Deuteronomy 8: 14-16, “The Lord thy God… who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought… that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end.” Read also Deuteronomy 1:19.

Are you going through a desert time in your life? Does it seem a “terrible” experience? Perhaps you feel as though God has forsaken you. Your life seems dry and meaningless.

Please don’t despair. Your wilderness experience is not a time to grovel and complain. It is your opportunity to see the power and provision of God. You can see more miracles from God in your wilderness experience than at any other time. The children of Israel did not accidentally land up in the wilderness. God commanded them to go in. They were not out of the will of God. It was their place of preparation and proving.

Granted, it was not a smooth road! They faced serpents and scorpions. They endured hunger and thirst. They went through “the shadow of death.” They could not survive without the help of God. Nor can you. But look up! As you take your eyes off the “terrible” wilderness and trust in God, you will be in for some SURPRISES.

Let me show you want can happen in the wilderness. Look up these wonderful Scriptures, claim them, and start thanking God for your wilderness experience. Thank Him for each individual promise.

Have you lost direction?

God guided and led His people in the wilderness. (Exodus 1:21; Deuteronomy 8:2, 15; 29:5; 32:10; Psalm 68:7; 78:52; 136:16; Amos 2:10) God led His people into the wilderness, through the wilderness and out of the wilderness. He will lead you through your wilderness too. And remember, your wilderness is only for a season. God will lead you out into all that He has planned for you. Look beyond your problems to where God is taking you. But He will only take you on when you are ready and He has proved you in the wilderness.

God instructed them in the wilderness. (Deuteronomy 32:10). The Hebrew word for “instruct” is “bin” which means “understanding, insight and discernment”. You will have insight into God’s ways in your wilderness experience far more than when you are on the easy path.

God makes a way in the wilderness. (Isaiah 43:19) Can you see no way out of the difficulties that you are in? Keep trusting God. He will make a way. He is your God, even in the wilderness.

God spoke to His people in the wilderness. (Exodus 19:16-19; Numbers 1:1; 3:14; 9:1) Sometimes God has to take you into a desert place in your life so that you can hear Him speak to you. The desert is quiet and free from distractions. You can hear His voice more clearly than when taken up with the “successful” busy rat-race of this life.

    God will get your attention in the wilderness. (Psalm 29:8)

    God will speak to you face to face in the wilderness. (Ezekiel 20:35-36)

    God will speak tenderly in the wilderness. (Hosea 2:14)

God used His servant Balaam to prophecy blessing and direction four times over His people in the desert. (Numbers 23:8-10; 18-24; 24:1-9; 15-19)

Have you lost all hope?

The wilderness is the place for miracles. (Numbers 14:22) God will do miracles for you too. Believe Him.

Watch out for more SUPRISES next week.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

Prayer:

“Oh Lord, I thank you that you are the God of the wilderness. I thought I was finished, but now I see this is just the beginning of your dealings with me. I thank you that even in my hopeless situation you will speak to me and reveal more of yourself to me. I am listening, Lord. Amen.”

 

Affirmation:

Mark 10:21, “Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him. One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.” 

I love these words, “Jesus beholding him loved him.” He loved him with a pure love, a deep love, an intense love. But it was a different love than we often experience. Jesus’ love was not motivated by feelings. It was motivated by seeing the highest potential for this man.

This rich man had just told Jesus that he had observed all the commandments from his youth. Our love may have responded, “My, what a great guy you are you. You have lived faithfully and well.” But Jesus’ response was, “One thing thou lackest…” This does not sound very much like love, does it? It sounds more like a rebuke. But it was the highest level of love.

Our Savior and Redeemer is not satisfied to leave us in the state that we are in. Because of His great love for us, He wants to take us on further. He wants to draw us closer to Him. We wants to take us out of our deceptions and lead us into His truth. He exposes our sins to bring us to repentance and lead us on to holiness. There are times when He allows us to go through difficulties to prove our faith. He allows us to go through trials so that we can find that He is the God who is Enough.

When things in life are tough and you may even be tempted to think that God has forgotten you, remember! Remember that God’s love is leading you on to greater heights of understanding and greater depths of the knowledge of Him. He will stir up your nest to teach you to fly. He will put challenges in your life to teach you to overcome. He may even allow you to suffer so you can experience the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings.

One of my favorite Scriptures is Proverbs 4:18, “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Your walk in Christ is a more and more walk. There is always more that God wants to do in your life to conform you to the likeness of Christ.

I believe we have a little understanding of this kind of love as parents. Our love for our children goes beyond making them happy and giving them a lovely life. True love grieves when they are disobedient and therefore disciplines. True loves knows that we must teach our children obedience, or they will be handicapped. They will not know how to obey God and therefore receive the blessings of God.

True love is not content for our children to be born again only. We intercede and groan in prayer that Christ will be formed in them. We are not content unless they walk in the fullness of Christ. We cry out continually to God that they will walk in His perfect will and advance the kingdom of God on earth. We desire this for them because we love them. Because of this, we will correct negative behavior. We will not allow disobedience. We will not allow moods and pouting. We will not allow lying. We will curb the gratifying of the flesh. We will deal with the things that will hinder them from being all God’s wants them to be.

Why? Because, beholding our children, we love them! And we will only be satisfied when God’s highest purposes are worked in their lives.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh Lord, I yield my life to you. I allow you to work in me so that Christ will be formed in me. Lord, this is also my prayer for my children. Please give me wisdom to lead them on in your ways. Save me from ruining their lives by allowing sin and negative behavior to continue. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

Ecclesiasticus 1:16 Knox, “Wouldest thou be wise, the first step is fear of the Lord… it goes with holy motherhood.”

The above verse is taken from the Apocrypha which was not included the cannon of Scripture. However, it is good reading and often gives interesting insight.

When a couple stands before the minister to take their marriage vows, he firstly says the following words, “Dearly Beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this company, to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony… and therefore, is not by any, to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly – but reverently, discreetly, advisedly and solemnly. Into this holy estate these two persons present now come to be joined.”

Marriage is a holy estate because God ordered it. Because God ordained it, it is sacred and to be set apart for Him. It is not something we can take lightly because we are taking part in something God ordained.

Motherhood has also been ordained by God. It is the sacred task that He has given to women to nurture and train His children, and therefore it is also a holy estate. The humanistic programming of today, masterminded by Satan, relegates motherhood to the ‘common’ or even the ‘inferior’. This is a lie. It is time we saw motherhood as God sees it, as a holy estate.

Mother, you are set apart by God for a sacred task, the mightiest task in the nation, that of nurturing and training the children God has given to you. They are your children, but more correctly, they are God’s children. When God spoke to the children of Israel about their children, He called them “My children… the children you have born unto Me.” (Ezekiel 16:20-21 )

You are called into Holy employment!

You may think that much of what you do in the home is mundane and worthless. Wrong thinking! Everything you do in your home – scrubbing toilets, changing diapers, teaching your children or preparing meals, are all part of the holy estate of motherhood. Because you have been ordained by God for this purpose, they are all an integral part of your sacred calling. They are important tasks. Motherhood is what keeps civilization going. Motherhood determines the rise or fall of the nation. Motherhood is eternal. Your children are eternal souls. You have the sacred task of not only training them to spread the kingdom of God on this earth, but preparing them for the eternal realm.

Do not listen any longer to the lies of our secular society. Embrace your holy estate of marriage and holy employment of motherhood. The King of kings and Lord of lords of the universe is your employer. Wow! There is no higher career!

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“I thank you, Lord, that I have been called into a divine and holy calling. Help me to remember each day that mothering and homemaking is sacred in your eyes. Amen.”

 

AFFIRMATION:

Genesis 14:14-16, “When Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house… and pursued them unto Dan… and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah… And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.”

Abram must have been distraught when he heard that Lot was taken captive. But he didn’t wallow in despair. Instead, he went into action.  He got his household army together and pursued the enemy. They didn’t give up until they smote them and recovered everyone and every thing.

Satan is our enemy who comes to rob, kill and destroy. He is constantly out to rob us and sometimes he is successful. When this happens, what do you do? It is easy to throw up your hands in despair. But don’t let him win the victory. Go after him. Don’t leave a stone unturned until you smite him and recover what you have lost!

Perhaps someone’s marriage is breaking up in one of your family members. You want to cry. But do more than that. Ask God what you should do. I have a friend whose brother started having an affair with another woman. My friend was mad with the enemy who was seeking to destroy another marriage. She prayed of course. She got us all to pray. But she also pursued the enemy. She took time out, and with her mother, drove many hours to his city in an old “bomb” of a car, arriving in the evening. The next day she helped him to chop and stack wood and later that night she approached him. He told her to butt out and mind her own business otherwise he would never speak to her again.

“If that’s the price I have to pay,” replied my friend, “I will pay it. You brought your wife home for us to love and we have loved her. If you choose to leave her, we will support her and continue to love her. This affair is not love, but lust!”

Her words fell on deaf ears. She kept praying. A week later, his boss also talked to him and he came back to his wife. Her trip was worth it. Another defeat for the enemy who hates marriages!

A similar situation happened to David which you can read about in 1 Samuel 30. David came back from fighting to find his city of Ziklag burned to the ground. All the women and children were taken including David’s two wives. David was greatly distressed. He and his men wept until they could weep no more. In fact, his men were so bitter they wanted to stone David.

But once again, David didn’t stay in despair! He encouraged himself in the Lord His God. When he took his eyes off the terrible situation and looked to God, God was able to show him what to do. You can’t hear from God when you are in the pit of sorrow. All you see and hear is desperation. But when you look to the Lord, He will give you strategy. He will show you a plan of attack against the enemy, just as he showed David.

Verse 9 – 17 tells us, “So David went … David pursued, he and four hundred men…And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled.” It took more than one blow to defeat their enemy. They slaughtered them throughout the whole night and all the next day. They didn’t give up until they recovered what they lost.

We read the victory in verses 18-19, “And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.” Abram also recovered all in his pursuit against the enemy.

I think it is time to recover back what the enemy is stealing from God’s people today. He is robbing marriages. He is robbing families. He is robbing parents of children. He is even robbing God of the godly seed that He wants to come forth to fulfill His purposes. There are many today, who sterilize their bodies to stop having God’s children. They do it in ignorance, of course.  Isn’t that what everyone does? Sadly, they don’t realize that it is the enemy robbing them of life – a life that will live forever. They are unaware that they are being robbed of establishing godly dynasties. When we stop a life from coming into the world, it is not just one life, it is a whole dynasty!

We should not allow the enemy to steal any longer. If a couple have sterilized, don’t you think it would be a good idea to pursue a reversal? Oh yes, there will be many obstacles and financial challenges. But while we do nothing, the devil laughs and holds up the flag of victory. It’s time we pursued him until once again we hold the victory flag.

Has the enemy taken one of your children captive? Perhaps your situation is so sorrowful that you are still weeping. Of course you will weep. But don’t weep forever. Encourage yourself in the Lord. Let Him show you what to do. And go after the enemy until you recover all. Even when you feel weak and helpless, keep on. Gideon was exhausted from chasing the enemy, but he kept on “faint, yet pursuing.” (Judges 8:4)

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh Lord, please help me to be on watch against the enemy who comes to rob, kill and destroy. When he does rob me, give me strength to go on the attack and pursue the enemy. I thank you that Christ in me is greater than the devil without. Amen.”

 

AFFIRMATION: