A Desert Place

Have you ever wondered why it took forty years for the Israelites to cross over the Jordan river into the Promised Land, when they were ONLY ELEVEN DAYS away! One would think,"that's crazy, how could that ever happen?"  But, it did. The Israelites wandered in the desert because of their fear and unbelief. 

Have you ever experienced a kind of desert place in the Lord and wondered how you got there? Your devotions are dry, your fellowship with the Lord is distant, and reading the word is dull?  Somehow' you feel cut off and  cry out to the Lord, "Where are You?" and the response is silence. 

If you are wandering in a desert place, I understand exactly how you feel and it is a hard to understand how you got there.  At times, I have wandered for days and even weeks!  The cry of my heart is, " Why is this happening?  I miss you Lord. I don't understand?  If this is a test of my faith, then I have failed miserably."

Over the years, I have come to learn two things about a desert place. I am sure that you could share many more with me.  The first time I experienced the desert, the Lord spoke to me about His people Israel in Numbers 13 and 14.  When Moses sent out the ten spies into the promised land, only Caleb and Joshua BELIEVED what the Lord told them even BEFORE they went out.  The other eight spies were filled with fear and unbelief and cost the whole Nation the opportunity of living in the promised land for forty years.  They doubted God's word and their unbelief grieved God's heart.  He wanted to give them a new home land with all kinds of possibilities.

As I pondered this story, I am very grateful that I was are not living back then. My unbelief isn't any different than theirs.  I have God's written word speaking to me every day. But when the trials and temptations come, where is my faith? I have doubted God's Word!  My doubt has lead to unbelief and unbelief led to discrediting God's character, who created me. The only way out of this horrible dry place, is to confess my sin of unbelief and not try to excuse myself pretending I believe God for everything, because I didn't.  The Lord had to reproved me, and that was a good thing. My confession was the road to freedom. I was now more acquainted with the spirit of doubt and unbelief and able to recognize its voice and rebuke it. 

The same voice of the devil that spoke to Eve in the Garden is in the world today  questioning God in everything, "Did God say". I am continuing to learn, when I hear that voice, to stop and question,"IS IT GOD'S WORD OR THE DEVIL'S LIES!"

Faith in God is a gift, we receive when we are born again.  It is like a muscle that has to grow through trials and tribulations. James 1:2 says, " for you know that the testing of your faith, produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

My second thought about being in a desert place doesn't have to do with doubt and unbelief.  Once the Lord spoke to my heart, "The desert place doesn't have to be a hard place.  It is a time of testing and a time when you grow the most in your faith.  Have you ever seen a desert flower?  They are some of My most beautiful flowers.  They have learned to grow in a dry place because they know that I care for them. You are My desert flower".

Brother and sister, if you are in a dry place, and you are trusting God with His plans for your life, you are becoming one of His most beautiful desert flowers. A delight to His eyes, as you increase in your faith.  God will be able to do the impossible through you. He is perfecting your faith and you will lack nothing.  You will be able to believe Him for anything, because in the days ahead, it will be a good thing that your faith has been exercised.

The Challenge with Unbelief

If we honestly believed in our hearts that Jesus really took our dirty, filthy, stinky clothes as His own in exchange for His beautiful, clean, perfectly white robe of righteousness, how can we continuously want to sin or live in unbelief? If we believe that this is true, and it is, what kind of an effect would it have when we get sick? Do we just roll over and accept the sickness?  If the very God who created us, lives in us, would He not know how to fix what He created?


Of course He would.  Jesus did not die in vain for His church.  He took on His body every sin, sickness and disease that was the result of Adam's sin. We No longer live in Adam.  We are children of the most High and we live in Jesus Christ.We have HOPE,in this world, His name is Jesus.  Our healer is alive. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  The only sick day He had on this earth was when we made Him sick at Calvary with all our sicknesses and diseases.  By His stripes we have been healed, past, present and future. When Jesus rose on the third day from the grave, all of our sin, sickness and disease were no longer on Him.  He was free and so were we. We have to hold on to this truth when we get sick and have any health problems.  He is our health.  


There was a king in the O.T.named Asa, who when he got sick first went to the physicians instead of the Lord.  The Lord was not pleased and the heart of God was grieved.  His sin was not that he consulted the physicians , but that he consulted them first (2 Chronicle16:12). Praise the Lord we are NOT under the LAW but under GRACE. We already have been punished in Jesus' death for our disobedience. But, I believe the principle is still the same.  God does not change. The only difference is that under the gospel of grace, we are unconditionally forgiven  all the times we have gone to the doctors without first praying.


I remember when this truth first hit me. I was sitting in a doctor's office waiting for him to come in, and this thought came to my mind, "Lord, why do we need doctors, if you have given the doctors everything they know to bring healing to your people?" I felt like He whispered my ear, "It is My MERCY daughter, for their  unbelief.  I love my bride and I want her well."  About that time the doctor entered the room  and the thought left me.


Later that day, the thought came back to me and I have to admit that I was in unbelief. I didn't  understand at the time that He really wanted me healed..  I was like Israel, wandering in the desert of unbelief for years, afraid of the giants in the promised land. I was allowing sin, sickness and disease to be bigger than the BLOOD  and RIGHTEOUSNESS of our Lord Jesus. I didn't believe that God was "GREATER IN ME THAN HE WHO IS IN THE WORLD." (John 4:4)  The first thing I would do was to run for the pill bottle and pray afterwards.  I did not seek out the Lord nor my church family, unless I thought my illness was very serious. Honestly, I was living in unbelief and deceiving myself that God wasn't interested in my illnesses. It never occurred to me that the Lord might have a better plan for His glory through my trial.. I never felt condemned.  It just felt good to repent, receive His unconditional forgiveness, remembering that He paid an unfathomable price for my sin of unbelief.


Since that day in the doctor's office, I am still learning so much about His healing. Even in the bible, Job         was healed after his horrific trial with the devil, but he still had to suffer. I love the end when Job says, "Once my EARS heard ABOUT You, but now my EYES SEE You".  Sometimes the Lord has used an illness to draw me into a deeper intimacy with Him.  It doesn't mean that He doesn't want to heal me.That is a LIE from the enemy.   It is ALL about His glory and my relationship WITH Him.  He is my blessing, my health and wholeness. He is the lover of my Soul and He ever lives to make intercession for His bride, you and I.  To God be the glory.