wildnerness

A Season of Eating Manna

“The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.” – Exodus 16:35 Many of you today are in a season of eating manna. Allow me to explain: In the Bible, God’s servant Moses leads the children of Israel out of Egyptian slavery, through the wilderness, and to the Promised Land. In this transition, God provides this bread from heaven called manna. It keeps the people alive but isn’t a great meal.  Maybe you’re in this place today, an in-between wilderness where you’re not in slavery anymore, but you’re not in the Promised Land either. You find yourself in-between point A and point B, and you’re wondering, God, I have this dream, this desire that I feel you’ve put in my heart, but I’ve been waiting so long. When will I get there? That in-between

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A Blessing in the Desert

“Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Who are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? May the Lord be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it; may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand.” – 1 Samuel 24:14,15 We discussed King David’s wilderness experience between the time he was called and the fulfillment of his anointing yesterday. Today, I want to share with you another significant life lesson gained by this young leader as he observed a great man collapse during the winter season. King Saul used to be a perfect model of a leader. He was Israel’s and Judah’s first king, and he witnessed the Hebrew nation grow from a tribe to a state. Yet, from a clever, noble, and fearless ruler, he deteriorated into a jealous, spiteful, and insane commander who spent years following a shepherd

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The Journey to Healing

“Then he said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well.’” – Luke 17:19 In continuing our study of the story of the ten lepers who cried out to Jesus for healing, it’s interesting to note that He bid them embark on a journey in order to see their miracle manifest. Though He often touched someone — or even spoke a word — and restoration happened immediately, this time it was different. Rather than instantaneously changing their circumstances, He instructed them to go and show themselves to the priest, who happened to be in Jerusalem. Since they were near Samaria at the time, it would have been a three or four day walk from where they were to get to the temple. And while they could have come up with any number of reasons why they shouldn’t make the trip, they started moving with the faith that

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The Vitality in Vision

“In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.” – Ezekiel 1:1 Yesterday, we talked about Ezekiel and how he was captured by the Babylonians when he was just 25 years old. After spending five years in a strange city wondering if the Lord had forgotten him, he finally got a glimpse of what His Creator was up to. As he sat by the banks of the Kebar River with his fellow exiles from Jerusalem — probably feeling sad since this was the time he was supposed to come into his own as a priest — he saw something greater than he could ever have fathomed. In fact, with no warning, the heavens opened up before him and he beheld a vision of glory. While at first

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Separation Precedes Elevation

“On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin — the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the Lord was on him.” – Ezekiel 1:2,3 The story of Ezekiel is an interesting one. Born a Levite and set apart by God to be a Jewish priest, his life turned out nothing like he thought it would. In fact, when he was just 25 years old, the Babylonians came and attacked Jerusalem. Though this was many years before the Babylonian exile, it foreshadowed it, and when the enemy armies ransacked the city, though they left it intact, they took a bunch of loot and a large group of Jews with them back to Babylon. One of their unlucky captives was Ezekiel. Now alone

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