.

The tools of our trade as living sacrifices of the King of Kings, are: confession/repentance, fasting, and denouncing. We are a people who are called of God to be the warriors of the Kingdom and who will not only be wearing the full armor of God, but will also have the sword of the Spirit in our hands. We will declare the authority of our God over the nations and destroy the works of the Devil. The first step in the journey is to overcome the Flesh. The Lord has provided for us a full arsenal which, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, will defeat all the enemies of God and His Kingdom. God is training an army of warriors who will overcome and bring glory to Him.

What Happened In The Wilderness
The events of Israel’s journey from Egypt to the possession of the Promised Land were constructed by God for their good and our instruction. Much of the Old Testament runs parallel to the New Covenant. We can see Jesus between the lines in many of the accounts of the Children of Israel. Jesus is revealed in the process that Israel went through to be fully set aside for God. It also reveals the steps in the Process which we must pass through when being prepared for ministry. The following is an analysis of the events of Israel’s journey from bondage to blessing which reveal God’s steps in the process of sanctification.

Plagues And Plunder
The story begins eighty years before God’s deliverance of Israel. First, He prepared a man through whom He would lead Israel out of Egypt. For the first forty years of his life, Moses was educated in the court of Pharaoh. The second forty years, he was educated and prepared in the courts of the King of Kings. On the exterior, Moses’ time in the wilderness herding sheep for Jethro was quite unimpressive; however, the value of that time is not fully appreciated until Moses is well into his call. God very miraculously confirmed Moses’ commission as leader of Israel. The first event occurred when Moses threw down his staff and it became a snake which consumed the other snakes produced by the sorcerers of Egypt. After that, Moses went on to bring ten other plagues which were far greater than the Egyptian sorcerers could overcome. Moses became highly esteemed to Israel and in Egypt. This was not something that tempted Moses’ Heart. He was considered by God to be the meekest man on the face of the earth at the time. Meekness is not weakness, it is knowing who God is. It puts a person in right relationship with Him as Lord and them as servant. It is this understanding at an experiential and Heart level which is the prerequisite for fruitful ministry. It is our walking with God as Moses did in His personal Wilderness that we learn humility and surrender which are necessary for God to flow through us, and to trust us with His power.

Israel was told to request from the Egyptians their gold and silver and clothing which became their plunder of the people of Egypt. God demonstrated to Israel that He was powerful, that He was their God, and that He could do anything to provide for them. They received the plunder by grace, which is important for us to recognize. For us, this could be compared to a prophetic word. It was the first instalment of His abundant provision for Israel. It gave them something to hang on to in the Wilderness when they could not see where they were going. God often begins our journey with a prophetic word of Scripture which we must cling to when the times get tough. He may also confirm the word with some form of supernatural provision or blessing to seal the promise in our Hearts, as He did with Israel.

Israel spent 430 years in Egypt, to the day. Everything was controlled by God, down to the finest detail. This proves that all that happened to Israel happened for a reason, and it revealed God to Egypt, to Israel, and to us as Lord of all things. Our journey will be just as precise and timely. Everything that happens to us, happens for a reason. We are completely in His capable hands when we set out for the Promised Land. We do not know where we are going and we do not know when we will arrive, but nothing will happen to us that God hasn’t ordained, and we will arrive on time. This is the comfort we have as we spend months and years wandering and wondering when God will resurrect and deliver us. We can be sure that His motive is love and his timing is impeccable. We will arrive on the very day He has appointed.

The Cloud And Pillar Of Fire
By day and by night the presence and guidance of the Lord was with Israel. A pillar of fire must have been dramatic. Israel needed a constant reminder that God was with them. They were not filled with the Holy Spirit who witnesses to our spirits of His presence. Israel learned to become submissive to the manifestation of God. They stayed when the cloud and fire stayed, and moved when the cloud and fire moved. The cloud and fire represent the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit, and in fire. We must learn submission to His Lordship and to His authority to lead us. We must recognize His constant presence with us and not grieve Him by rebelling. This is an early stage lesson for the Spirit-filled Christian. It is one of the most important lessons to learn since so much depends on our being obedient to the Holy Spirit. God will test us on our obedience and teach and train us to discern His voice from others and from our own.

The Red Sea
The Red Sea experience was the first real test of faith that the Lord put Israel through. It was a do-or-die situation. The very powerful and impressive armies of Egypt were bearing down on Israel and they were also confronted by the Red Sea. It was God who told them to camp there. The sea looked like part of their destruction but it became their escape and their method of deliverance. Israel did not see God as their deliverer. When the situation became threatening, they were not able to trust Him. In spite of the miracles of the ten plagues, Israel was unsure of God’s motives. The armies of Egypt had been their oppressors. They had reason to fear them. In the early part of following the Holy Spirit in the Wilderness, God will lead us out of our bondage which oppresses us. He will also demonstrate to us His power and faithful ability to deliver us and meet our needs in any situation. We can and should trust Him. Israel didn’t trust God at this point and He was very understanding of their unbelief. After Egypt’s armies were destroyed, Scripture says that Israel feared God. They recognized His power and authority and believed Him and Moses. The more that God does for us, the more He proves Himself to us as our loving and able Father. We must remember His faithfulness when He puts us in “do or die” situations and search our Hearts for unbelief. Each level of His deliverance is a new level of believing in God’s love for us. It stretches our faith to trust in God’s faithfulness when we are in a situation where we can depend only on Him.

The Wilderness Of Shur, Bitter Waters Of Marah
Israel had no water for three days which is about the limit for survival. They were desperate and when they got to Marah, the water was bitter. In the natural, anyone would have been wondering “where is God?”. Every detail of this journey was appointed for a purpose. It may have been in Israel’s mind that if God could do the miracles of Egypt and the Red Sea, “why would He let them suffer like this”? “Does God enjoy watching them in pain”? They did not understand His purpose or His ways so they could not see that He was exposing their Heart attitudes through this circumstance. The bitter waters represent bitterness in our life. Bitterness can manifest in many ways, but one expression in particular that characterizes bitterness is the “glass is half empty instead of half full” attitude. Bitterness makes us see only what we don’t have. We cannot be thankful for what we do have. The debtor who owed a million dollars was forgiven, but could not forgive the person who owed him fifty dollars. Bitterness distorts our view of life because we feel cheated. We have no regard for our blessings, only our losses. The bitter Heart only sees the glass half empty, not half full. It made Israel want to prove that God really didn’t love them. How could God let them suffer, if He loved them? They couldn’t see or believe that this was necessary in order for them to get to the Promised Land.

Bitterness is seen in our tainted actions as a response to our previous wounds. Life makes everyone bitter, because it is impossible to avoid hurt. Only Jesus can make the bitterness of life sweet, yet so many of us never let Him heal us. Bitterness causes us to blame others for our pain. Bitterness usually causes an over reaction to circumstances which threaten us with loss. We may react “strongly” when eyes of faith should rejoice in gratefulness. The Flesh will justify this reaction with self-justification and denial. The world is wrong in our Hearts and we are right. We cannot see the circumstances objectively; we see them through our anger over our perceived losses.

If we cut ourselves and do not receive treatment for the wound, it will become infected. The infection makes the cut more painful. Any normal contact with the area will cause pain. In order to bring healing to the wound, it must be cleansed and that usually causes pain. Jesus is the branch that was thrown in the waters of Marah to make them sweet. He is our antiseptic for the bitterness of our Heart. We must forgive those who have wounded us as a first step in the process of healing. As long as there is pain in our Heart, there is usually unforgiveness. The value of a clear conscience toward God is that we will no longer react to Him and others out of bitterness. The Children of Israel could not see God as good as soon as He did not meet their needs the way they expected Him to. The real test of their faith was how they would react when He seemingly wasn’t there for them. We MUST NOT judge God as being against us. This is a prerequisite for going on to the next stage of the Process. Our relationship with Him cannot have any potential for breakdown if we are to go into battle against our enemies. If we don’t believe He loves us when things get difficult then we can never defeat our enemies. The exposing and healing of our Heart is His mercy toward us, even though the process is painful. He will let us suffer in order to bring us to healing. He looks at our “highest good”, not just the immediate situation. When we realize the love, joy and peace that God is attempting to bring us into, it is well worth the suffering. This has been called, “a severe mercy”. For Israel and for us, the exposing and healing of bitterness is painful, but the victory is well worth the cost.

At the Waters of Marah, God made a promise to Israel that if they would not walk in the ways of the heathen nations who were in bitterness, that He would heal/keep them from all disease (Exodus 15:24-26). That promise is also made to us if we allow God to cleanse our Heart. Every promise has a condition attached to it and the Process of healing of bitterness may take many visits to the Waters of Marah. The healing of bitterness toward others and God is one of the most important works of redemption in the Wilderness because it makes us thankful to Him for even the painful things of life. It puts to death the mistrust and rebellion we have toward God, and allows us to fully surrender to Him because the sting of the painfulness of life has been healed. God will complete the task of exposing our Heart of bitterness if we will respond in repentance and faith toward Him. If we are suffering under a disease or other chronic spiritual or physical condition, it may be connected to bitterness toward God or others. When bitterness is the cause of a disease, we are unable to respond to God in faith for our healing. First, we must deal with any unforgiveness toward others or God, then we must ask for healing from the pain of the wound. Revelation by the Holy Spirit is required to see the condition of the Heart, but God honours our simple prayer calling out to Him even when we don’t have revelation. If we know we are in bitterness because it has been exposed by our reactions, we should turn our attention to our own healing rather than let the Flesh blame others for our pain. When we respond to our hurt in the Spirit, and not in the Flesh, we can enter the blessing for which God brought us to the Waters of Marah. If we respond to God in faith, trusting that in spite of the painful circumstance of the situation, there is a reason He has brought us here. If we accept the spiritual view of the circumstances and respond to Him in it, there is treasure of the Kingdom waiting for us.

Elim Oasis
Israel moved to the next “station”, which was an oasis with twelve springs and seventy date palms. The experience at Marah was draining and God provided a place for them to rest and be refreshed. The oasis which Israel named “Elim” was relief from the dry place from where they had come. They probably wished that they could stay near to the water and dates until they entered the Land of Milk and Honey. They had no strength for war or the battles that were to come. The Renewal which has swept the world in the last few years has been, for those of us who have been a part of it, an “Elim”. It has been refreshing and reassuring to us who have been wandering in the Wilderness that we are on the right track. In spite of the difficulty of the journey, it has been confirmation that God is with us, and is fully in control of their lives. It is at these times of refreshing that we may feel that we are now ready to enter the promises of God. We feel we are full of power and authority and wonderful things are about to happen but it is only the beginning of the preparation.

The Wilderness Of Zin
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Deut. 8:3 NIV

It was in the Wilderness of Zin that God began feeding Israel with manna. They were fed every day. They could not store it up. They learned to live day-to-day. They were completely dependent on God to feed them. There was nothing extra, only enough to exist. They were out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do, and with no apparent reason for being there. They had a purpose but they were not really moving forward in it in their eyes. In our life with God in the Wilderness, He will deliver us from the love of the world. There is a season in God when we will feel like we are pathetic in the eyes of the world. We, too are out in the middle of nowhere, seemingly doing nothing and just surviving. Our Flesh wants to have purpose and meaning and productivity and justification for our situation. It is difficult to explain to others why we are where we are, because without spiritual eyes and understanding, it is foolishness to them. Even to us, it may appear that the Lord has chosen to consume our life as a burnt offering to Him. Even if we never accomplish a thing, never enter the promises as Abraham did, or ever see fruitful ministry, it is enough to have been obedient to God. That is the best attitude we can take in this step of the Process. The Wilderness becomes a place where there is nothing on the horizon. There appears to be no future, no hope, nothing but an existence. It puts to death our ambition and our need to “do” in order to be justified before men. We also learn to fully trust God for every one of our needs. It puts to death our control of our life. The righteous man will live by faith, the Scripture says (Heb. 10:38). Our faith in God will be our supply. It is the love and promise of God to us that is our source, not the circumstances of the natural. God would not let Israel build up a reserve of manna. Reserves are for the fearful who do not know the ability of their God to meet every need just at the right time. This stage is a walking forward with God and learning to face every car repair and unexpected bill knowing that He knows exactly what we need. The fear of the unknown can be a powerful force which will prevent us from walking in the Spirit. God wants to strip us of all our dependencies and make us dependent only on Him. He will never fail us. Fear may cause us to rebel and take back our life from the Lordship of Jesus and try to squirm out of the Wilderness circumstances. If we succeed in this, we may never learn the freedom of depending on God completely to meet our needs in every situation. It is fear which robs us of our health and our mental and emotional peace.

Israel grumbled against Moses and the situation. But it was not Moses that had them there, it was God. They were grumbling against God. The Adamic Nature is very deceptive. Our religiousness and our fear of God keeps us from acknowledging our rebellion and hostility toward Him. Some people have a difficult time being honest with themselves and with God, but He knows everything anyway. We are only deceiving ourselves. When we are honest with ourselves and face the way we are feeling, we are able then to repent and turn toward God instead of turning away from Him. It is to be expected that the Adamic Nature will rise up against God when the Holy Spirit is leading it to the cross. It is not us that sins but it is the sin within us. It is sin who is our enemy, not God. He only wants us to expose what is hidden in our Heart. Peace is our umpire. When we have inner peace, it is an indication that we are in the Spirit. When we are in unrest in our spirit, we are usually in the Flesh. Peace, therefore, is like a baseball umpire who calls the balls and strikes. It helps us to know what is Spirit and what is Flesh. When we lose our peace, we can assume that the Flesh is alive in the circumstance. Whenever we lose our peace and start to squirm in our circumstance, we need to ask God to show us what is at work in us, then quickly bring it to the cross, so we can return to peace.

Meribah
The Children of Israel left the Wilderness of Zin (sometimes translated: Wilderness of Sin) and went in stages to Rephidirm. They were three days without water and they complained angrily against Moses and against the Lord. Three days without water left them close to death. They challenged God this time with “is the Lord with us or not?”. God provided water out of the Rock. The Rock, of course, is Jesus. He is our provider and our life. We know this as a fundamental of the Spirit-filled Christian life. But until our life depends on His provision, we know it as only a theory. Job knew about God but after his personal experience, he said, He KNEW God (Job 42:5).

It was at Meribah that Amalek, a descendant of Esau came out and attacked Israel. Joshua was appointed leader of the army and Moses acted as Israel’s intercessor. Moses stood on the mountain overlooking the battle and raised his hands before God. As long as He kept his hands raised, they were victorious, but when he lowered his hands, they began to lose ground. This is symbolic of our surrender to God, who then takes up the battle for us. This was the first battle Israel had engaged in and it was won through proclaiming God’s faithfulness and power. Joshua was a warrior by character, while Moses knew God and had favour with Him. Together they were able to bring victory and move forward in their journey. This is a good example of Israel demonstrating the pattern of interdependent and unique giftedness of the Body of Christ. The incident with Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, further underscores the importance of giftedness in the Church.

Jethro And The Church In The Wilderness
Jethro “just happened” to drop by for a visit with Moses. He saw that Moses was burdened by the responsibility of judging the disputes between the people of Israel. He suggested a system which would provide better service for the people and relieve Moses. Jethro was acting as a prophet-administrator because He saw the problem and was able to provide the answer that God had for the situation. Moses was very close to God, but God did not tell him directly. There were other “great” men of faith in the camp, like Joshua and Caleb, but He used Jethro to bring to Him the word of the Lord for the problem. This is a clear demonstration of giftedness in the Church and the way God intended us to respect and honour the grace that is on each life. The men who were appointed to judge Israel were appointed based on their giftedness and wisdom which is a further illustration of the “grace” in the Church.

The Wilderness Of Sinai
Three months to the day after Israel left Egypt, they entered the Wilderness of Sinai. God left us this testimony so we would know that the Process is not random. It was here that God gave The Children of Israel the Ten Commandments: religious law, economic law, and social and hygiene law. The law of quarantine and hygiene that God instituted for Israel would protect them against things they did not understand. They would be protected against disease and germs, even though they didn’t understand these concepts. All they had to do was obey the laws. It took almost 5000 years before these truths were “discovered” by 20th century society. Only in the past 150 years have these principles been implemented widely in our society. The arrogance of the Flesh wants to understand something first. It wants to “do it, itself”, at a huge cost of human pain and suffering. It is not God who is responsible for the pain of this world. He has provided an escape if we will only obey. If Israel obeyed, they would not suffer the consequences that other people did, even if they didn’t understand why they were doing something. If God was going to redeem a people and save them, He would have to teach them to obey and trust Him. Many of the things He wanted to do with them and for them, they would not understand. Yet without full obedience, they would suffer the consequence of their rebellion. God’s punishment was to keep them from going further into disobedience which would have brought even further consequences. When God corrects, it is not out of anger but love for His people.

One of the most significant laws included the procedure for dealing with sin. Harsh as it may seem, many of the sins were punishable by death. For us, this death means being cut off from our source of life - God. John talks about sin unto death, and sin not unto death (1 John 5:16-17). Old Testament law required a period of purification of 24 hours, other sins are unto death. They require confession to God and take three days and three nights to be restored to complete fellowship with Him (according to the Old Testament pattern). There are consequences for sin in spite of forgiveness available in Jesus. We are warned not to take His blood (forgiveness) for granted.

The law required Israel not to depict God with images of silver or gold. He was bigger than their wildest imagination. While Moses was away on the mountain for 40 days, the people prevailed upon Aaron to mould a golden calf. He did not have the strength of character to withstand their demands. The Adamic Nature hates authority. Aaron did not have the relationship Moses had with God and did not have the authority to control them. The rebellion which had been previously in their Hearts had now become open rebellion. Without the authority of Moses and the Law which He was bringing, they had the potential to get out of control and do evil. The Law was given for the purpose of restraining those who have no authority in their life. When we are given the Holy Spirit, He is the summation of the Law written on our Hearts because if we follow Him, we will not fulfill the lusts of the Flesh. When Aaron was questioned about the calf, his excuse was revealing. He blamed Moses, saying that he should have known that these were a rebellious people, prone to evil. He said that they pressured him and that when he threw the gold into the fire out came the calf. The golden calf is the expression of the Adamic Nature which wants tangible evidence of God. How many people claim that they would serve God, if they could only see Him, or if He proved Himself in a tangible way to them? God will not be controlled. He will not manifest Himself the way we want Him to. He will not accommodate our Flesh. We must meet Him on His terms and not expect Him to accommodate our fleshly desires. The Flesh is His enemy and He is a consuming fire which will burn up our rebellion, self-reliance, unbelief, independence, and pride.

Moulding the Golden Calf was a point at which God had had enough of Israel’s rebellion. They would not obey or trust Him. He decided that He would not be tried by their evil any longer. He would no longer walk with them, but would send an angel. Moses interceded on behalf of the people just as Jesus does for us throughout this Process. We cannot go into the Wilderness without sinning and trying God. But, we have an intercessor who is much greater than Moses.

And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Exodus 34:6 NIV

The Promise
Then the LORD said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. Exodus 34:10 NIV

God promised to do even greater things than He had done in the past with Israel. The plagues, water from the Rock, and the Red Sea would not compare with what He was going to do. He was referring to the defeat of the nations of Canaan. The miracles of Egypt and the Red Sea may seem like “greater things”. God, however, was speaking of what He was going to do in us. To change a man’s Heart took the blood of His Son and a work of sanctification that was far more wonderful and miraculous than parting the Sea or producing water out of a rock. The transformation of the Believer’s Heart from being ruled by the Flesh to being surrendered and ruled by the Holy Spirit is far greater than physical miracles. It is the completion of the promise to Abraham that God would set apart for Himself a people who loved Him with all of their Heart, mind, and soul. God would deliver them and make them a people unlike any other people on the face of the earth. He would empower them and share His authority with them because He could trust them with it. These people would be the redeemed New Adam.

The Ark Of The Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant is our assurance that God will dwell with us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Another parallel to the Church can be drawn here as well. When Israel was making the Ark, God filled certain people with understanding, wisdom, and knowledge by the Holy Spirit. Proverbs says that these are the three things necessary to establish a house (Prov. 24:3-4). God also provided nine different abilities (craftmanships) which were required to build the Ark. These can be likened to the nine manifestations of the Holy Spirit, which are for the building up of the Body of Christ. God has left us a witness of the things He would do and how He would do them in the New Covenant Body of Christ.

Blessing Of Obedience
He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you today. Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, if you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Deut. 30:5-10 NIV

The promises made to Israel have been taught by the Church as simple formulas for temporal prosperity; however, they are not only the commands to Israel but were meant to be prophetic words for the Church today. Circumcision was the Old Testament way of being set aside wholly for God. The circumcision of the Heart is to put to death the Adamic Nature and to walk in obedience to the Holy Spirit. The prosperity spoken of in this Old Testament Scripture is a prosperity of abundance for us found in the Kingdom of God. Love, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit is by far more precious than the wealth of this world. This is what the Kingdom of God is about. Prosperity is to see the work of your hands bear fruit for the Kingdom and to lay up treasure in Heaven. To have fellowship and an intimate relationship with the Father will produce more satisfaction and peace than anything available in this world. To know peace which no situation can dethrone is a blessing worth more than a lottery fortune. In most cases, people desire wealth in order to satisfy every want they can conceive. Unbridled consumption will never satisfy. In Christ, we have provision for every need, and death to every fleshly desire which would only take us away from loving and serving Him.

Disobedience
The consequences of disobedience are fear, sickness, discontent, striving, unfruitfulness, and lack of purpose. These are, for the most part, conditions of the Heart which manifest in the natural. The final consequence of disobedience will bring a sword against us which symbolizes destruction. To become a slave of obsession or illness or immorality is to be victimized by the lusts of the Flesh. It will consume our body, our mind, and our soul with fears. It will consume our life with the folly of fruitless pursuits which is destruction. God warned us of disobedience and gave Israel and us a clear view of the result of our choices. If we want to live a fruitful content life, free of the lusts which drive others down dead-end streets, and after things which cannot satisfy, we must allow the Holy Spirit to put the Flesh in us to death. There can be no compromise with the Flesh.

The Wilderness Of Paran
The Wilderness of Paran could be called the “wilderness of rebellion”. Until now, Moses was able to minimize the impact of Israel’s unbelief by using his “influence” with the Lord. In Paran, Israel went into open rebellion and challenged Moses and the Lord’s authority. It was here that Israel said “it was better to be in the bondage of Egypt than to be in the Wilderness with God.” (Num.11:1-18). To Israel, their situation seemed unbearable. They wanted meat to satisfy their lust and even Moses was “fed up” with them. God in His wisdom gave them not just enough, but so much that they were repulsed by the meat they had wanted. It did not satisfy them even though they had more than enough. God will prepare us to deal with an area of the Flesh by allowing us to rebel and try to satisfy ourselves. There is a season in the Process when God gives us the things that we think we want just to show us that there is nothing satisfying in them. When we eventually see our folly and confess our sin to God, we are free of the power of the Flesh in this area. We hate what we thought we would love and turn back to Him for help. There is a window of opportunity here to be free. When we see our sin and do NOT confess it to God, we have effectively made our choice and given the Flesh power over us, instead of crucifying it. The pleasure, if we could call it that, returns to our Fleshly activity and He gives us over to it. We become deceived by our lust and become enslaved to our Flesh in this area. If we don’t confess our sin to God when we have a chance, we can become worse off than when we started. The opportunity to be free is available to us only for a short time. Our lack of a response is a response, therefore we must take the opportunity to be free when it is presented. It may be a long time until the Spirit will again provide this same opportunity. If we respond to God in confession and agree with our revelation of the truth, we will be free. If we postpone it, we will miss the opportunity.

Miriam And Korah
Both Miriam and Korah rebelled against the Lord and challenged Moses’ authority. Miram was humbled and Korah was destroyed. The difficulties of the Wilderness exposed the deeper levels of unbelief that were in Israel’s Heart. They had been in the Wilderness a long time and nothing seemed to be happening. It isn’t hard to be deceived by the Flesh. Nothing that God was doing seemed to make sense. In the natural, Miriam believed that she could do it better. “It couldn’t be that difficult to find the Promised Land and go into it.” They rose up in their own understanding (the Flesh) and took charge of the situation. They rationalized their rebellion by insisting that Moses was incompetent. What a mess they would have made of God’s plan to redeem them. If they had succeeded, they would have compromised, used logic and temporal understanding and made treaties with the inhabitants of the land. Israel would have become just like the nations of Canaan and not the redeemed people of God. The Promised Land would have been nothing like the promise that was made to them. This is a pitfall that can happen easily to us. Israel leaned to their own understanding and rejected the leading of the Holy Spirit because it did not make sense to them. The things of the Holy Spirit are foolishness to the natural understanding. If we rebel, God tries to bring us back to obedience to the Holy Spirit. In the Wilderness, Korah and his men were destroyed. God does not “pluck us up” to purify the Church as He did in the Wilderness of Paran with those who rebelled. In mercy He tries to bring us back on track through His discipline. Sometimes it comes in the form of illness or other circumstances that are meant to cause us to evaluate our ways and seek Him. Even the most spiritual Christian will rebel in the Wilderness. Rebellion is in our Hearts. We were born into it. We may be very “spiritual” and believe we are beyond the folly of rebellion, but then circumstances bring up from our Heart feelings and attitudes we never imagined we had. When we do rebel, we must find our way back to the Lord by seeking for the root cause of our rebellion. Usually it is our unbelief in the love of God. In difficult circumstances the Adamic Nature accuses God of not loving us. This is unbelief in God’s true nature. It could be called believing a lie about God. Once we accept the lie as truth, it is a simple progression to: “I can do it better on my own”. This enthrones the Adamic Nature and it is the reasoning of the carnal Heart. It will lead to rebel against the Lord, and send us on futile pursuits and aimless wandering in the desert.

The Spies
The spies who were sent into the Land of Canaan brought back an exaggerated report of the strength of Canaan, but it exposed Israel’s Heart of unbelief. Caleb and Joshua spoke faith to them, but they would not repent. God was not so affronted with their fears as He was with their rebellion and stubbornness which prevented them from repenting. He was aware of their Heart but His plan was circumvented by their refusal to repent. Israel had been captive in Egypt. They had a slave mentality. They didn’t believe that they could be the conquerors of such a choice land. Many Christians are called today to conquer certain “nations” but they don’t feel competent to do something so grand in their own eyes. The story of the talents told by Jesus in Matt. 25 is the story of Israel in this stage of the Wilderness. Their fears and the past were influencing their perception of the future. They were afraid they would fail, so they shut everything down rather than risk defeat. They were looking at the situation with the natural eyes instead of with eyes of faith in God’s ability to make them victorious. They did not know their Father and they did not know His commitment to their success.

God does expect us to doubt from time to time, because He knows our Heart. He wants us to have our faith renewed in Him. David allowed the Holy Spirit to rise up in Him and open his eyes of faith. God can do mighty works through His people when they allow Him to build their faith. God must be our closest friend. He is the One we must go to when we lose our peace. No matter how terrible the situation, David handed His troubles over to God. We cannot please God without faith. All of our good works are for nothing if they are not done in faith. David completed the course God chose for his life. He was fruitful in His day and His life was inspiration for millions of Believers who came after him.

Death Of A Generation
In one sense, the death of a generation is symbolic of God putting to death our Old Man and resurrecting a new spiritual man who is surrendered to the Holy Spirit. In another sense, this part of the story is a warning to Believers that if we do not deal brutally with our unbelief, we will never enter God’s promises of love, joy, and peace, prosperity and rest, and the fulfilment of our call in fruitfulness. These promises are for those who are obedient not to the Law, but to the Holy Spirit.

In the fall of 1988, I asked God why He was doing what He was doing in me at that time. Usually I do not get such an immediate or clear response. What rose up from my Heart were these words: “After I was baptised in the Holy Spirit, I immediately went into the Wilderness”. Simultaneous to these words reaching my mind, I saw with the eyes of my Heart that the Church had experienced the latter rain of the Holy Spirit spoken of in Joel 2:28. More people had been baptised in the Holy Spirit in the last 50 years than in the last thousand years. The Holy Spirit was falling on the Church.

“And afterwards, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. Joel 2:28 NIV

It began at Azusa Street in 1906 and seemed to wane about 1980. There had been the Pentecostal Movement, the Jesus Movement and the Charismatic Movement. Many of those people had entered into the things of the Holy Spirit and then were called into the Wilderness. I could see how many of them were “shipwrecked” in the desert. They had run aground on materialism, unbelief, rebellion, stubbornness, and other pursuits of folly. They were a dying generation.

The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Mark 4:14-19 NIV

Our personal Wilderness is designed to expose the unbelief of our Hearts. Usually that is painful. It may seem that God does not love us if He will let us suffer. He only comes when we are at the end of ourselves. He comes and delivers us when we become broken, defeated, and despairing of life itself. It is then that we are ready to receive. It is then that the beauty of humility and complete surrender to Him begets the grace that saves us.

We must not “stumble” in pursuing the “word of our calling”. If we get hung up in the circumstances, discouraged or rebellious and stubborn, the “word of promise” may never be fulfilled. The parable of the sower and the seed applies to the Church who is seeking the fullness of the Kingdom of God in its life. If our unbelieving Hearts overcome us and we agree with the lies, then we are defeated. Without a firm root of faith and trust in God, we cannot stay fixed on what He has for us, but instead we look for immediate gratification or the path of least resistance. It may seem too hard to allow God to purge our Hearts. But we do not have a choice. We must be fruitful, or be cut off (John 15:5-6). The rewards of a fruitful life are well worth temporary discomfort. If we lose our life, we will find it. That is the real life. The full rich life. The prosperous life. The happy fulfilling life. We are trading in emptiness, futility, the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches which do not satisfy; we are trading in the raging lusts of the Heart that pull us in directions which only waste our time and energies for the Abundant Life. If we love this world, we cannot see the Kingdom of God. If we become entangled in its systems, it will consume our life, and destroy our Heart of faith and calling. The defeat of Jericho and the Seven Nations are too great for us. Only the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit can overcome them. We must be faithful and enduring to the end.

The pitfalls are many, but the faithfulness of our God is great. Mercy and grace are our best friends and the intercession of Jesus will sustain us even in our most rebellious times. Everything that happens to us happens for a reason. The Flesh sees this as foolishness, but the Spirit is leading those who will be led into paths of righteousness. He loves us and is always waiting for the prodigal son to return to Him. God is not threatened by our rebellion against Him. He is not afraid to let us go off on our own path. He knows we have nowhere to go. Everything else is futile and unsatisfying especially after we have known the satisfying goodness and provision of God. “Man does not live by bread alone.” (Luke 4:4) We must re-dedicate ourselves daily to allow Him to test us and humble us and redeem our Hearts, so we can be the pure and spotless Bride, when our lover, Jesus, returns for us.