A root canal without pain-killers, ouch!

In the wilderness, spiritually speaking, we find ourselves in a deep hurt most of the time. To be gutted out, cleaned out, and scraped out, will not be a pleasant experience. However, it is necessary to prepare you for what God is about to do next in your life. I would compare this process to a root canal without pain-killers. The "no pain-no gain" motto of past years concerning the need for people to work-out physically speaks volumes and still rings true in the spiritual work-out of life too. It is painful in order to gain the insights God has for us. The pain, hurt and dejection makes us stop and listen. Without it we would not be transformed into what God is sculpting us to be. It is in this broken state where God stops our progress and shows us what the end result will be if we continue down the path we are currently on. He takes the sin in our life and crushes us under the weight of it in order to have something worthwhile to work with. He rebuilds us at this moment from the ground up to be a holy and righteous vessel in Christ for His greater use.

We need to stop the natural human instinct of avoiding pain, brokenness and quick fixes and allow this crushing process to take its course in our lives. I did not say this would be easy, but once you settle your mind to the fact God is working on something in your life, it can make it somewhat more bearable. It is this brokenness before God that could actually save your life in the future.

Make plans now for long periods of time in the Word of God and in prayer to God. Spend the first moments of your prayer time listening quietly, listening intently to God. When you are compelled to speak, make sure the focus is on God and not on yourself. Our tendency is to focus our prayers on wants, needs, hurts, and selfish desires. However, the challenge is to get beyond ourselves and focus on God, His holiness, His honor, His glory, and to desire Him like you have never desired Him before. The challenge for each of us is to be completely satisfied in God alone, even when our life is at its lowest mark.

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Who can stand against us?

If God is for His Believers then who can really stand against them? Can anyone separate His people from His love? Can trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, job losses, danger, hunger, or even the threat of death separate them? No! Why? Because God's people are more than conquerors through Him who loved them. Paul's says he is convinced that nothing can separate God and His people. Read the entire context in Romans 8:31-39

As it is written in Scripture "For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." God loves His people with the most effectual love anyone could ever imagine...He will not let anything get in the way of that love.

I know of so many of my friends, family, and even friends of friends who are jobless right now and many have been unemployed for nearly a year. Most of them the severance pay has run out and the savings is getting low with only a hint of a possible job. You can take great hope in the fact that even though it seems you can only see life through the shadows right now, and everything has a dim fuzziness to it, God is in complete control. He is working all this for your good in the end from the far side of this wilderness you find yourself wondering through. Right now, it may seem dry and hopeless, but just remember who you are living this life for...the glory of God.

Be most satisfied in Christ even on the darkest most depressed day of your life....find your satisfaction in Jesus not in worldly securities...that is our temptation, but "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him"-Piper. The wilderness experiences in life are training grounds...it is boot camp for anyone God intends to use greatly for His glory. Take hope in the fact you will make it to the other side of the desert. Bruised, beaten up a bit, matured, and hopefully "all ears" towards the heavenly call from God on your life. God will make a way through the wilderness for each of His own. Right now, settle in your mind and in your soul, the fact the road ahead may get more rough. The darkness surrounding your circumstances may in fact seem unbearable at times. Keep on the forefront of your mind a promise from God, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you." -Deuteronomy 31:6 Learn to live on the promises of God especially when times are tough just like Moses and David did several thousand years ago.

"When God wants to use His people in a greater way to further His kingdom, a dark and lonely journey through the wilderness is absolute." -A Pilgrimage Through the Wilderness

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