Week 8

Have you ever experienced a dry time in your faith? Have you felt very much alone, walking in the heat, dying from thirst? Today we're taking a trip in the Desert. Walk with us.

In the Bible, what actions made people wind up in the desert?

Result of sin
Take care as you leave Egypt, that you do not grumble at God and look back to what used to be.

After spending time at a beautiful oasis, it was time to move on and the grumbling Israelites found themselves in the wilderness of Sin. Exodus 16:1-12

For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, {that is,} the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished because they did not listen to the voice of the LORD, to whom the LORD had sworn that He would not let them see the land which the LORD had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Joshua 5:6

How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! Psalm 78:40

What sin do you need to confess to your Heavenly Father? Is there someone you need to reconcile with? Find your way out of the desert of Sin by confession, forgiveness and redemption!

Testing/preparation
Sometimes He leads us to the desert so we will come to rely only on Him.

"In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end. Deuteronomy 8:16

O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Psalm 63:1

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Mt 4:1

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness Luke 4:1

Consider this desert a bootcamp. Why should He remove the one thing that is driving you closer to Him? You're in training and this will make you stronger. Make sure to rebuke the enemy when you're tempted. Consider the desert a huge furnace--you are being refined. Really dig deep in His word for that living water!

Alone with God
Sometimes God just wants you all to Himself!

Moses is in his desert exile, tending sheep when God flags him down with a burning bush. Exodus 3:1-6

But Jesus Himself would [often] slip away to the wilderness and pray. Luke 5:16

And He *said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while." (For there were many {people} coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) Mark 6:31

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, Who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were hewn And to the quarry from which you were dug. "Look to Abraham your father And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; When {he} {was but} one I called him, Then I blessed him and multiplied him." Indeed, the LORD will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places. And her wilderness He will make like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be found in her, Thanksgiving and sound of a melody. Isaiah 51:1-3

Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. Revelation 12:6

Sometimes God wants to spend time with just you. When you've checked sin and testing off the list...you will find yourself at the Casbah in the desert...He is no Rudy Valentino who kidnaps and forces his affection on you. God beckons. God loves you so much, He wants you to come away with Him and spend time alone with Him!

While you're in the "desert", what is the most important thing to remember?

Drink!

When you are having a desert experience, you need to heed the cautions they give to travelers-or you will die of thirst before you know it!

• You have to drink whether you feel thirsty or not.


• You must have daily quiet time-whether you feel like it or not.

• You may crave something besides water-but water is best in the desert.


• You may want to substitute something else for quiet time-sleep, tv, food but time with God is best. You may find yourself wide awake at 3am-He's calling you!

• You need a continuous supply-a canteen only lasts so long, a pocket of underground water will dry up. You need to dig and find a spring.


• You need a continuous supply-don't rely on devotionals, radio or tv. It is work, you must dig in the Word! A well is man-made, a spring is God-made.

Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." John 4:13-14

Now on the last day, the great {day} of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.' " But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet {given,} because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39