We are walking in today: Understanding Kingdom--Walking In The Law Of Preparation By The Way Of The Wilderness, Part 2
Witness wilderness throughout the Bible: H4057 midbar--pasture, uninhabited land, wilderness
Exodus 5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
Torah: Genesis 14:6, 16:7, 21:14, 37:22; Exodus 3:18, 5:3, 13:18; Leviticus 16:22; Numbers 9:5, 14:2
Prophets: 1 Samuel 4:8, 23:14, 24:1; 2 Samuel 15:23; Isaiah 16:1, 32:15, 41:18; Jeremiah 9:10
Writings: Judges 11:16; 1 Kings 19:15; 2 Chronicles 20:24; Nehemiah 9:19
Ezekiel 20:23 I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter
them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;
Exodus 13:17-19 17 After Pharaoh had let the people go, El Elyon did not guide them to the highway that goes through the land of the P’lishtim, because it was close by — El Elyon thought that the people, upon seeing war, might change their minds and return to Egypt. 18 Rather, El Eyon led the people by a roundabout route, through the desert by the Sea of Suf. The people of Isra’el went up from the land of Egypt fully armed. 19 Moshe took the bones of Yosef with him, for Yosef had made the people of Isra’el swear an oath when he said, “El Elyon will certainly remember you; and you are to carry my bones up with you, away from here.”
Wilderness experiences are El Elyon’s way of disciplining and pruning those He loves (and we all desperately need it), building faith, breaking down our reliance on our feelings and our emotions, and crucifying the self or flesh. The wilderness experiences we go through are worthwhile experiences, and we are to embrace and accept them for what they are and persevere through to the end. Ultimately, we need to react to wilderness experiences as mature citizens of the Kingdom of heaven!!! This is for those that will stand on His word with resolve to not wilt under the hot desert sun of spiritual aridity, but rather trust El Elyon knowing that the dryness is temporary and that He has a reason for it. Allow Him to do His work in you. By the way, everything El Elyon does is good — and The Most High does wilderness experiences. Abraham went through them, as did Moses, Elijah, David, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Peter, John, Paul, Timothy… and now it’s our turn.
During the wilderness experience, it is time to “focus on the goodness of El Elyon.”
Reflect upon the truths of Scripture… audibly affirm them over and over again, until they settle peacefully in your mind and heart--as you accept & identify with the truths of El Elyon’s Word in the wilderness, you will develop a faith that greatly pleases Ahya Asha Ahya (far more than the faith that is accompanied by strong emotions and feelings). The key for us as believers is to be conformed to El Elyon’s will regardless of how we feel.
Psalm 40:1-3
(0) For the leader. A psalm of David: 2 (1) I waited patiently for Adonai, till he turned toward me and heard my cry. 3 (2) He brought me up from the roaring pit, up from the muddy ooze, and set my feet on a rock, making my footing firm. (3) He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will look on in awe and put their trust in Adonai.
Psalm 46:1-3
(0) For the leader. By the descendants of Korach. On ‘alamot [high-pitched musical instruments?]. A song: 2 (1) God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 3 (2) Therefore we are unafraid, even if the earth gives way, even if the mountains tumble into the depths of the sea,
(3) even if its waters rage and foam, and mountains shake at its turbulence. (Selah)
The only way to get out of your wilderness experience is to “ignore the symptoms” (Get your eyes off of the “waves”) and believe the Lord and pray and worship Him for who He is — the key is to focus on the truths of Scripture. Wilderness experiences are all about “persevering” with El Elyon. Don’t give up! Trust God! Hang in there! He is faithful! Ultimately, El Elyon wants us to go through the desert and come out on the other side of it victorious. Though we all stumble along the way, the faith of the true child of Abba does not fail — it is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that keeps us moving “forward” on our spiritual journey.
El Elyon’s ultimate desire for us as His children is that we learn to “walk by faith alone,”
Demanding to “see the evidence” is a childlike faith, a “weak faith” whereas trusting in the spiritual principles that Abba has been teaching us for a lifetime is a “mature faith,” and that is the place El Elyon ultimately wants each of us to arrive at. The more I have grown in the faith, the less revelatory the Lord has been in directing my life — it is if He has been saying to me: “I’ve been teaching and training you now for years, and I have put a lot of things in your spiritual tool box I now want you to use those tools without the aid of extra-biblical revelation. I now want you to walk exclusively by faith, trusting in everything I have taught you over the years, and believe in My Word alone.” That, my friend, is El Elyon’s primary purpose for the wilderness experience.
The Sifting of Peter
In the ancient world, wheat was sifted to separate grain from stubble the good from the bad. “Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; however, when you turn back to Me, I want you to strengthen your brothers” When Satan asked to sift Peter, however, his purpose was not to get rid of that which was bad in him but to destroy his faith so that nothing good was left. El Elyon in His omniscience allowed Satan to sift Peter to accomplish His own higher purposes. El Elyon always supervises the process and has the final word. Satan doesn’t have a free hand with God’s children. The “accuser of the brethren” has to get God’s approval before any grinding or sifting can take place.
Rev 12:10-12 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “Now have come God’s victory, power and kingship, and the authority of his Messiah; because the Accuser of our brothers, who accuses them day and night before God, has been thrown out! 11 “They defeated him because of the Lamb’s blood and because of the message of their witness. Even when facing death they did not cling to life.
12 “Therefore, rejoice, heaven and you who live there! But woe to you, land and sea, for the adversary, has come down to you, and he is very angry because he knows that his time is short!”
Sifting can lead us to a deeper understanding of the way God conforms us into the persons He created us to be.
Yeshiah was not fooled by Satan’s plan to sift the disciples — He knew Satan’s mission was to defeat and destroy, yet He had His own mission and chose to allow Satan’s influence in their lives to accomplish His purposes. His Children cannot be tempted (sifted) in a way that The Most High cannot use for their good and His glory.” He uses weak, imperfect people the strong (the self-assured and self-confident) have little need for El Elyon; they think they can make it on their own. So those of us who have faced our weaknesses head-on and watched as El Elyon took control of our inadequacies
John 10:10 The thief comes only in order to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure.
Gen 50:20 You meant to do me harm, but God meant it for good — so that it would come about as it is today, with many people’s lives being saved.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 7 Therefore, to keep me from becoming overly proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from the Adversary to pound away at me, so that I wouldn’t grow conceited.
8 Three times I begged the Lord to take this thing away from me; 9 but he told me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is brought to perfection in weakness.” Therefore, I am very happy to boast about my weaknesses, in order that the Messiah’s power will rest upon me. 10 Yes, I am well pleased with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties endured on behalf of the Messiah; for it is when I am weak that I am strong.
The Sifting of Believers
Sifted saints understand the value of the process that takes them from the heights of their self-sufficiency to the awareness of The Most High’s firm hand in conforming them to His image. Though Peter was sifted by Satan, El Elyon had a different agenda for allowing the process: he was sifted to serve! The Most High is still sifting His people today for this very purpose — we are to be “others-oriented” in life (servants if your will).
Luke 22:33 Shim‘on said to him, “Lord, I am prepared to go with you both to prison and to death!”
Mathew 12:18, 20:26
18 “Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, with whom I am well pleased;
I will put my Spirit on him, and he will announce justice to the Gentiles. 20:26 Among you, it must not be like that. On the contrary, whoever among you wants to be a leader must become your servant,
Four Observations about the Wilderness
1. El Elyon always takes care of His people in the wilderness.
2. If you remain in the wilderness, you will eventually die.
3. The wilderness has but one goal: to sift us, reduce us, and strip us down to Moshiach's alone.
4. The Wilderness is a symbol of “new beginnings.”
John 6:31-35 31 Our fathers ate man in the desert — as it says in the Tanakh, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ 32 Yeshua said to them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you it wasn’t Moshe who gave you the bread from heaven. But my Father is giving you the genuine bread from heaven; 33 for El ELyon’s bread is the one who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread from now on.” 35 Yeshua answered, “I am the bread which is life! Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever trusts in me will never be thirsty.
Deuteronomy 6:23 He brought us out from there in order to bring us to the land he had sworn to our ancestors that he would give us.
Mathew 9:16-17 16 No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunk cloth because the patch tears away from the coat and leaves a worse hole. 17 Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; if they do, the skins burst, the wine spills, and the wineskins are ruined. No, they pour new wine into freshly prepared wineskins, and in this way both are preserved.”
Ephesian 2:10 For we are of El Elyon’s making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua for a life of good actions already prepared by El Elyon for us to do.
Shema Selah let us hear and consider walking in the ways appointed to us by the Most High! Facebook LIVE video
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