TheWilderness

The wilderness is the place God prepared all the valiant men of the Bible. Jesus, Moses, David, Paul, and Joseph spent time being prepared for the place of service God had for them. The wilderness is an important and yet rarely taught part of the Christian life. Some believe that it is "not being in faith" to acknowledge that there can be times appointed by God of unrelenting difficulty, but to deny the wilderness as part of the Christian life is to put your head in the sand. Paul warned the Corinthian church of the wilderness process that Israel went through. He warned them that this was going to happen to them and by giving them understanding he wanted to prevent them from the same error of the elder generation of Israel. They refused because of their difficulties to believe God was still going to take them to the Promised Land. Believers today do the same thing. They lose sight of their promise and destiny in the mire of mortgages, children and daily living. But for God the deal is STILL ON. Paul warned the Church (us) that this process of the Wilderness was going to happen to them so they would not rebel and become idolaters. Today we might not worship idols but we may put other things in God's place in our life. The story of the wilderness journey of the Children of Israel tells us as much about God as it does about Israel. It outlines for us the way in which we must be taken from the bondage of this world to the freedom and fruitfulness of living in the Promised Land. We have eternal life when we come to Christ but the journey in the wilderness is the only way to get the Abundant Life.

The wilderness has been taught on by other believers. The Dark "Night of The Soul" - by St. John of The Cross (1400's) outlines the nature of the Wilderness. "Victory In The Wilderness" by John Brevere (1996) is a modern example of a prophetic voice proclaiming the season of the Wilderness for the Church. God's purging and testing can not be avoided, if we are to crucify our hearts with Christ. The wilderness process is the defined systematic way God puts to death the flesh in our lives and frees us from its tyranny so we can walk in the Spirit. John 15 1-8 says we must abide in Jesus and thereby become fruitful. If we do not become fruitful we will be cut off. The wilderness is an important principle for every believer to understand. Without understanding it, it is easy to run aground on unbelief, idolatry, devoted things and impure motives. Only that which Christ does through us will stand the test of His fire. He will test the quality of our work to we wood, hay or pure gold to adorn the new temple of the Lord. "A Journey In The Wilderness - Becoming Fruitful In The Kingdom" is a prophetic word of warning and understanding for the church. To read a few excerpts, a chapter or the whole book.........