FEAST IN THE WILDERNESS
But when the Spirit of Christ empowers your life, you are not dominated by the flesh but by the Spirit. And if you are not joined to the Spirit of the Anointed One, you are not of him. Romans 8:9
What an awesome verse to explain our spirit must be joined with God’s spirit! What we are discovering and a becoming accustomed to our new life as sojourners in our wilderness. Just like the Israelites, when the cloud of God above them moved, they took down their tents and followed the cloud. When the cloud stopped, they stopped and set up camp again. This is the life of a sojourner.
I covered a podcast a bit ago called, Are you a Sojourner? Please click the link to listen here, if you missed it or follow along here on the blog
Paul calls man's spirit "the inward man." Peter calls man's spirit "the hidden man of the heart."
But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great Man: An Eternal Spirit price. 1 Peter 3:4
In many places when the Bible speaks of the heart, it is speaking of the spirit. This is the real man. It will help you in your believing and in your faith to think wherever the word heart is used in the New Testament substitute the word spirit and you will get a clearer picture of what the Bible is talking about because it is the spirit of man that is born again.
Now in Exodus 5:1, God made it clear the reason He wanted to take His people into the wilderness was so that they could feast with Him. He said, “Release My people, so that they may feast with Me in the wilderness!”
That’s right, a feast is waiting if we keep going! We are about to discover our feast with Lord Jesus, our healer. As we seek ‘the tree” that makes our bitter waters sweet our sins are forgiven. Thank you Jesus for your cross at Calavary!
It’s a place where we become fully aware ….way deep within our soul that Jesus was crucified for our full healing. We feel an inner witness within our spirit to this fact! A fact we can not deny that our Savior’s sacrifice made a way for us in the wilderness!
Our bodies, our memories, and our emotions can be healed in this place of truth, if we sit in His presence to receive this revelation of His “tree”, the cross of Jesus Christ.
This is our sweetened revelation of the true identity of the cross. It’s when our thoughts are bitter that we cast the cross into our attitude. If our body is broken and sick, cast the cross into our weaknesses.
They made landfall at Gennesaret gun-nesart and anchored there. The moment they got out of the boat, everyone recognized that it was Jesus, the healer! So they ran throughout the region, telling the people, “Bring all the sick—even those too sick to walk and bring them on mats!” Wherever he went, in the countryside, villages, or towns, they placed the sick on mats in the streets or in public places and begged him, saying, “Just let us touch the tassel of your prayer shawl!” And all who touched him were instantly healed! Mark 5:53-56
Our deliverance of healing comes when we see and believe the abundant provision of His Cross within our spirit. And the more you see, and truly believe- the freedom of faith emerges its light! The more you want to see, the more you will want to obey and follow God’s ways and commandments!
Ephesians 1:7 says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Because of Christ's shed blood, God is able to forgive us of sins because He took our punishment.
A novel suggestion for a better understanding is by Dr. Sharon Nesbit “Scarlet Stream Unveiling the Mystery”. This is a powerful book caused me great grief as my heart began to understand the power of the blood.
"And all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt" (Ex. 16:1).
Leaving the springs of Elim was a difficult path in the Israelites journey. They had to leave a life of fruitful abundance even in their wilderness. (It is not always rough traveling to the Promised Land. There are pleasant times too. Let us thank God for them.)
Then the children of Israel came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters. Exodus 15:27
Elim is a plural noun in Hebrew that means “the mighty ones,” or “the strong ones.” At Elim there were seventy tall, strong palm trees that represented victory and twelve refreshing pools to renew the Hebrews’ strength.
Elim was a picture of God’s people walking in resurrection power. (This happens when we are so completely changed by regeneration that we are dead to the old life. Our new life is in Jesus and we can no longer love the things of earth. Our heart is in heaven. Our life is where Jesus is, and until he returns we live a secret life that the world cannot recognize or understand. Your crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away in God in Christ. Colossians 3:3.)
It takes a Marah experience of bitterness to bring us to an Elim encounter of Jesus’ refreshment. Under the swaying palms, we become God’s mighty ones, His strong ones who have borrowed strength from Him.
Come worship wonderful Yahweh arrayed in all his splendor, bowing in worship as he appears in all his holy beauty. Psalm 29:2
The Israelite’s hearts had begun to embrace their faith in God under His Glory cloud as they traveled. This same cloud of provision follows us today, look for it and be in awe before His majesty.
Let’s picture his Cloud over ourselves today and how God is with you where ever you go!
Shortly after the whole company of Israel moved out of Elim, they quickly forgot about their heavenly provider and began complaining against Moses and Aaron there in the wilderness.
The Israelites said, “Why didn’t GOD let us die in comfort in Egypt where we had lamb stew and all the bread we could eat? You’ve brought us out into this wilderness to starve us to death, the whole company of Israel!”
They had been on the road one month and they quickly went from singing to complaining. Their supply of food was running out and they did not have enough food to be sustained in their wilderness. Their fear was building and starvation was not only anticipated but was beginning to become a reality.
Israel selectively remembered the past and thought of their time in Egypt as a good time. They lost sight of God’s future for them, and they also twisted the past to support their complaining. This thinking is common among all those who complain and deception claims the heart.
The meat pots and the bread were all they thought about and their lack of confidence in The Lord and His Servants, Aaron and Moses was shameful. They seemed to have overlooked the brick making and the whips back in Egypt! It is easy to pretend the past was bright when we wish to find fault with the present.
The faithfulness of God during the past month was forgotten and once again the evil of their hearts was revealed. They insisted that Moses and Aaron had bad or evil intentions. It is clear that a dissatisfied heart only really grumbles against God himself. This becomes known to us as an “open door” to the enemy!
Of course, Moses and Aaron had no interest in killing the people of Israel, and this was a horrible accusation to make. Yet a complaining heart often finds it easy to accuse the person they complain against of the worst motives.
“Human nature can never be reduced to a more abject state in this world than that in which the body is enthralled by political slavery, and the soul debased by the influence of sin. These poor Hebrews were both slaves and sinners, and were therefore capable of the meanest and most disgraceful acts.” (Commentary Clarke)
But God knew their hearts and He was leading them in every way by "proving" them. His testing would reveal the inherent corruption of their nature, and at the same time to show them His way and His own faithfulness.
"Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you... that I may prove them..." (Ex. 16:4).
It is not difficult for us to get God's blessings?
God will continue to bless His people; but He wants to test us and to prove us, whether or not we can qualify for the Land of Canaan, His Promise land.
There are many who experience the blessings of God who will continue to reject any attempt of the Lord to try them and to prove them. Yet this test is required of the people who are going to qualify for the conquest of Canaan. Our Fighting against the testing keeps us stuck!
My Dream
It was early morning right before waking and I saw 2 massive train cars floating down from heaven. The first one was coming directly at me and just as I was about to jump out of the way, it turned so I could read its side panel labeled “WONDER” in bold red letters as it drifted right by me. Directly after here comes the second train car which is also coming directly at me only to turn right before hitting me! This car was labeled “JOY” in bold red letters. I woke up.
This dream is a message of God’s manna or wonderbread that was about to be given and revealed. If we seek God in thankfulness in our wilderness, we will find more than enough grace to move forward in our trials with confidence.
Right here, I want to emphasize that this miraculous bread from Heaven, this food that is called "The Corn of Heaven," and "Angels' Food," in Exodus became know to me in my wilderness as heaven’s “Wonder-Bread”.
The Lord will always show you where to go and what to do, filling you with refreshment when you are dry, and in a difficult place. We serve a gracious God. He wants to see us succeed!
He will continually restore strength to you. You will flourish like a well-watered garden, even in the wilderness: An Oasis in Hiding like an ever-flowing, trustworthy spring of blessing (Isaiah 58:11).
God’s supplies not only to our spirit, soul, and body; but He comes along side of us to reveal the desires of our heart to align us when we fall short of His plans. His wonder bread [manna] reveals truth to our inner most thoughts, emotions and desires of our hearts. Thank you Jesus!
We have situations were we encounter major wake-up calls and God wants us to realize we need to readjust the focus on our spiritual lens. When we meet a difficulty or a test, it is not a sign of God’s disapproval but an opportunity to taste God’s victory in our lives.
Yet in the midst of our wilderness, this is where we meet the God of the Bible. Not the God we have made up in our mind and but the God that strikes our heart! This becomes our Harpazo a true encounter with our Amazing God and His son Jesus!
God designed it that way; for God must deal with the undisciplined desires of His people who were all about “getting” something from God to prepare them for a Life in the Spirit. This is a life of setting your heart to hear from His Holy Spirit. A corrupted heart cannot hear God’s Voice.
Paul’s epistle in the first half of Romans 8 is all about the Holy Spirit’s work in our life as a Christian. The Holy Spirit is mentioned 19 times in the first twenty-seven verses.
This is the only way a believer can live out the life to which God has called him. No one can live the Christian life in their own strength. The only person who ever could was Jesus Christ Himself.
The only way that you and I can live the Christian life is by the power of God’s Spirit, which He has put within us in order to reproduce the life of Christ.
The Holy Spirit is described as “the Spirit of life” (verse 2). We are to walk “according to…the Spirit” (verse 4). Our mind is to be set on “the things of the Spirit” (verse 5). The “Spirit of God” is the “Spirit of Christ,” and both the Father and the Son have sent the Spirit (verse 9).
The Spirit “raised Jesus from the dead,” and this Spirit “dwells in you” to recreate the life of Christ (verse 11). It is by the Spirit that we “put to death the deeds of the flesh” (verse 13). Even our resisting temptation and putting sin to death is by the enablement of the Holy Spirit. We are “led by the Spirit” to pursue holiness (verse 14).
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. —Romans 8:14
It is the Holy Spirit who testifies to our spirit that “we are children of God” . We have the “first fruits of the Spirit,” which is our adoption into the family of God (verse 23). It is the Holy Spirit who “intercedes for us” and prays for us according to our weaknesses (verses 26-27). If you haven’t already read this chapter for yourself…. Read it over and over until it sewn onto your spirit.
Even in areas where we are not aware of our weakness, the Spirit of God intercedes for us. I don’t have to tell you how amazing the Holy Spirit’s impact as a believer, but you and I need to strengthen our spirit daily. Every single day!
You will have to keep your spirit tender if you are going to be led by the Spirit. The Spirit itself [Himself] beareth witness with our spirit.... —Romans 8:16
This verse is talking about the Spirit of God bearing witness with our spirits. And in order to witness to it, our spirit must be strengthened! right?
The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.... —Proverbs 20:27
The Israelite's manna was God's precious food which could not be stored up, and if they tried to do so, it bred worms and stank. Yet there was always enough for every need, for God sent a fresh supply every morning. This goes for us when we seek the Lord every day in our devotion time!
Activation -Will you read Chapter 8 of Romans outloud? Every day for maybe 2 weeks? I suggest 2 weeks because when we do something for 14 days it becomes a habit. The amazing part is the Word of God spoken into our earthly atmosphere kicks the enemy to the curb! Our day flows with God as we are making God’s sword a habit!
The Israelites simply had to gather it, according to their need; and if some happened to gather more than they needed, then the surplus was shared with those who did not gather enough. Today, this is our spiritual food, we gather and share it! Like I am doing here. Our anointing given by God is to be shared not stored!
God will continue to discipline the Canaan-bound people until they have learned to use what God has provided for their daily needs, and to make the rest available to those who stand in need. If we pour into others what God has given us, we are given more!
Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t. The heart regulates the hands. I love this truth so much!
The true disciples of the Lord must be prepared to FORSAKE ALL in order to be His disciple. And do it gladly... not because there is some apostle or prophet or ecclesiastical structure requiring it, but because in their walk with the Lord, and in their pursuit of the Land of Fruitfulness, they are going to discover that "It is more blessed to give than to receive".
Every trial we face has within it the seeds of a wonderful victory.
If we lean on Jesus in our wilderness, those seeds will sprout and blossom, bearing the most pleasant fruit—all of this to our wonder and joy (Hebrews 12:2).
What wilderness do you find yourself in today?
Is it a place of feeling isolated, even abandoned or does it seem like the days passing by are taking you no closer to your destiny and the fulfillment of your prophetic promises?
Remember this: a wilderness is the place you pass through on the way to His heart. Finding God’s heart means letting go of your protected heart! Having faith that no matter where you go GOD is truly with you! Protecting you ….
Could it be that the hand of the ‘wonderbread” BAKER is upon you right now shaping you?
If so, don’t give up! Give God enough time to become your Bread Maker to find your wonder and joy victory.
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