Living by Faith

For most of us, for the most part, we have called the shots in our lives, and made most of our decisions, and we hoped and prayed that God would support and guide us in them. God took us deep one day and said "My Child, will you go deeper with Me?" and we said "Oh God, I want all of you, I want to know you, and I want to walk in your power, and I'll do anything you want". So guess what? He said "OK", and then all hell broke loose.

You may have lost your job, your family, your friends, your possessions, and most of your sanity as God allowed all that could be shaken, to be shaken. You may have eventually found yourself huddled in a corner babbling to yourself, "God, what's going on? Where are you? Why are you letting all these terrible things happen to me? Like Dorothy, you may have tried to click your heels three times and say, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home", but there you stayed. And God may or may not have let you in on the secret of what He was doing in this wonderful new work in your life.

If all this and more is happening, then you have entered the wilderness, and you will not live by bread alone anymore, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The reason He will not tell you everything that is happening before it happens is because He needs you to react and grow naturally as you round each corner. If you knew everything that you would face before you faced it, then you might just run off and tell God to forget it and to just go find someone else to torture.

You may feel right now like you are on a crazy amusement park ride, but rest assured you have entered the University of the Holy Spirit and you have been chosen to participate in this last great harvest of souls in the earth. You are going through the same training as Moses, Joseph, John the Baptist, Job, Paul, and many other believers did that would someday be trusted with stewarding God's power and resources went through. You are a modern day Joseph and all this will turn out for your good and many other peoples good when you are done. If God has brought you into the wilderness, then He knows that you can make it through to the other side.

My dear Friend, be at peace, and know that this will all be worth it in the end. You are learning to live by faith by being forced to trust God for literally "everything". Like the Israelites in the first wilderness, you cannot go back to your old life in Egypt, and you cannot enter your new calling in Canaan, until you have been truly prepared, so that you can succeed without failing or falling into old sin habits once you begin. You may have been restricted all of your life (Christian and non-Christian), but it was because God has kept you aside for this new move He is doing. You are part of a secret army that God is preparing in the caves to be used mightily to help many.

Though you may want to, and actually try to run, there is nowhere else to go. Like Jonah, you are in the fish and you might as well ride it out and let God shape His heart in you. Like Joseph, you must do your time in the dungeon, but you will be brought up to the throne room when you are truly ready. Though nobody else will understand what is going on with you, or why you cannot rise up and fix your situation, just know that you are not alone, and that Jesus will walk with you through every step of this challenging time of purification and transformation.