A Fire In The Wilderness

The Purpose of the Trial, Test or Wilderness

A moment, season or extended time period wherein God is preparing us for a new stage of glory.  God’s testing process proves genuine faith, refines our character, and establishes new positive spiritual strongholds as the old self dies and the new life emerges.  New fruit emerges &  Expansion takes place!  We’re filled with new wine & positioned for greater glory!!!

Proverbs 17:3 

The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts

2 Cor 4:16-18 16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self[d] is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glorybeyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.  

When we conquer the wilderness of light momentary affliction: 

OPPOSITION ----OPPORTUNITY!

ADVERSITY----- ACCELERATION!  

PRESSURE -----PEACE!  

HUNTER ----HUNTED!

James 1:12- blessed are those who persevere under trial, because when they have stood the test they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those that love Him.

HOW IT BENEFITS US WHEN WE WALK THROUGH THE FIRES AND WILDERNESS WITH GOD:

*Humility / Dependence on God.

*CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

*FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

* GENUINE FAITH

* WHOLENESS

*CROWN OF LIFE

*GLORY OF GOD

*FRESH ANOINTING, POWER AND DEPLOYMENT FOR ASSIGNMENT

Jeremiah 18:1-6 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.  5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.

THE WILDERNESS IS NOT TOO DIFFICULT!!!

THE WILDERNESS IS NOT THE CURSE!!!

THE WILDERNESS IS A PROVING GROUND 

Deuteronomy 30:11-20     The Offer of Life or Death    

“Roadmap for the Wilderness Experience” 11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

* 1 Peter 4:12-14  Beloved, DO NOT BE SURPRISED at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you,as though something strange were happening to you. 13 BUT REJOICE insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 

(MSG) 1 Peter 4:12-13 Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.

Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness

4:1-19 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted[a] by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’[b]”5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’[c]”9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:“‘He will command his angels concerning you

    to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands,

    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’[d]”12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[e]”13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

    because he has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

    and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

19     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[f]

1 Peter 1:7

These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

1 Cor 10:13- NO TEMPTATION (TRIAL) HAS OVERTAKEN YOU THAT IS UNCOMMON TO. MAN- GOD IS FAITHFUL!!!! HE WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO BE TEMPTED BEYOND YOU ABILITY!!!!! BUT WITH THE TEMPTATION (TRIAL) HE WILL PROVIDE THE WAY OF ESCAPE.  

God says I will not allow pain without purpose-  

Isaiah 66:7-9

Shall I bring to the point of breaking forth and not cause birth?” says Yahweh. “Or shall I who causes birth shut the womb, says your God

Isaiah 37:3

to tell him, "This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.