Blogging LIVE from the WILDERNESS!!!! Welcome to 2014!!!

It is official:  I am an official resident in the wilderness

The wilderness is not to be confused with the pits.  The pits is where I go when I get discouraged, sad, and start the "woe is me" pity party.  

The wilderness is the place of preparation. We saw this in scriptures where God led the children of Israel into the wilderness before they inherited the Promised Land, John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ in the wilderness, and Jesus went into the wilderness before beginning his ministry.

So the wilderness is a good place to be because it means God is preparing your life for the next BIG step.

There's just one thing about the wilderness:  

It doesn't FEEL good.

Led into the wilderness

After I finished my 90 day prayer challenge, I felt good that I took a deep breath, stepped out on faith, and took some risks.  I was also glad that I stayed committed to the challenge and did not give up or throw the entire thing into the recycling bin after there was still no excitement.

I also sensed that now that I had taken a leap of faith in that area, that it was now time to work on me.  I    sensed that it was time for me to focus all of my energies into seeking God's will in expectation of what is going to happen.  First, I was tired of the status quo in many areas of my life:  I need to find a new career path/outlet, I want to begin to use my spiritual gifts to empower others, I want to stretch myself to do things that absolutely terrify me, and yes of course....you know it.

This is definitely not the first time I've gone into the wilderness, but since I've gone into deeper relationship with God I understand that the wilderness is not a bad nor scary place to be.  We only start wandering and prolong the journey when we grumble, complain, and try to lead ourselves out of the wilderness.

It's supposed to be difficult: Temptation, Decision Making, Preparation

The wilderness is not a Club Med vacation, it is a time of temptation, decision making, and  preparation

In scripture we see that when Jesus went to the wilderness, he was tempted by Satan several times and each time he refuted him with scripture.  In my wilderness experience, I've already been tempted with thoughts of hopelessness, discouragement, failure and despair.  I have found these thoughts entering my head and while I will think about them, I don't voice them.  I also find myself turning to encouraging stories in the Bible like Job.  Immediately after all the calamities struck Job, he got down and worshipped. On New Years Eve one of the Pastors spoke about how we should be prepared for loss in 2014 so we can bear witness for Christ.  She mentioned we should take our example from Job.  I thought "Well I'm just having trouble with my thoughts, but that is how Satan tempts me.  He gets into my head and then I'm done.

The wilderness is also the time where you decide whether or not you're going to take action or give into fear.  Of course we know what happened to the Israelites in the wilderness and the epic fail of a scouting mission.  The scouts scared everyone so badly that nobody except for Joshua and Caleb wanted to take action.  By the time the people had realized they had let their fears get the best of them and wanted to take action, God was no longer with them and all the scouts except Joshua and Caleb had been struck dead by the plague.

In my case, I feel like now is the time where I am going to fish or cut bait.  When it comes to work, I have been with the same company for nearly ten years and frankly other than the individuals I've helped:  I don't feel like I have much to show for it.  Financially it isn't worth it and I know that I'm supposed to be doing so much more.  The question is now:  What does God want me to do next???  I have to take action and I cannot let other people who are ruled by fear put negative thoughts in my head.

After Jesus was baptized, he was led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.  This was right after the heavens opened up and God spoke over his baptism, then he went right on into the wilderness to be tempted.  Stopping right here, I thought "That's how it works isn't it?"  God gives us our revelation and we're excited, then he leads us right on into the wilderness for training.

Jesus was led into the wilderness before he began his public ministry.  It was his time of preparation.  This is the part many of us want to bypass:  The Preparation portion.  I decided that I didn't want to bypass it nor prolong it.  I was going to get right into the wilderness and let God strip me down and do battle with some of my demons in the wilderness before going on to the next step.

Prolonging the wilderness experience

I also decided that I didn't want to prolong the wilderness experience by grumbling, complaining, and murmuring like the Israelites did.  I am not going to complain about the miracles that God performed or complain about how it isn't going fast enough.

I also do not want to prolong my wilderness experience by trying to manufacture my own miracles, answer my own prayers, or lead myself out.  

I heard a great saying this weekend:  Easy choices lead to difficult life circumstances.  Difficult choices lead to easier circumstances.  In other words: No shortcuts and see the process through.

What I am doing in the Wilderness

So glad you asked:  I started a 40 day prayer challenge done by Mark Batterson (whom I have quoted before on the blog).  It's called: Drawing the Circle.  What I like is he is not advocating Bingo Bango prayers.  The purpose is to find out what God's will is for your life and then move from there.

As Mark Batterson says, when you seek God that's when you find opportunity.  You do not need to seek the opportunities, they will seek you.

Well I look forward to seeing what this wilderness experience will bring.  Each time I have been in the wilderness I have made major steps forward whether it was leaving the Church of Legalism and giving my life to Christ, leaving toxic and negative people behind and moving forward, or experiencing healing  to move forward.

Until next time....Live from the Wilderness

To God be the Glory