Last week we talked about the fact that it is time to experience God. Once we have truly experienced God, there is something that happens in our life that often happens unnoticed but it happens nonetheless. If we think that we can experience God and not change we are mistaken.
We may not change drastically but there will be subtle changes. It is like when a grub changes into a butterfly. The grub eats and eats and then decides it is time to wrap itself into a cocoon. That is like us – we are busy partaking of the world but there comes a time when we shut ourselves away in order to walk a new path. It is in the shutting away or in the wilderness, where change happens. It is in those secret places where there is only God and us.
The wilderness is spoken of a lot in the Bible. If we take a moment and think of what the wilderness is like, we see it is a place of barrenness, it is dry, there’s not much life but hang on what is that I see -an oasis – a place of refreshing in the wilderness before we start the next stage of our journey in the wilderness.
Examples of wildernesses in the Bible:
1. Joseph experienced the wilderness in prison before he was promoted.
2. Moses was in the dessert before he received the call from God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
3. The Israelites journeyed in the wilderness before they reached the promised land.
4. David was in caves and running from the king before he became king.
5. John the Baptist preached in the wilderness to announce the coming of Jesus.
6. Jesus was led into the wilderness before His ministry could start.
So what is in the wilderness? John the Baptist summed it up well in John 3:30 when he spoke the words “He must increase but I must decrease”.
It is in the wilderness where our lives decrease to increase. It is the place where me goes and Jesus comes in. It is the place of transformation from a chicken to an eagle so that I can soar above my circumstances instead of scratching around in them. Like a butterfly, we were made to fly – to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It is only in those places, where we get a better perspective on our life and can see the potential in ourselves to be able to fulfil the call and purpose God has for our lives.
It is time for us to spend a little time in the wilderness. God has great things planned for our lives this year but we don’t want to miss out. It is time to get our orders and then to fly. This will enable us to keep living the life God has intended for you.
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