Latter Rain Update - August 1997

A WASTELAND TO PERFECTION

Have you ever felt like no matter what you did, things just didn’t go right? Just when you are about to get ahead, the rug gets pulled-out from under you? You know that God’s Word is true, but why isn’t it working for you? You begin to question the Lord as to why things are happening to you.

This lesson will explain why we go through these things that we do.

You are in a place that you probably never even knew existed. It is a place called the Wilderness, and every Christians must endure it. In the Greek its name is translated eremos. A wilderness is lonesome, waste, deserted, desolate, and solitary. It is a region uncultivated and uninhabited. No one in their right mind would want to go there, and yet, we are led there by the Holy Spirit. It is a place of trials and temptations wherein the only way out is through trusting God and His Word completely.

We must go through the Wilderness because, by nature, we side in with the worldly way of doing things. This is counterproductive to our life with the Lord. Since we are conceived in sin and estranged from God, we don’t automatically trust in Him. In the Wilderness, we learn the futility of the world so that we learn to trust in God. There are things in the Wilderness seeking to knock you off, and the world fails you there.

Each step in faith and trusting God in the Wilderness gets you closer to getting out of it. Trusting in God is a process learned from previous experiences. This can only occur by severing our reliance upon the world. There, it is just you and Him. In the Wilderness, it is up to you to learn to trust in Him. The result of trusting in God is spiritual maturity and perfection. You’ll never get out of the Wilderness if you don’t learn to make your stand. Without it, we would never go on to maturity and be productive to God. We will spend a minimum of forty days in the Wilderness (the number of days that Jesus spent there) or a maximum of a generation (which will result in dying in the Wilderness).

Here is the sequence of events in traversing the Wilderness: 1) You become born again 2) You receive the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, He cannot lead you to the Wilderness, let alone through it. Your life as a Christian will be hard until you receive Him because He is the one who will empower you to overcome the enemy. 3) Then the Holy Spirit leads you to the Wilderness. Once you are in the Wilderness, there is no way of getting out other than through trusting in God. 4) You will spend between 40 days and 40 years there. Jesus was in the Wilderness for 40 days (Matt.3:13-4:11) whereas the Children of Israel were in the wilderness for 40 years. While you are there, you will endure temptations, trials, and tests. 5) The final step in this process is that you will either die in the Wilderness or exit a mature Christian. When you exit the Wilderness, your every response to the circumstances of life or to the attacks that may come at you will be the Word of God.

The only way you will progress onto maturity in the Lord is by exiting the Wilderness. You are not of much use to God before you enter the Wilderness (because you are a babe) or even while you are in the Wilderness (‘cause you haven’t yet learned to trust in His Word completely). This means that Christians who don’t have the Holy Spirit will never fulfill the will of God because they never go through the Wilderness and progress onto maturity. They will be the ones who will be saved as through fire and will suffer loss of reward.

How do you know when you’ve exited the Wilderness? When your response to all tests and trials is the Word of God. When the trials come but you are victorious in all of them. You won’t be wining and complaining and murmuring against God anymore.

Here are some important keys to success in exiting the Wilderness: 1) Learn to apply the principles and statures of the Word of God to every temptation, trial, and test that you encounter. 2) Learn to recognize that you do not travel the Wilderness alone, but the Holy Spirit is beside you to lead you and guide you. Knowing that we are not alone is comforting. If you’re shipwrecked, you are not in it alone. No matter it seems like. 3) Understand that the Word of God is your map through the region. It illuminates your pathway. It is your flashlight to shine upon the darkness to find your way out of the Wilderness. 4) Recognize that others have successfully passed through. First of all, Jesus has, and God is not a respector of persons. What He did for the person ahead of you, He’ll do for you. With all these points you will successfully traverse the Wilderness.

We can gain insight into the Wilderness experience by examining how God dealt with the Nation of Israel and took them through the Wilderness. In Numbers 13:1-33 God sent men to spy out the land which He had promised to the Children of Israel. The men brought back a bad report, one full of doubt and unbelief in the Word of God, because they magnified the circumstance above the promise. The people then received the bad report. Bad reports will come, but you don’t have to receive them. When you have faith, you won’t receive the report - you will rebuke it. The children of Israel doubted God because of the giants. You must see the promise through the eyes of the Spirit, the eyes of faith. When you do that, the circumstance looks real small. Here are some of the other tests that the Children of Israel experienced while in the Wilderness: in Exodus 14:1-31 God parted the Red Sea to save the Children of Israel from the hand of the Egyptian army and delivered them mightily, but it still wasn't able to convince the people to trust God. In Exodus 15:22 - The people murmured against Moses about the water. God made the bitter water sweet and gave them water to drink. He also promised to give them health as long as they were diligent to heed the voice of the Lord and do what was right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all of His statutes. Yet again they were still not willing to trust God. Again they tested God in Exodus 16: when they murmured against Moses and the Lord for wanting more food. Here, God tested them to see if they would walk according to his law in Exodus 16:4. God permitted and permits the tests to come to try our faith to see if we truly believe. The people again failed to obey the voice of the Lord and keep His statutes. God did provide food, manna from Heaven, but they still didn’t trust Him.

After these and other proofs by God to the Children of Israel of His divine nature and nurturing for His children, they were still not convinced to trust God. God had enough. Mercy had prevailed through the previous nine tests, but they finally forced God’s hand to move in judgment. They would die in the Wilderness as a result of their unbelief, and only those who believed the report of the Lord, Caleb and Joshua and their descendants, and the children of those who murmured against the Lord (19 years and younger) would also inherit the promised land. God gave this final pronunciation in Numbers 14:20-38.

To sum it all up, God’s Word is true, and as Christians, we have to be willing to believe and trust it. God’s Word is meant to be manifested in our lives so that we may draw others to the Lord. It isn’t done until we learn to trust in Him and His Word. This process is completed only in the Wilderness. So take stock of where you are.

How do you know when you’ve exited the Wilderness? When what used to make you fret and worry does not shake you. You have cast your cares upon Him, and you trust Him. When you are in the Promised Land, the circumstances become a stepping stone to you rather than a stumbling block, and you are content. You are victorious in every attack you face. The trials still come, but they just make you stronger.

This tape series is available through our tape library. As always, if you are unable to afford the listed prices, just request the tapes via our E-mail address.

IN THIS LESSON, PASTOR SHARES HIS OWN PERSONAL TESTIMONY OF HOW HE EXITED THE WILDERNESS AFTER 3 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF NOT EATING OR DRINKING.

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