Joy In your wilderness
You must first be tested, before God can place you.
When you graduate high school, and are going to college you must first take some placement tests to see what level you go into. If you havent taken enough Spanish courses, then you will basically start at ground zero, or Spanish 101.
Every single trial in our life is just a test to see where our faith stands. The thing that we fail to realize when storms arise in our lives is that they are just temporary. Every thing in life will pass. Though sorrow will last for a night, joy comes in the morning. Or as the bible says, this too shall pass!!
It is a great thing to know that every thing that we go through, it will only last for a short time, or a season.
Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for everything. Perhaps there are some of you who are going through a period of testing right now. If you have not before, I’m going to tell you now that there will come a time in your life, when God will put you through the wilderness. A wilderness experience is something that God uses to keep us humble.
If you look up the word wilderness in the dictionary, you will see the definition is an empty or pathless area or region. We have to be able to identify when we are going through a wilderness experience.
God will send everyone through different tests. The old saying goes bigger level, bigger devil. If God is preparing you for a work, then be ready at all times to be tested. You see before we move on to a new level in Christ, we must first defeat the devil at the level that we are at. Before we move on to take our next step in Christ, make sure that you have defeated the enemy where God wanted you to. If not, then we will be trying to move forward, while still fighting the enemy from our first battle, plus the new one.
See what you consider to be a storm, someone else may not consider to be a storm at all. You may be sitting there thinking that debt is your trial, well someone on your right or left may seem compassionate, but roll there eyes off to the side and think, well thank you lord for teaching me about tithing, and the benefits that come with it.
Sometimes we think we are going through a storm, when actually its not even a storm at all. People have a natural tendancy to over dramatize things.
Lets take a look at Luke ch.8 23-25
But as they sailed he fell asleep. And there came down a storm of wind on the lake, and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to him and awoke him saying master, master we perish. Then he arose and rebuked the wind, and the raging of the water, and they ceased and there was a calm. And he said unto them, where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, what manner of man is this, that even the winds and water, they obey him.
See in the midst of the storm, or what seemed to be a storm for the disciples, Jesus was in the boat just sleeping away. Praise the lord, see Jesus had already been through his wilderness experience, so this storm was nothing new to him at all. Just like people that are in war, the ones who have already been through some things in life seem to stay a little cooler under the heat.
Acts 12:1-11
King Herod put forth his hands to kill the members, especially the leaders of it. He had just killed James the brother of John, and had now caught Peter and intended to kill him. He had peter thrown into prison with 16 guards watching over him, and they were intending to bring him to death after the meal of the Passover. V.6 and when herod would have brught him forth, the same night, Peter was sleeping, between two soldiers, bound with two chains. And the keepers before the door kept the prison.
Could you imagine? One of his best friends James was just killed by the sword, by the King, and here Peter is just waiting for the next day where he undoubtedly will be executed also, and he is sleeping. SLEEPING!!!
But you see this wasn’t the first time that Peter had been thrown into jail. He had been through this trial before. Yes he was seasoned, to it.
1. realize that Prayers change things. The fervent effectual prayers of the righteous man availeth much.
2. We need to learn what God has in store for us throughout our trials.
3. Jesus didn’t rebuke the storm, or the waters, he rebuked the wind which was the root of the problem, and the raging of the water. We must get to the source of the problem. If you are always getting into trouble with certain people that you run with , try not running with them,….etc……
