Posted: 11/19/2008 at 11:34am | IP Logged

UNDERSTANDING THE WILDERNESS

God takes us into the wilderness in order to have us for Himself, so we can no longer depend on the treasures of Egypt. He takes us there to kill the things that we thought were altogether good. In the wilderness He brings us to the end of our plans, agendas and purposes, those plans that we are not even aware, are so deeply embedded and entrenched in our makeup. It takes the journey into the wilderness to have them removed.

God loves us to much; He cannot leave us in our motives, the ones hidden from our own eyes. He knows that if He moves us forward into the Promised Land without this death, the Promised Land will destroy us. He can’t afford for us to return to Egypt, for Pharaoh will destroy us, for daring to break free from his camp.

The wilderness is not a bad place to be. In this place the Lord sets us up for a blessing, especially if we understand the dealings of God, and don’t try to run back to Egypt where destruction awaits. God is a jealous God; He wants us all for Himself. So in the wilderness, we should embrace our Father and abandon everything else that we have trusted in.

In the wilderness Moses, Joshua and Caleb all had came to know God so intimately, that Moses said, “Lord unless your presence goes with me then don’t send me”. Joshua lingered in the presence of God in the tabernacle, and became the man of God that led the nation of Israel into their inheritance. Caleb was completely obedient to the Lord even when his inheritance was withheld for a forty year season. Sadly some who do not understand this season can fall away and return to Egypt, or even just settle for religion, because they did not surrender or understand the dealings of God. The good news is if we keep close to the Lord and submit and surrender to his dealings, then he sets us up for a blessing.

This is a common thing whilst we are on spiritual milk and growing into Son’s, because we do not know the dealings of God, we ask the famous question, we all have asked, “WHY GOD”. We all ask God,                          ‘why are we going through such things”, even though we will not say it out loud, we believe in our heart that we are being treated unfairly. As we grow in the Lord and through the wilderness dealings, we begin to abandon ourselves into the trust of the King, who is madly in love with us. We come to know that God is setting us up for a blessing; He frees us from our own plans motives and agendas. He lovingly kills us and then He blesses us.

Job, in all that he went through, thought he was right and God was wrong. He even said, “If he could take God to court he would vindicate himself”. He did not see how God was dealing with him in this wilderness journey that had to be taken. Once through the other side of this very painful wilderness journey, Job, not only heard of whom God was but he saw God for who He was. Job understood that much of what he had done for God was through his own rightesneouss, his own works and all for the Kingdom of course. Once he came through this, and repented of his own rightesneouss, he recognised that his own works and his own rightesneouss were filthy rags. God had then set Job up for a double fold blessing.

Jesus before His ministry started in power, was sent into the wilderness. Jesus had been baptised and filled with the Spirit before His wilderness experience but it was not until after the wilderness, did He come forth in power. God wants to put to death our plans and purposes that we thought were altogether good, so we can come forth in His power.

John 12:24  Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.

Once the death comes we see a harvest.

People chase money, for Kingdom purposes, without knowing what is really embedded and entrenched in their heart. If the heart is not dealt with, if we are not listening to the Spirit of God and we act and pray presumptuously then we will find ourselves in the wilderness while God kills our own plans, motives and purposes.

We can easily pray, “Lord your word says, while we dictate it back to Him based on our own agendas.” Without it being a now word of Rhema that the Spirit is acting upon NOW, our prayers and plans fall to the ground dead. David acted presumptuously and many were destroyed because of this. In psalms we read where David said, “Lord, keep me from presumptuous sin.” He knew the wilderness and the dealings of God, and allowed God to kill this area in his life.

 Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?

The Kingdom of God will grow regardless of money, because it’s not about money. It’s about the power and demonstration of God. Miracles and healings are not dependant on money. The Kingdom is not a product that can be bought.

Money will restrain and control government and economies of this world but it has no power over the Kingdom of God.

Money without a dependence and submission to the dealings of God, and living and moving in His rhema word, will bring destruction. The Lord loves his Son’s too much to allow that to happen.

If we do not have Egypt taken out of us, the deeply embedded lusts of the world will ensnare us to corruption. We can liken it to, building your own name into the hall of fame, just like Gideon built the golden Ephod and Israel went a whoring after this monument. If we do not have the Rhema word of God concerning the will of the Father building the Kingdom, then money inappropriately placed will destroy the Son’s of God.

Deut 8:18  But you shall remember Jehovah your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, so that He may confirm His covenant which He has sworn to your fathers, as it is today.

Deut 8:19  And it shall be if you do at all forget Jehovah your God and walk after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you shall surely perish.

Deut 8:20  As the nations whom Jehovah destroys before your face, so you shall perish because you would not listen to the voice of Jehovah your God.

The servant of God, who acquires great wealth for the Kingdom, needs to be listening to the Spirit of God, not to move hastily in presumption.

Mat 19:23  Then Jesus said to His disciples, Truly I say to you that a rich man will with great difficulty enter into the kingdom of Heaven.

Mat 19:24  And again I say to you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Mat 19:25  When His disciples heard, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

Mat 19:26  But Jesus looked on them and said to them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

With great riches comes great responsibility. With this responsibility there must be an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to His Church.

We need to go through that eye of the needle, to escape the sin that so easily ensnares us. We need to embrace Him in the wilderness so we can truly listen to what the Spirit is saying, instead of what our own spirit is saying. We must stop using scripture to try to bring about our own plans and purposes. For when we come through the process, then we come into the Matthew 19:29 blessing

Mat 19:29  And everyone who left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

So in saying all this, it is not our power to get wealth, nor our power to build His Kingdom. If we are not listening to God and making HIS rhema declarations from heaven that builds His Kingdom. Or honouring Him as Money increases in our hands, we will not be able to hear. Money will be our power resource and not God. We need to stop depending on the treasures of Egypt, and let His loving death take place, so He can bring us into the promised land and the fullness of our inheritance.

Peter and Gail Sweeney.