1CO 10:6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.

It can be easy to judge the Israelites in the first wilderness, but frankly even in this modern age, we as Christians are guilty of many of the same things that the Israelites did that kept them from going forward for so many years. Now that we have reached the time of crossing our spiritual Jordan into our promised land as well, we must rid ourselves of anything that would hinder us from going forward. Below are just a few things that can prolong our time of wilderness, but once we have dealt with these hindrances we will be ready to move forward.

1. Unrepentant of sin- We can't walk in God's power and sin at the same time because sin blocks God's virtue from flowing through a plugged conduit. God takes willful sin on our part personally, plus Satan would exploit our sin to bring us down once the power started to flow.

2. Unwilling to forgive others- God's rule is that we must forgive others in order for our sins to be forgiven, because otherwise we are just being hypocrites. If we carry unforgiveness in us then we stay spiritually dirty and God's power and our ability to go forward remains blocked.

3. Unhappy about how God has done things- The wilderness gives you a lot to complain and grumble about, but this offends God since He is just trying to fix and prepare us so that He can bless and use us in a greater way. Being thankful and grateful is the key to moving on.

4. Unbelief about God doing anything better- Usually if you have undergone the wilderness you have already had a life full of restriction and denial. This can make it hard to believe that God ever wants to bless us, but we must trust in God's goodness even if we get mostly bad.

Holiness, forgiving others, being thankful, and having faith are requirements for getting out of your wilderness, so ask the Holy Spirit to help you to master these areas. The wilderness is not so much about us becoming something more than we are, it's about us submitting to God's leadership and letting Him transform us into becoming more like Him. So if you've hit a snag in your wilderness, instead of just trying harder, submit to God's work more and you will finally see a change in all stubborn problem areas. God makes the impossible possible.

DT 1:6 The LORD our God said to us at Horeb, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain.

We have all camped out at God's mountain of change long enough, and we all feel like we either need to move on, or die. God wants to take your life off of "pause" and to send you on great exploits for Him; He wants to create a beautiful building of your life, but He must make sure that the foundation of your heart and character can take the weight of it all first. It's time for us to just comply with whatever changes God has been asking us to make, and to delay no longer, for the time to go forward has arrived. Your day of power and blessing has come!

DT 28:13 The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.