NAVIGATING IN THE WILDERNESS: "SHIFTING YOUR PERSPECTIVE"
Our lesson for the month of APRIL is "NAVIGATING IN THE WILDERNESS" Each week we will discuss different concepts to assist you in making a smooth transition toward EMBRACING the WILDERNESS. Today I want to pose the question, "What is the PURPOSE of the WAITING SEASON in the WILDERNESS?"
There’s a waiting season attached to every transition, but unfortunately it gets mishandled often. When the season isn’t executed properly, it gets prolonged and extended until we’re able to learn the lessons required for us to enter into the new territory GOD has prepared for us. It would be so irresponsible of our father to hand us an asset when we’re ill prepared. This is a recipe for disaster because without his GUIDANCE and WISDOM, we’ll surely fumble the purpose. Every new level of life has a different set of requirements and responsibilities. When we’re called out to the WILDERNESS GOD is isolating us so that he can have our undivided attention to PROVIDE all that we need to PERSIST! When we serve the season we’re in FAITHFULLY we’ll always emerge from the wilderness with so much more clarity, confidence, and determination to fulfill the mission. Our hunger for doing things GOD’S WAY will become the standard and we will understand WHY things must flow the way that they do.
I’ll be the first to say that the WAITING SEASON IS HARRRDDDDDD! It’s painful, lonely, and even a bit unpredictable at times, but it was meant to be this way. GOD intentionally removes all of the noise and distractions so that you can get acquainted with his CHARACTER and his VOICE so that you can HEAR HIM CLEARLY. He connects and establishes a LINE OF COMMUNICATION that’s indestructible. Then he tests your FAITHFULNESS to him to ensure that you TRUST HIM FULLY and you understand how to follow his INSTRUCTIONS. This is really a beautiful act of love because he uses this time to truly EQUIP his people for greatness, but if we don’t have the right heart posture to RECEIVE and OBEY we could turn a really short trip into a very long journey, just like the children of Israel. They turned an 11 day trip through the wilderness into a 40 year journey simply because of their discontent and disobedience. Ultimately some of them didn’t even get to enter into the promised land because they weren’t in alignment with GOD’S WORD. The Isralelites literally taught us all of the wrong ways to travel through the wilderness. - Exodus 15:26 (NLT) says, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your GOD and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.”
Some people view the waiting season as a waste of valuable time. They feel that it’s insignificant and they could be doing something better with their time, but they fail to realize that this season is a blessing in disguise. PROVISION, PROTECTION, PATIENCE, AND PREPARATION are all established in the WAITING SEASON! I want to encourage you to change your PERSPECTIVE on the WAITING SEASON, so that you can be OPEN and ready to allow GOD to mold you and prepare you in the WILDERNESS! I want you to be fully equipped and ready for what’s to come when the time is right, so that you won’t make this process any longer than it has to be. In this crazy world full of false narratives and false prophets it’s vital that we connect the LORD! John 14:6 (NLT) says, “JESUS said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one can come to the Father except through me.” Think of the WILDERNESS as a SIMULATOR that grants you an opportunity to lock in with GOD, be exposed to his instructions, and have the chance to activate your skills! Deuteronomy 8: 2 says, “Remember how the LORD your GOD led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and find out whether or not you would obey his commands.”
If you fight against the process it only makes it harder to transition. Luke 11:48 says, "But even more blessed are all who hear the word of GOD and put it into practice.” It's so vital that you SURRENDER and flow with the process! The purpose of the WILDERNESS is to teach you that GOD will PROTECT YOU and PROVIDE for you but he has to test your character to ensure that you’re about this KINGDOM LIFE. This process can be difficult at times, so this month we will work through a few methods to help you navigate your “WAITING SEASON well We will explore ways to handle the WILDERNESS he KINGDOM WAY, so that you won’t become a consistent WANDERER!
SERMON RESOURCE: "I'VE GOT EVIDENCE" BY: PASTOR JERRY FLOWERS
INSPIRATIONAL SONG: "FRUITS OF MY LABOR" BY: CALEB GORDON
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