In the Wilderness

Deuteronomy 2:7"For the LORD your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing."'

I keep hearing the word desert in my heart. Some of you are in the midst of your desert right now. Another word for desert is "wilderness". How many of you feel stuck, but you know you have been praying for God to do something new in your life?

How many of you feel as if everyone else is progressing in the Lord, but you are in the same place you started a year ago, three years ago, or however long you have been feeling stuck.

God says, "do you not know, I have done a new thing in your life?" "I have brought you out a place of captivity. and now I'm taking you to the land in which I promised you."

In order for us to get to the promise land, we must go through the wilderness/desert. How many of us are like the children of Israel where we are set free from complacency, captivity, slavery, people bondage, that dysfunctional relationship and yet we complain our way out of our blessing or we delay the blessing with our nagging and disobedience?

God takes us through a desert for us to get to our promise land so that he can reveal our hearts to us. So he can strengthen us and build our faith in him. The wilderness was not meant to break you, it is meant to prepare you.

How else do you think you can fully accept the promise land if you're still living with a slave mentality?

From research it is noted that the journey from Egypt to the promise land should have only been 11 days, but the trip turned to 40 years because the people complained the entire time to the point they missed what God was doing. They had little reverence for him providing all they needed during their trip through the desert. Instead they compared their past life as a slave with Pharaoh and how much better it was to traveling through a desert where all provisions were met. They felt as God had forsaken them when really he ensured they had water, food, and that diseases would not come upon them.

So, I challenge you to look at your journey, analyze where you are and see what God has done for you , what he is doing for you and what he will do for you because God is a God who keeps his promises.

If God said he will pull you out of whatever situation you're in, he will. But don't you know that faith sustains you through the journey?

It's not meant to be easy, but just imagine what joy it would be to make it to the promise land. Don't lose sight of the big picture because you're focused on the small details that make you feel uncomfortable.

Being uncomfortable in your walk with God is a sure sign he is doing something big in your life.

But you can't receive your blessing if you do not make room. That means clean your heart. Clean your heart means understanding you're no longer a slave. You have been set free. God want's to use you and he wants to give you all the promises he has ordained for your life. He hears your cries. He is concerned for you, and he has not left you. No matter what it looks like. God has not left you.

Have you ever wondered how you made it through a really tough time in your life when you know whatever had happened should have killed you? Have you ever wondered why you begin to see and think about things differently than you did a year ago? or a month ago? or last week?

That is God doing a new thing in your life. It is God who gives us the strength to keep going. Exodus gives us a real glimpse into our own hearts because just like those people we would rather remain in captivity because it is familiar than to be set free and have to endure a journey that's uncomfortable and unfamiliar.

Embrace your desert experience, it can and should bring you closer to God. It should help you make room in your heart for what God is going to do next in your life.