Isaiah 35:1 says, “The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose.” Yesterday I picked a few of my roses for a bouquet. Some of them were in full bloom, but a few were still in bud. If we had eyes to see, we could watch a rose bud unfold, until it was fully opened. Its fullness would be permeate the atmosphere with a sweet fragrance.

Deuteronomy 32:10 is so picturesque of God’s purpose in the wilderness. It is to call us to Himself. It says of Jacob, “He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.” That is what the Lord does with each of us.

Before I fell headfirst into the six foot ravine in 1977, I kept myself very busy serving the Lord. I worked in our church printshop full time, and was very actively serving Him in various other ways. After I fell I was bedridden. The Lord used that wilderness time to woo me to Himself. He instructed my heart. I called it the dark night of my soul. I was like the caterpillar in the cocoon. I melted, and from that liquid the Lord’s butterfly emerged. He taught me how to stretch out my wet wings through intimate communion with Him. 

The Lord uses the wilderness to expose our hidden flesh. He fingers the enemy strongholds. He begins to bring the hidden to the surface of our conscious mind. Through this process, He reveals Himself to us in ways we have never known Him before. I love the story of Hagaar. Genesis 16:6 says that Sarai had dealt harshly with, and she fled to the wilderness.

The Lord visited her. He asked her where she was going. She told him that she was fleeing her mistress. He told her to return, and gave her His name for her son. Verse 13 says, “Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-The-God-Who-Sees.” No matter where we are, or what circumstances we find ourselves in, the Lord’s eyes are always on us. We are the apple of His eye.

Deuteronomy 33:27 says, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, Destroy!” I love this verse. The Lord flushes out the hidden, like a hunting dog flushes out fowl hiding in the underbrush. Anything that keeps us from an open, fulfilling, intimate communion with Him is our enemy. It could be stronghold-lies that the enemy erected. It might be our negativity, self-hatred, or self-rejection. He goes for the root.

There are skirmishes in the wilderness. We run into obstacles that seem to block our faith. We flounder in deep waters that seek to drown us. It may be seemingly impossible circumstances that halt us in our tracks. It is in the wilderness that the Lord reveals Himself as we need Him to be for us. For Daniel, He demonstrated His power by stopping the mouths of the lions. For Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, He revealed Himself to them IN the fire.

The Lord uses our wilderness times to pin down our opponent! 1 Peter 4:1 says, “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.” Our hidden flesh hates the wilderness because it gets exposed. That is the Lord’s intent. 

Deuteronomy 8:2 says, “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness…” Did you notice? God purposely led them into the wilderness. Let’s continue the verse for His reason. It says, “…to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”

How did the Lord do this? He set a table for them in the wilderness. Verse 3 says, “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”

Our flesh is our enemy. Its triggers may be hidden from us, but totally open before the Lord. Let’s go back to a well known verse. Psalm 23:5 says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…” How did God’s special provision of manna expose the hidden flesh for the children of Israel? He gave them specific instructions. Did they follow them explicitly? Exodus 16:19-20 says, “And Moses said, Let no one leave any of it till morning. Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.”

Not only did God reveal the hidden flesh of the children of Israel, but also of their leader Moses. The children of Israel were not the cause of Moses’ anger. His anger was his flesh that came out of hiding. Hidden sin blocks our fellowship with the Lord. Our flesh does not like God’s word to correct it. Our flesh opposes God’s way.

Psalm 103:7 says, “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.” The Lord told His leader Moses what He was going to do. You can go back to the account of the Red Sea. Moses knew exactly how the Lord was going to accomplish what He said, though the children of Israel did not. They saw His acts. God’s way is revealed through His word.

Luke 4:4 Amplified says, “…Man shall not live and be sustained by (on) bread alone but by every word and expression of God.” When our flesh is active, it opaques our vision and sensitivity to the moving of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” I want to know His ways! I want my ways to be conformed to His ways. Psalm 18:32 says, “It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.”

Our wilderness times are designed to bring up the hidden dross of our flesh. The Lord desires our whole heart. He cleanses our heart by washing it through His word. Picture this: A jar with muddy rocks. As you allow the water to fill the jar, the water gets muddy. However, if you continue to allow the water to run into the jar, the water will clear. As we consistently read His word and apply it to our lives, it becomes His purifying instrument. He deftly penetrates with His scalpel to pierce through our soul and spirit.

The Lord knows our intentions. However He uses our wilderness journey to help us see our intentions behind our thoughts that do not please Him. His word to us tests our heart. If we do not heed it and practice it, He will orchestrates ways to humble us. It is far better to humble ourselves under His mighty hand, than to be humbled.

This is a short audio from my post this morning. My voice was damaged when I fell into the six foot ravine in 1977. I hope that doesn’t detract from the message that I am sharing. May the Lord empower you through these insights.

Exodus 14:3 revealed God’s strategic maneuver to trap the children of Israel’s enemy. It says, “For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.” Pharaoh had no clue that God was about to annihilate the entire Egyptian army. I want to back up to make something really clear. 

God is the One who leads us into the wilderness. Exodus 13:17-18 said that God did not lead them by the closest way. It says, “…Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt. So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea…” Since we know the rest of the story, we see how purposefully God orchestrated their journey.

When you were first saved, what happened? It was like a honeymoon period. You were so in love with the Lord, and speechless at His deliverance for you through the cross. As time went on, the Lord allowed little skirmishes to take place. He was training you for warfare. Nothing is in vain. Everything that God does in your life is strategically and magnificently orchestrated.

The day I received the Lord as my Savior, it was a glorious time. I was eleven, but He placed a hunger in my heart for His word. My little six year old friend was with me. We got permission to stay up. I read the gospel of John out loud until we fell asleep. I had a new understanding that I belonged to the Lord, and I would never be separated from Him. My Sunday School memorized verses became alive within me. This Friday I will celebrate sixty-three years of walking with Him.

The Lord uses our wilderness times to reveal Himself to us in ways that we had not experienced before. The children of Israel had escaped Egypt. I can imagine their hearts soaring with their freedom. Then, an uncrossable obstacle stood in their way. As they faced the Red Sea, they saw the Egyptians coming towards them. In their minds they were trapped. What did they do? Complained.

Exodus 14:11 says, “…Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?…” Verse 12 says, “…For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” What did Moses say? Verse 13 says, “…Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord…” Verse 14 says, “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

Nothing is impossible for the Lord! Verse 24 -25 says, “…He troubled the army of the Egyptians. And He took off their chariot wheels…” Verse 27 says, “…So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the Sea.” The obstacle in the wilderness became God’s instrument to overthrow their enemy. Now let’s apply this to our own wilderness journey. How is the Lord seeking to annihilate our enemy’s designs against us? 

Years ago, I was at a conference in a huge church. During a break I was looking at books in their bookstore. I picked up one and was stopped in my tracks. The title was something like this: Living Your Full Potential: how to die without regrets. It so stunned me I burst into tears. Why? I lived in regrets. I didn’t begin my heart-healing journey until 1983. I’m still in this journey, because it is part of my progressive sanctification to be more like Jesus.

What are regrets? Here are two truths to keep in mind. 1. They are in your past. 2. You can’t change your past. However, you can change your attitude towards the root of the regret. Regret has to do with shame and disgrace. Jesus bore the shame and disgrace of all our sins. Here is a question to ask: do I regret the consequences, or the reproach my action or inaction brought on the Lord?

We repurpose our regret by changing the way we view it, and how it affects us. The past is passed. There is no ‘redo’ button. There is no pass or fail in God’s economy. Use your regret as a reminder of God’s resurrection power that is within you. Walk forward in His grace through confession of your hidden sin. We are fully known in God’s sight. All pretense is stripped away. David knew this truth. He wrote Psalm 69. Verse 19 says, “You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; my adversaries are all before You.”

As I read this last night, my mind inserted ‘adversaries’ as David’s reproach, shame, and dishonor. Verse 20 says, “Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” Remaining in regret is a means of self-protection. We put up emotional walls. We run behind them as our default comfort zone.

Regret is also self-punishment. Emotionally castigating yourself, over and over until you are grooved in it, is another trap of the enemy. Castigate means to reprimand someone severely. Have you ever called yourself derogatory names? The enemy of our soul wants to keep us in oppressive bondage. God’s eternal truth says that we are free. However, it is up to us to maintain heart freedom, and not allow the enemy to bind us with his controlling lies!

Regret plays back into reluctance. Holding onto regret enforces the feelings of unworthiness. Therefore we hesitate when the Lord calls us out of our comfort zone. Doubt and fear swoop in to deter us. When Isaiah realized that his iniquity was taken away and his sin purged, there was no hesitation. He joyfully seized the opportunity the Lord had set before him.

Could it be that Moses lived in regret of killing the Egyptian and hiding him? Just a thought. 2 Corinthians 4:2 says, “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” Renounce means to disown. If you are still carrying the emotional burden of regret, confess it, renounce it, and release it to the Lord. Walk away and remember that regret is satan’s weapon to hold us back from God’s purposes for our lives.

Yesterday I left out one word in my prayer. I typed my comfort zone.  It is: lead me out of my default comfort zone. What is your default comfort zone? It is something to think about. Whatever our default is, it is fueled by our flesh. Since our flesh profits nothing, anything we do in our flesh is futile. We have to train our heart to respond to what God asks. It will always be for our benefit and His glory.

Eli taught young Samuel how to respond. Samuel heard a voice. 1 Samuel 3:7 says, “(Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord revealed to him.)” Eli’s instruction was in verse 9, “…if He calls you, that you must say, Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.” Our flesh does not hear what the Lord is saying. Think of our flesh as noisy, like cymbals on a drum. 

We respond to the Lord’s words because we are ready to hear. We demonstrate our love to Him through obedience. 1 Corinthians 13:1 says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” John 14:21 says, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me…”

Quick obedience comes from a prepared heart. One that is trained in listening to act quickly. Proverbs 2:2 says, “So that you incline your ear to wisdom, and lift up your voice to understanding.” Incline means to listen favorably. Samuel inclined his ear. He was ready the moment the Lord spoke.

When the Lord calls us to do something, He desires that our heart was listening so that we could quickly obey. Jeremiah 29:13 Amplified says, “Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me (as a vital necessity) and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” All means without exception. Beware. Our flesh looks for the loopholes of exceptions or contrived excuses.

We need to keep our inner man strong. Ephesians 3:16 Amplified says, “May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the innerman by the (Holy) Spirit (Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality).”

Last night I was thinking of regrets. Is there anything in your life that you regret? Regret has to do with the past. We can’t go back and fix it. However, we can use it as a springboard for the present. It will be as a post it note to remind us to not miss any opportunity the Lord sets before us.

I was also thinking about the shame that comes with regret. This is what the Holy Spirit brought to my attention. The Lord does not hold anything against us. Romans 8:33-34 says, “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”

Regret brings shame which results in self-condemnation. It’s a lie that we have believed. I encourage you to take this before the Holy Spirit and ask Him to reveal your hidden self-condemnation that is linked to your regrets.

Jesus did nothing on His own. He heard what the Father was speaking and spoke it. He saw what the Father was doing and did it. John 5:19 says, “…Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” John 3:32 says, “And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies…” Verse 34 is our criteria also. It says, “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God…”

Moses could not have used his natural rod in a supernatural way without the Lord. Neither can we. What is in our hand will only be used by Him when we throw down our agenda. That is what Moses failed to do when God told him to speak to the rock. His hidden anger fueled his agenda. Numbers 20:8 says, “Take the rod…Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water…” Moses did as he was told. Verse 9 says, “So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him.”

Watch what happened. Something in the past triggered Moses. He then acted in anger. Verse 10 says, “…Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” Notice the ‘we’ leaving God out. He stuck the rock and water came out. Verse 12 says, “…Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

Hidden sin defiles our heart. It hardens it so that we cannot hear distinctly. It also slows down our response to the Lord’s voice, giving time for our flesh to take over. There is a prayer in Daniel that I use frequently. Daniel 9:19 says, “O Lord hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

We want the Lord to act on our behalf. However, do we immediately act on His behalf when He calls? Moses was reluctant, but Isiah acted immediately. John 6:63 says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”

The word the Lord speaks to our heart contains the Spirit-empowerment that we need to do what He has said. There is no way Moses could speak to a rock and have it give water. Without God’s word there is no empowerment. Our flesh is our way and our will which opposes the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:17 says, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another…” Contrary: think of two magnets. No matter how hard we try, we cannot get them to connect.

I have this prayer on a card on my kitchen cabinet: Lord, in every decision, circumstance, and interaction ~ lead me out of my comfort zone. I want to glorify You above all else. I started praying this July 4, 2021. This morning I realized that our comfort zone is comfortable to our flesh. No waves. Hmm. That is an eye opener for me.

Though the Lord had told Moses He would be with his mouth, Moses came up with another deflection. Exodus 4:13 says, “…O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.” Disobedience is part of our sin nature. Obedience is a choice to step beyond our arguing flesh. 

Here is a question to ask the Holy Spirit. What have I forfeited through my reluctance? Reluctance means an unwillingness or disinclination to do something. That also greatly defines procrastination. Putting off today what we should have done yesterday.

Years ago my pastor wrote a little note to me: Seize the opportunity in the moment of the opportunity. I want to take us to Isaiah 6. This is pre-cross. Isaiah saw the Lord. He was enveloped in His Presence. He heard the Seraphim cry out to each other in verse 3. It says, “…Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” Think of what Isaiah saw and felt. Verse 4 says, “And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.”

In such majesty and power, Isaiah recognized and acknowledged his uncleanness. A seraphim took a live coal from the altar. Notice that he used tongs. He touched Isaiah’s mouth and told him that his iniquity was taken away and his sin purged. Then he heard a voice. Verse 8 says, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Isaiah immediately replied, “…Here am I! Send me.”

Did you notice the contrast between Moses’ reluctance, and Isaiah seizing the opportunity the moment it was presented? Both had to do with their mouth. We are post-cross. Our iniquity was laid on Jesus. Isaiah 53:3 says that He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. Peter reiterates that eternal truth for every believer. 1 Peter 1:15-16 says, “But as He who called you holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy.”

2 Timothy 1:9 says, “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” No matter what the Lord calls us to do, His grace is abundantly supplied. Therefore we do not answer according to our ability, but because He bestows His power. It is in us according to Ephesians 3:20. It says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” That power is the same power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead.

Of course we will argue in our flesh if we look to ourselves as the one who will do what He has called us to do. Moses argued in his flesh, because he failed to believe what God had said. Exodus 4:12 says, “Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” What has the Lord asked you to do with what is in your hand? John 3:34 says, “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.”

Moses backpedaled with excuses when God told him that He would send him to speak to the ruler over Egypt. Exodus 3:18 clearly said, “Then they will heed your voice…” Moses imagined how things might go. Notice his rebuttal to God’s word to him. Verse 1 says, “…But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, The Lord has not appeared to you.”

God did not answer his ‘supposed’ imaginations. Instead He asked him what was in his hand. God wanted to demonstrate to Moses how He would reveal His power through something natural. He turned Moses’ shepherd’s rod into a snake. Then He had him put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out it was leprous. He had him put his hand back into his bosom. When he pulled it out the leprosy was gone. He gave him one more affirmation of how He would use Moses.

Verse 9 says, “And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice…” Twice the Lord spoke of Moses’ voice. Verse 10 was more backpedaling. He explained his view of himself to the Lord. He said, “…I am not eloquent…but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” Let me jump to what Stephen said about Moses. Acts 7:22 says, “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.”

How many times have you presented excuses to the Lord when He called you to do something? Here is the definition I use for an excuse. It is a skin of reason wrapped around a lie. I present to you that it is a lie that you have believed about yourself, that can be refuted through God’s word. Why do I say this? I know from my own experiences, and experiences of those I have counseled. When we believe a lie it controls our lives.

The philosophy of a hypothesis is: a proposition made as a basis for reasoning, without any assumption of its truth. Moses used hypothetical scenes. They were not based on truth, but on his assumptions. Ferreting out lies is not our job. They are usually hidden very deep. They are holed up in the dark dungeon of our heart. The Holy Spirit will expose them, and help us acknowledge them for what they are WHEN He knows that we are ready to face them.

I encourage you to write down what is in your hand. It may be areas where you are naturally gifted. It may be a special interest, or something that you are trained in. It may be a desire that the Lord placed in your heart. Present your list to the Lord. Ask Him: what is in my hand that you want to use in a supernatural way? When He tells you, don’t offer excuses based on your past performances. He is ready to do a new thing. 

Isaiah 43:19 Amplified says, “Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive it and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” It is time to get free of our mind entanglements based on lies that we have believed about ourselves!

I woke up with the chorus to Calvary Covers It All: Calvary covers it all, My past with its sin and stain; My guilt and despair Jesus took on Him there, And Calvary covers it all. How does guilt affect our thoughts? Joseph’s brothers are a great example. Genesis 42:21 says, “Then they said to one another, We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.”

Joseph was 17 when his brother sold him to the Ishmaelites. He was 30 when they faced him as the second in command in Egypt . For 23 years they bore their guilt. They ‘saw’ his anguish, but they would not ‘hear’ his pleading. Sin blocks our sensitivity. James 4:17 revealed the root. It says, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” 

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. Matthew 23:23 says, “…These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” What have you not done that you should have? What have you ignored in your life that lines your heart with guilt? You see, unresolved guilt becomes an internal stronghold, erected by the enemy because of your disobedience to God’s instructions through His word.

Romans 2:15 says that God”s law is written in our heart. We are born with a conscience. Our conscience tells us when we are right or wrong through sensory signals in our nervous system. When guilt first hits what do we do? There is a cringe inside, because the guilt just hit our conscience. 1 Timothy 1:5 says, “The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.”

Paul then explained to Timothy what he meant if he digressed. In verse 6 it says, “From which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk.” The Strong’s defines ‘idle’ as futile talk, worthless, empty, meaningless babble, and idle prattle.” What a perfect description of negative dialogue that brings entanglement in our thought processes. A guilty person does everything to skirt the issue. They use lies or ways to deflect. That is hypocrisy.

The truth is in the cross. Jesus paid for ALL our sins. All means our past, present, and future sins. 2 Peter 1:9 says, “For he who lacks these things…” What things? Verses 5-7 give us a list of things that we are to add to our faith: virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Verse 8 says, “For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren for unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

However, if we lack these things, verse 9 goes on to say, that we are shortsighted, “…even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.” Before we were born, before we ever had a chance to sin, Jesus bore our sins on the cross. He took our place. He paid our full debt so that we might become partakers of His nature.

Buried guilt is a stressor that can destroy your health. Guilt is one consequence of disobedience. When the Lord says ‘do’ and we ‘don’t’ that is disobedience. May we all be sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The first pang of guilt is like the red light on your vehicle’s dashboard. It means that something is wrong and you need to check it out. Guilt is the ‘warning light’ that we have sinned against God. Instead of ignoring the Holy Spirit’s conviction through our conscience, we need to heed Him. A sound mind is free of entanglements.