GOD IN THE WILDERNESS - PART 3 (April 22, 2012)

Once a man went to meet a Psychiatrist for his problem.  The problem was that each night he sleeps he gets a particular dream where someone locks him up in a room.  Also the door of that room has got a peculiar sign and every time he tried to push the door, it was not opening.  So the man said he was very much depressed and upset about the dream.  Unable to find a solution, the doctor even referred the Internet regarding the sign.  So he determined to ask the patient the details of that sign.  The patient said it was a “pull sign” that was on the door.  At this the doctor found out where the problem lies.  The problem the man had was not with the dream, but with the man himself since he pushed the door instead of pulling it!

Many of us are like this man trying to do the opposite of what the Lord’s Word says.  That is why we face a lot of problems.  May the Lord give you His Grace to listen to His word even while read this message and enable you to do it accordingly.  Unlike the man in the above story, you will see all the closed doors of your life opened since God commanded it to do so when you believe His words.

1.    REFUGE IN THE WILDERNESS

Mark 1:12, 13 - Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.  And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
Here we see Holy Spirit took Jesus to the wilderness.  Nowadays people start ministry with a grand beginning.  But God the Father did not ask Jesus to start His ministry in the Herod’s temple in a grand manner.  He sent Jesus to the wilderness and gave some training there.  After getting trained, Jesus prepared Himself for the ministry.  So whenever God leads you through the path of wilderness, there will be some purpose behind it and He will take care of you along the way in the wilderness.

Deuteronomy 1:40 - But as for you, turn and take your journey into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.’
Israelites when stepped out of Egypt faced only wilderness before them. God did not allow the Israelites to go through any shortcut ways, but through the wilderness and provided them with sufficient things.  Even so when we go through the path of wilderness in our lives, God will keep the required things prepared for us even before we enter the path.

I Samuel 23:14-16 14 - And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph.  Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.  So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life.  And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in a forest.  Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God.  While I was meditating this verse, the Holy Spirit spoke to me clearly that God did not deliver David into Saul’s hands even though he was very near to Saul.  So without God’s will not even one hair of our head will fall down and He will not deliver us into the enemy’s hands.  In the wilderness there will be no place to hide when we see with our secular eyes.  But God will open our spiritual eyes to let us know that He alone is our refuge and will protect us from all enemies.

Now God is asking you, “Are you worrying in the wilderness and is there no one to help you?” He is promising you very clearly that whatever you are afraid of will never happen in your life.  What are the problems you are facing right now?  Like Saul you would be facing people chiding you for unknown reasons, envying you, and perhaps trying to kill you even.  But God will not surrender you in to the hands of your enemy .  God is your refuge and He is surrounding you as a fortress.  Perhaps you might fear the higher officials in your office.  Kindly do not.  God will not deliver you in their hands anyway.

I Samuel 23:16 - Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God.
Like this verse, God will provide people from enemy’s camp to strengthen you.  David was without strength and hope.  But God raised Jonathan to help him.  And while even reading this, God has come to strengthen you too.  Amen!  Once a friend of mine had been to France for a ministry.  He went to one of the villages and returned very late.  The bus services got over at that time and so he needed to spend the night in the bus stand where there was a fear of robbery.  He prayed God to protect him from the robbers all night and went to sleep in a glass room of that bus stand.  At the middle of the night few robbers entered his room, but to his surprise they could not find anything and returned.  This minister was very surprised since he saw those robbers entering his room, but they could not see him instead.  That is our God protecting us from the evil hands when we believe in Him.

Prayer:  Lord, please be my refuge when I face strongest storms in my life.  Protect me from all my enemies.  Thank You.

2.    STRENGTH IN THE WILDERNESS

I Kings 19:4-8 - But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”  Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.”  Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again.  And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

Over here we see Elijah the man of God praying to take his life away.  Had God listened to certain death prayers like this, about 50% of the people in this Earth would have been in Heaven by now.  Perhaps you might be in the same situation where you will be saying, “Lord, this is enough of my life.”  But God will not put a fullstop but a comma to your sentence and will say there is a long way to go my child.

There was scarcity of water in the wilderness but God provided Elijah the Divine Water from Heaven.  Elijah ate and drank and started to sleep again.  But the Angel came the second time with water and food.  After eating that Elijah made a long journey 40 days and 40 nights.  This was not because of fleshy strength but God’s Divine Strength that made Elijah to walk for such a long time.

So when Holy Spirit descends on us, we experience no pain.  God will provide Strength in the wilderness.  The only condition for this divine Strength is that we need to eat it the right way.  This food is the Word of God and the words spoken by God in the church.  It is a God-given command to come to church regularly.  If you are doing the ministry of God, kindly do not run away.  Just stay in the church, listen to the Word of God and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit.  If you do so, the impossible things you face in your life will be made possible by God and His strength will fill you.

Prayer:  Lord I am facing a life of wilderness.  It is very dry.  Please give me your divine Strength and help me overcome my problem.  Thank You.

3.    MIRACLE IN THE WILDERNESS

2 Kings 3:7,9,16,17 - Then he went and sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?”
And he said, “I will go up; I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”
So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom, and they marched on that roundabout route seven days; and there was no water for the army, nor for the animals that followed them.
And he said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Make this valley full of ditches.’
For thus says the Lord: ‘You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.’
The King of Judah, the King of Israelite and the King of Edom went for the battle but there was no water in the wilderness.  But Elisha said boldly that water will come despite the lack of wind or rain.  It is also against Science to get water without wind or rain.  But in V20 we see water flew from the direction of Edom!  There was water scarcity in that country before, but when the Power of God descended, the water came from unknown direction and the country was filled with water.

God is revealed to us as a God of Miracle here.  A miracle is something we get when there is no possibility of getting it.  Perhaps many of you reading this might be facing a loss of job or loss of income.  Kindly do not worry.  Even as you read this message, God is going to do a miracle in your life.  If you have no business dealings and your life is in danger, God of Miracles is promising you to make you settle in your life with happiness.  Do you feel there is no chance of promotion in your job or no chance of increase of your income?  Believe the above Word of God and within this week miracles will happen in your life.  God has even promised me acres of land for our church and I believe God will give it very soon.

Prayer:  Lord, there is no wind or rain in my family.  I feel very depressed as to what next.  Please do a miracle in my life so that I may thrive in this world and to praise you all the days of my life.

4.    CREATION IN THE WILDERNESS

Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

There is no need to experience the wilderness in our lives since God is with us.  There will be a way in the wilderness since God is going to create it.  God’s deeds are different from man.  Man may give whatever is available but our God can give even the unavailable and non-existing things.  Hallelujah! Even in our church God is going to do many new things.  Last Easter evening session, believers brought many new souls to our church.  There were fishes which the net could not hold.  I praised and thanked God for all that.  So God is going to make each one to be a soul-winner for his kingdom.  The Lord is doing a creating miracle here.  Just keep on listening to the Word of God and believe it.  He will do a miracle in your family by creating a new thing, which you do not have.  The same God who created Heaven and Earth is going to create this miracle.  Believe this Word of God and receive it today.

Prayer:  Lord, please do a new thing in my life and be a creator of miracle so that I may get relieved of all my problems and praise you for all the miracles.  Thank You.