The Wait...The Temptation....The Fight....The Faith

Sometimes in God's Great Adventure.......

His promises come with a note..........

The Wait

Last time I wrote I spoke concerning our choices, that some, though they look good are full of worms…. those choices get harder to discern when we are called to wait.

And so the wait began…...

We were called out of our land, to leave our home, our children, our property, and my job to come.   To come to the Promised Land…this land was promised on oath by God to me back in 1992 when in my prayer closet I cried out to God as we were in danger of loosing our house, bills were not being paid and Chris did not have a job…. God answered my cry with his promise to me from Deuteronomy 7 and 8.

It has been many years since that first word from God and much has occurred in our lives in those years, we lost our home in San Diego and went onto Santa Cruz where God had called us to rent for a year until the time when God graciously gave us a new home to buy.  We raised our girls into adulthood, followed God through it all, came to understand the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and then like Jesus after his baptism we were called out again into the promised land via the desert to wait….

God called us up into his promised land and we have been in the desert waiting for the fullness of this promise for the last 5 years.  We rent our home and again are on the precipice of loosing the house we own back in the land we were called out of, we lost our property and the dream to build a home and as I write this God has called me to lay aside my paycheck which for all intensive purposes and from a logical standpoint we need and God has called me to lay aside my identity as a physical therapist to wait further still for His purpose for me.

Often the wait is the hardest part.  Abraham was promised land for his descendents and an heir, a child, which was to come from him, and Sarah and he waited eleven years then they decided to take matters into thier own hands.  Once God revealed to them that trying to bring to fullness the promises of God on thier own was disastrous Abraham again had to wait upon the Lord for another 13 years a total of 24 years overall from the time God promised to Abraham the land and descendents. He did not even see the complete fullness of this promise in his lifetime; he died at a ripe old age still believing for the fullness of God’s promise to him.

We have been waiting since 1992, it is now 2013, 21 years…it has been a long wait…God calls it to be a holy wait…I wish that I could say I have waited in full faith never wavering or doubting that God would do as he promised me.

Unfortunately there is nothing new under the sun and as Abraham and Sarah tried to bring Gods promise to fullness by their own means and Saul who when told to wait until Samuel came to offer sacrifices offered sacrifices himself I have been in my wait, shall we say less than holy.

The Temptation

Jesus, after his baptism was immediately led into the desert to be tempted. This was before his full time ministry began.  

It is interesting to note that there were three separate temptations of Christ and God has said to us that we are not tempted by God but by our own evil desires (James 1:13), and that there is no temptation that has come upon us but that which is common to man and that he God provides a way out. (2 Cor 10:13).

I am sure that this wait in what appears to be a desert with all its temptations is similar to that of Jesus, necessary in order to mold me into what God wants to do through me.  I can hardly wait to see what this “fulltime ministry” will look like.

As I said earlier my wait has been a little less than holy and as we have waited in the desert we, like Abraham and Sarah have also tried to bring to fullness  Gods promise to us; the promise in Deuteronomy 8 of building fine houses, increasing our silver and gold and growing our flocks large.  We tried to invest in flipping houses in order to increase our silver and gold, I went to back to school as God allowed to fulfill what I thought was my dream to become a physical therapist and create an identity that would fulfill me.  Not to mention earn a paycheck and step in where my husband might not be able to provide if he lost his job again and prevent a disaster from occurring.  All of which have proven to be utterly worthless. In fact the only thing this did was to produce strife, discontent and a lot of debt.  Is this not so typical of our own self-sufficiency, it leaves us empty rather than full.

As Saul was commanded by Samuel to “Go to Gilgal and wait…. I will come and you will get directions,” (1 Sam 10:8) David Wilkerson states:

Saul’s only responsibility was to wait.  God wanted to hear Saul say “ God keeps his word: never once has a word from Samuel’s lips fallen to the ground.  God said I should wait for directions and I will wait”

God also wants to hear from me and from you as we wait.” God you are faithful to all your promises. And “All your promises are yes in Christ Jesus” 

(2 Cor 1:20) and “ I will wait upon you Lord for those who wait upon the Lord shall rise up on eagles and soar, they will walk and not grow faint, run and not grow weary. (Isaiah 40:31).

David Wilkerson goes on to write:

But pride reasons. “God must not have meant it.  Maybe I heard it wrong.  Instead of standing on God’s word we start trying to figure things out on our own.  Lying in bed in the late hours we say “ Lord here’s how I see it can be done…Saul said because I saw…I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.”  Samuel said to Saul Thou hast done foolishly…the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart…(1Sam 13:11-14)

Saul waited the seven days but that wait was unholy.  He was impatient, angry, fearful and pouting….

Much like Saul, the Israelites in the desert and Abraham in the promised land…we grumble and complain against God, we are impatient, pout and try to bring about God’s promises of our own volition.

This is nothing less that the first two temptations of Christ.  One: to turn stones into to bread by letting pride say God must not have said that or certainly he did not mean “if I take matters into my own hands and eat from this tree I would die” Why surely God would want me to use my own self sufficiency.  And two: to tempt or test God by grumbling and throwing ourselves down from the highest point in the temple.  Remember we are the temple of God and as we throw ourselves down in a temper tantrum saying to God  “you never”  “I always” or “just give me a sign as I am still waiting in my crummy circumstances” we are doing no less than tempting the goodness, faithfulness, holiness, and grace of God Almighty.

Jesus answered each temptation with “it is written...”.  God has said when we are tempted that He would provide a way out.  No different than with Jesus.  We also can respond to the devil with “it is written…” We have all of God’s word right at our fingertips; we must embed them in our hearts.  Remember our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the powers and principalities of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph 6:12)

The Fight

Therefore, we are to put on the whole armor of God as we wage war not against laying aside a job and paycheck, or submitting to our spouse, or going here or there or giving up this or that or loving this person or that person. 

As we are being asked to lay down our right to ourselves, forgiving others for their offense to us or battle the cancer or forgive the spouse or wayward child…. our battle is not against these things we can see it is against the same powers and principalities that Abraham and Sarah, the Israelites and Saul battled.  Our battles may be packaged somewhat differently but they have the same spirits of pride, self-sufficiency, grumbling and complaining that are common to all mankind over the ages.

Thanks be to God that He is the same through the ages.  We are called to put on the full armor of God in our battles and this armor does not change.  

Not only are we to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and have our feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel.  

In addition we are to:

take up the shield of faith, take the helmet of salvation (this is your covering before God) and take the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.” (Eph 6:14-17)

You see when we are in our wait for God to fulfill his promises to us we will be tempted to wait an unholy wait but God has provided a way out…HIS WORD…. just as Jesus used it so must we.

My enemy right now is the spirit of Esau or the Amalekites which if you remember; Esau sold his birthright for immediate gratification…. 

I am tempted to sell out and go back to work, that paycheck is immediate gratification and looks to solve a lot of problems.  I am tempted to say to God “you didn’t really mean you wanted me in full time ministry and why can’t you just give me a sign or something like maybe we could win the lottery or some rich uncle could give us a large sum of money, this is how I can see it working out God…you see I am trying to reason with God with what I can see.  

The Faith

God calls us to see simply with the faith like that of a child.  Oswald Chambers in his My Utmost for His Highest writes:

Simplicity is the secret of seeing things clearly.... we cannot think a spiritual muddle clear…If there is something God has put his pressure obey in that matter immediately…immediately we obey we discern…when the natural power of vision is devoted to the Holy Spirit it becomes the power of perceiving Gods will.”

Paul writes in 2 Cor 11:1-6

I am afraid that your minds may be seduced from a single hearted devotion to him by the same means that the serpent used toward Eve”  (JB Phillips translation)

We are to see clearly, with a heart after God battling the temptations of the devil with the word of God and simply obeying, waiting with the faith like that of a child and everything will become clear.  God wants a man or women after His own heart.

 Jesus said whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me…(Mark 9:37)

Welcome the child like faith in you…see as a child…simply, clearly without thinking about or reasoning through what God is asking of you ….as Jesus Calling states “Give your mind a rest from the habitual judging…allow God to have His way in you…”

Mark 9 says:

 If your foot (that which you do, your good works) or your hand (your self sufficiency, that paycheck or job or. …fill-in the blank) or your eye  (that looking around at what the world has that you may not) causes you to loose faith cut them off and pluck them out…for it is better to enter the kingdom of God with one hand, one foot, one eye than to be thrown into hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

 Everyone will be salted with fire (tested and tempted in the desert as we wait….) salt is good (it exposes the worms in our choices, the self sufficiency, the pride, the good works, the lust after things…those adult character qualities that hinder the child in us from believing)

Have salt in yourself and if it exposes some adult like skepticism, scoffing or unbelief cut these off.

Allow God to salt you in the wait but do not give into the temptation, fight with the word of God and believe with a child like faith…. for God is faithful to His word no matter how long the wait.

I am still waiting, we have left our children, lost our home and property, moved about in this promised land, we have fought the enemy and I have laid aside the self sufficiency to make ends meet. God has provided in the desert in marvelous ways and as He has brought me to this promised place and said sit down and feed the multitudes.  He has said walk in my continual presence and you will rise up on wings like eagles and this one thing I know…MY GOD IS FAITHFUL TO ALL HE HAS PROMISED….

Be encouraged whatever God has promised you. He is faithful to His word no matter how long the wait…stand in His presence and you will not fall!

Loving on you,