THE WAYS OF GOD-THE DESERT EXPERIENCE.<\/p>\n
05\/03\/2013<\/p>\n
Brethren, I had this in my archives of articles that I was reading today on a question from a brother about a famine of the Word of God in today’s churches. If we want God, we must seek Him, as He wants to do a work in us, from the inside-out. I had read it many years ago, and never thought to posting it, but with today’s darkness surrounding us, I find it appropriate to share it with you. The author is unknown to me. God bless,<\/p>\n
\u201cFor My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways.\u201d (Isaiah 55:8-9)<\/p>\n
Introduction:
\n– It is imperative that every child of God should understand His ways.
\n– We think in straight lines and fixed points, and move in a consecutive manner, that is, from point to point (we start and finish a book; we look forward to something, and look back on something; we measure progress by time spent or goods produced; when we travel, we leave a departure point and arrive at a destination point, etc.).
\n– God doesn\u2019t think in straight lines, He thinks in circles. He\u2019s doing many things simultaneously, He\u2019s at the beginning and the middle and the end of many things – all at the same time. Therefore, He doesn\u2019t think of things in the context of time, He exists outside of time. Time is irrelevant to Him. He is not affected by time.
\n– God\u2019s timelessness presents a very real problem for us. God may speak into our life today and we will assume that it\u2019s going to happen today, or very soon. We will probably place it on a time line of some sort. But, God may be speaking to us from a point that is still far into our future. The reason is because He is not concerned with time, and this is why: God does not measure time; He measures growth! When God deals with us, His purpose is growth, maturity, and preparation. And, it always involves death to self! God will draw us into a desert experience with Him to give us the opportunity to grow (to die to self), to learn to trust Him or to gain more insight into His ways.
\n– And, because of the way we think, our first question is always \u201cHow long is this going to take?\u201d We\u2019re not having fun. Dying to self is never fun. But God won\u2019t tell us how long it\u2019s going to take, because He understands that if we know how long, we\u2019ll just try to hold our breath until it\u2019s over. He doesn\u2019t want us to hold our breath. He wants us to die!
\n– Things don\u2019t have to happen in real time or space to be reality to God. When He speaks, it is a reality. To Him, there\u2019s no difference between the two. So, when God speaks something into your life, it is a reality. It\u2019s already happened. It\u2019s just that there is a process of time required for it to manifest. But, this process of time to us is actually a process of growth to God.
\n– For us the practical result of all this is that God has spoken words into our lives (even though we must be careful and know, what was spoken by God, and what wasn\u2019t). And because of this, we know He has wonderful plans for us, and that excites us. We have aspirations for God. We want to do all those great things He\u2019s spoken into us. But, many times what we really experience is great frustration, because those things He\u2019s spoken aren\u2019t happening yet! When you\u2019re frustrated, know that God loves frustrated people. He knows you\u2019re frustrated because you care. Also know that the reason they may not be happening yet is that God is still measuring growth, not time.
\n– In our relationship with God, His purpose is to conform us to the image of His Son. And, He\u2019s content to take as much time as necessary. We, on the other hand, want everything to happen now, without suffering, pain, or sacrifice on our part. And God\u2019s only response to that is – too bad. Adjust your thinking. I\u2019m doing this my way.
\n– When God is dealing with us, we must learn the value of doing nothing. This seems to be a contradiction; but most everything we do with God (if we do it right) is a contradiction to us (see \u201cHow To Know It\u2019s God\u201d). Man was created on the sixth day and his first full day with God was the Sabbath. That\u2019s where we started, and that\u2019s where God wants us to stay. We have to learn the value of doing nothing before God. That\u2019s why quiet time with God is so great – you don\u2019t have to do anything. Just hang out with God. You don\u2019t have to fast for three days to get His attention, or recite long prayers to impress Him. Just rest quietly before His presence and wait for Him. If He doesn\u2019t speak immediately, He will eventually. But, you do have to learn to wait. It\u2019s a matter of respect and submission on your part. God does not act according to your time, He acts according to His will. Anytime a believer decides to press in to God and really get to know Him, one of the first things God will teach him is His Sovereignty! God moves in His time and acts according to His ways. Religion teaches that man is the creator and God is what they created. They expect Him to do what they say, when they say it. Of course, He doesn\u2019t. But they\u2019re too stupid and bound up in their own deception to notice.
\n– Also, God operates on a different noise level than we do. When we cry out to Him, He whispers back to us. God wants us to learn to be quiet, even when everything around us is in turmoil. Psalm 46 starts out with an earthquake and a tidal wave and ends with God telling us to \u201cbe quiet and rest assured that I am God (and everything is under control, regardless of what you see or hear)\u201d. But know this, when you learn how to rest in God, you\u2019ll be accused of not caring about what\u2019s going on around you. In this world, anxiety and hand wringing is the universal sign that you really care (that, and whether or not you\u2019re wearing the appropriate color ribbon or symbol on your lapel). However, in the Kingdom of God, anxiety is only proof that you\u2019re dumb. After all, you\u2019re supposed to be having a relationship with the Prince of Peace.
\n– God delights in drawing us into times of intimacy with Him. Later in this paper we will see just how He does that. In each cycle of intimacy there are two specific points we must be able to recognize. The first is submission and the second is obedience. In order for us to benefit from being in God\u2019s presence, we must first acknowledge Who He is in submission, and then be ready to obey. Then, in that place, He can touch us and we can be changed. Know that God loves to touch His children in this way, just to be able to watch them respond to Him. (It\u2019s much the same as when we\u2019re holding a small child and want to tickle them just to see them wriggle – I know, wiggle is a word too. But, wriggle is also correct and I like it better. Look it up.)<\/p>\n
The Desert Experience God works in us from two different levels: open manifestations and hiddenness. God loves to manifest Himself, and when He does, He\u2019s blessing you. But, that\u2019s not all there is to God. When He\u2019s hidden from you, He\u2019s building something inside of you, and that\u2019s even better! So, sometimes God is hidden, which can be a frightening thing (Psalm 104:29), but we need to know that He likes to hide (Isaiah 45:15).<\/p>\n
The great thing about God when He hides Himself is that He hides right beside us. He hides in plain sight – training us how to see Him. It\u2019s like playing hide-and-seek with your children. You always leave a small piece of yourself in view, so they won\u2019t be afraid, and so they can find you. You want them to find you, because you enjoy the look on their face so much when they do.<\/p>\n
When God manifests Himself, the experience can be physical; it most certainly will be emotional. He\u2019s touching our body and our soul. But, when He\u2019s hidden, He\u2019s reaching in to our spirit. When He\u2019s hidden, we can\u2019t see Him with our eyes or feel him with our emotions. And it\u2019s at this time that He\u2019s trying to teach us to see Him in our spirit man; so we can know that He\u2019s still there. God desperately wants us to learn the difference – our body has to experience something physical and our soul has to feel emotion, but our spirit can believe and trust and rest, even when we can\u2019t see or feel.<\/p>\n
God loves to hide, because He wants to be our hiding place. He\u2019ll take away the external things we tend to want to trust in to give us something better. In manifestations, He\u2019s working from the outside, in. In hiddenness, He\u2019s working from the inside, out. That\u2019s His preference – to work from the inside, out. He wants to touch your spirit. He wants to remove the visible to create new and greater vision inside of you.<\/p>\n
There are many disillusioned people in the traditional church today crying out for manifestations. They\u2019re frustrated because they don\u2019t see them (not real ones anyway). God is hiding from them to give them something better. But they don\u2019t understand His ways, so they just keep going from place to place looking for manifestations. They say, \u201cI want to feel your presence, God\u201d and \u201cI want to see you work\u201d. But God says, \u201cIf you really believed in your spirit, you\u2019d know I\u2019m here, regardless of the circumstances.\u201d Those who are dominated by their soul have to feel and see, but the spirit man knows the truth and is content in it.<\/p>\n
Does this mean manifestations are wrong or bad? Certainly not! Not real ones, anyway. What we have to understand is that manifestations are simply a part of the cycle God uses to draw us into intimacy with Him. People do experience His presence. Then He desires to take them into a deeper walk with Him. So, He hides from them to allow them to learn to see Him in the spirit. But, most people rebel against this cycle. They only want the manifestations. God wants them to move beyond that, but they simply want to stay where they are. In Matthew 17 Jesus was transfigured. His appearance changed and He stood on top of the mountain talking to Elijah and Moses. What a great manifestation! Peter was elated. And what did he want to do? Put up tents and stay there. But, God said, no. He had better things in store for Peter, deeper, more meaningful, life sustaining things.<\/p>\n
Most people who experience some sort of manifestation of God\u2019s presence experience a time of dryness soon afterward. And, it\u2019s most probably a desert experience, where God is hidden from them. And most of them don\u2019t know that it\u2019s the best place to be. There are many people who have experienced times of manifestation at some point and they\u2019re still chasing after manifestations. They\u2019re still longing for the soulish experiences. But God wants them to find the depth of their spirit man instead. Many of them are so frustrated with the dryness and the futility of their search that they\u2019ve wandered away from God altogether. They never understood that God wanted to take them deeper into the spirit. <\/p>\n
Usually church leaders are blamed when the manifestations are gone. People don\u2019t realize that if those manifestations were real, then men didn\u2019t bring them and men didn\u2019t take them away. Those who are wise will simply take the opportunity to go deeper into God. Those who aren\u2019t will continue to seek the manifestations and in most cases allow their wrong desires to take them into destructive liaisons with familiar spirits.<\/p>\n
In this cycle, God uses manifestations to get your attention, to get you all excited about Him. Then, He takes the manifestations away and leads you into the wilderness, where there is absolutely nothing. Then, to make matters worse, He hides from you. And He does all this so He can give you something better! What a paradox this is! <\/p>\n
But, if you\u2019re struggling with this, look at Jesus. He\u2019s our model. In Luke 3 He enjoys a visitation from the Father, in full, public view. The Holy Spirit descends bodily in the form of a dove, and the voice of God is heard by all present, saying, \u201cThis is My beloved Son, listen to Him.\u201d Then, what\u2019s the next thing that happens? Jesus is led of the Spirit into the wilderness, and for the next forty days God has His Son all to Himself. No distractions, no comfort, nothing, just Jesus and the Father spending time together in the desert. Jesus in His humanity is dependent on the Father. The Father loves Him, sustains Him, strengthens Him, reveals Himself to Him, prepares Him, touches Him, and takes Him deeper into Himself. <\/p>\n
And He wants to do the same with us. He\u2019ll get our attention with manifestations, but then He wants to take us into the desert, where He has us all to Himself. In reality, He seduces us with manifestations, so He can lure us into the desert where we will be alone with Him. That\u2019s when the real romance begins. The problem is that our body and soul both cry out in pain, they don\u2019t want to lose the dominance they have. But, if we understand what God is doing, our spirit man gets excited – he\u2019s ready to party on with God!<\/p>\n
The abrupt change of scenery can be confusing and frightening, as well. At one point we\u2019re in the midst of manifestations (it\u2019s like being on the beach in Hawaii, sitting under a coconut tree with a cool drink in your hand). Then, all of a sudden God is hidden (now you\u2019re in a strange wilderness, it\u2019s hot and dry and you\u2019re thirsty and hungry and there\u2019s nothing in sight). It\u2019s uncomfortable, you don\u2019t like it there, so you start chasing around, looking for Hawaii again – chasing after manifestations.<\/p>\n
The desert is a retreat into the heart of God. He\u2019s drawn you into a place of intimacy so He can reveal Himself to you and teach you something about Himself. God can do anything He wants to do. He can fill your soul with manifestations and you\u2019ll feel great. But, when He takes you into the desert, it\u2019s so He can starve your soul into submission. He wants your spirit to rise up and dominate. In the desert, God wants to strip away everything that strengthens the soul. He wants to see your faith rise up so you\u2019re no longer led by what you see or feel. Now you\u2019re led by what you know in your spirit. God takes you into the desert to touch your spirit.<\/p>\n
God takes you into the desert to be alone with you. He wants to take care of you. To prove to you that He can. This is personal. He wants to speak tenderly to you, He wants to give you your inheritance, and He wants to see you whole (Hosea 2:14-15). These things can only come out of a desert experience. When Israel got ready to leave Egypt, they took the riches of the Egyptian people with them. That was their manifestations. When they found themselves in their desert experience, the gold was useless. God took them to a place where they were alone with Him, a place where they had to learn to trust Him. But they were soulish. They refused to trust Him. They blew it. That\u2019s why it took 40 years to reach the promised land. God had to wait for the next generation to grasp the significance of the desert experience. They learned to trust God and walk with Him. So, they came into Canaan out of the desert experience. In Luke 4, Jesus came out of His desert experience into a powerful, Holy Spirit-led ministry.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the end of the cycle – God finally gets you to the point where you no longer live in your soul, but in your spirit. In your spirit, you can see God, trust Him and rest in Him, no matter what circumstances you\u2019re in. Your spirit is never moved. It doesn\u2019t make any difference if you\u2019re having a good day or a bad day; you\u2019re resting in God. And the strength you have in your spirit allows you to enjoy the good day or endure the bad one; but in the end, it\u2019s all the same to you – just another day in God. <\/p>\n
And when the spirit man dominates, the will of God is all that matters. Your spirit man lives to please God. In Acts 21:10-14, the Holy Spirit through the prophet Agabus, warns Paul of the sufferings he will endure if he returns to Jerusalem. But Paul wasn\u2019t moved. That is, his spirit man wasn\u2019t moved, because he lived in the spirit. Paul had learned the lessons of his desert experiences with God; so, he knew how to enjoy blessings and endure hardships (Philippians 4:11-13). Only the spirit man can do that. The soulish man has to feel God when pressure comes, or he\u2019ll fall apart.<\/p>\n
Finally, in I John 2:20, 27 it says, \u201cBut you possess an inner anointing received from the Holy One, and because of this, you know the truth…..and this anointing you received from Him will remain in you for all time, so that you will not need for any man to teach you. But, this anointing will teach you everything you will ever need to know and will not lead you astray. Simply learn to live in what God Himself has taught you.\u201d When we respond to God in our desert experiences, He gives us this inner anointing. All our desert experiences go together to make up this anointing. Our spirit man is living in the continual presence of God. The revelation we receive from God during these times is the revelation that will sustain us in any circumstance for the rest of our lives. <\/p>\n
When we\u2019re in the desert with God, He gives us the water that makes up the well that has the capacity to gush out of our lives for all time. We, and those around us, have the opportunity to drink from this water any time we want or need to (see John 4:14). Your resident anointing is made up of all the truth God has deposited in your heart, because you responded to him in the wilderness with faith and obedience. These rivers of water will flow from your innermost being for the rest of your life (John 7:38). It\u2019s always there, in an inexhaustible supply, waiting for the Holy Spirit to bring it to the surface.<\/p>\n
So, don\u2019t avoid the dry times. Look for them, ask for them, and then embrace them. We\u2019re back to square one, here. This is not religion. This is not what you\u2019re going to learn in the \u201ctell me what I want to hear\u201d traditional church. We\u2019re talking about having a real, personal, experiential relationship with God, again. It\u2019s the same message, just deeper in God. Stop yearning for manifestations. You don\u2019t need to feel the presence of God all the time. You don\u2019t need to see Him work all the time. You need to experience Him in the desert, as well, just you and God. Let Him love you. Let Him reveal Himself to you, seduce you and lead you out into the desert, where He can romance your spirit and kill your flesh! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
God doesn\u2019t think in straight lines, He thinks in circles. He\u2019s doing many things simultaneously, He\u2019s at the beginning and the middle and the end of many things – all at the same time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":17,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[112,111,110],"class_list":["post-133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mike-taylor","tag-desert-experience","tag-experience","tag-god"],"yoast_head":"\n