Many Waters

What God Does in the Desert – Part 3

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Let’s keep unpacking Isaiah 43. You know how scripture can become familiar and sometimes dulled to your senses? Is it just me? I have read this passage so many times. Heard it taught so many times. But this, my friends, is the beauty of the Holy Spirit’s presence. Holy Spirit breathes on the word for us and causes it to become living and active. Siigh. Isn’t God beautiful? Anyway. Let’s talk about forgetting and dwelling on the past.

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

Chuck and I got a Holy Hold-up about this passage. You know, one of those moments where God interrupts your speaking in the middle of a sentence. Yeah, that kind of interruption. As many of you know, this move to Florida has been a str-e-t-t-t-c-h.  Lots of mercy and revelation, but still a strain financially and relationally. On Jan 7th, God told us we were entering a new season of Harvest. We were so thrilled and relieved. Yet in the weeks that followed, when it came time for action or faith, we would often recount  (read: whine and regurgitate) the hardships of the last three years. Hard stop. Enter this verse.

Forget the former things. Stop replaying failure, disappointment, and betrayal. Stop rehearsing the fear of what-ifs or the fear of repeating the same mistake. God carried you then. He will carry you now.

Do not dwell on the past. Literally, do not move and live in the memory and experiences of days or people gone by. They may be delightful or dreadful, but we cannot be at home in days already lived. It hinders, even paralyzes futures. His mercies are new every morning — for a reason. We keep no records of wrongs  — for a reason.

Chuck and I realized we had this dance. First, we recalled every bad outcome, every tough decision, every loss in intricate detail. Second, when we tried to plan for the day or the coming months, we got all seized up because we couldn’t see past the dreaded repeat cycle. What if we made the same mistakes? What if it didn’t work? What if we haven’t learned the lesson?

19 See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

God was reshaping our vision and trust. HE was DOING something fresh, unexpected, even marvelous.


A new thing is not the same old thing. We couldn’t keep doing the same thing, retelling the same past story, yet expecting a different result. We had to learn how to PERCEIVE the New Thing that HE was doing. That meant we had to surrender our version of the past.

God had been faithful every day of those last three years.

Yes, it has been hard.
Yes, He is good.
Yes, we are different now.
Yes, He doesn’t waste anything.
Yes, He means for us to do something altogether different.
Yes, we get to choose His ways or our whining.

I don’t have a formula for you. But He is changing us.

Incrementally, our prayers changed. We went from complaining and begging to thanking and declaring. I know this sounds harsh. But we have to get real about how we sound to God. He loves us unconditionally AND He wants us to grow up into Christ. Whining is not a fruit of the Spirit.

Then our words changed. We started talking about God’s presence and provision more than lack and scarcity. We started dreaming again. We started seeing unexpected pieces and people come together. Out of nowhere.

We kept saying to each other: We didn’t see that coming. God is doing a NEW thing.

Here we are end of March. Chuck’s real estate business is growing. Many Waters’ first event was a  glorious new wind. And we are HERE for it.  Whew, He’s beautiful.

Have a conversation with the Lord about your conversations. Are you saying what He is saying? Are you as excited about your future as He is?

Selah.

What God Does in the Desert

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Recently, I was asked to speak at an incredible women’s event. It was strategic for me in so many ways. The first of which was to lead me into a micro-desert so I would remember the searing heat of spiritual dryness. The weeks leading up to the event felt like an assault on all sides. Chuck and I were sideways. Both of our cars ended up in the shop. And although the Lord had already given me an outline and revelation for the day, the head noise was loud. Real loud. Then on Friday afternoon, it came.

Streams in my desert.

I had done my part to prepare, or so I thought. I had the scriptures. The post-it notes. Time in worship. I had been interceding for the women and the team. But my heart — it was cracked and thirsty. I needed the river of heaven to wash my mind and spirit once again. The Holy Spirit came in a wave of revelation and comfort of a directed word. I had been sent to harvest where I had not sown. Yes, Lord. I was to release His living water. Yes, Lord. And the words kept rolling over me.

For the event, we used the anchor verse from Isaiah 43:18-19. This chapter is so rich and deep. And so needed.

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I’m doing a new thing!
Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it?
I’m making a way in the wilderness and streams and the wasteland.

I became a Christian more than three decades ago. I’ve experienced many desert seasons and wilderness journeys with the Lord.  I will say, honestly, they all hurt. But frankly, they’re supposed to. God does things in the desert that He cannot do anywhere else. He has given me several pearls on this passage. Consider this the first of many from these verses.

The Lord told me He uses the desert seasons in our lives for three purposes: Assignment, Refinement, or Realignment.

Assignment.
God led the Hebrew children into the wilderness for a specific purpose. They were on assignment to experience firsthand His provision and protection, and to discover His goodness.  After generations of living as slaves, they were confused about God’s love and care, especially when things went terribly wrong. Sounds familiar. God wanted to build trust and intimacy with them. Why? Because they had been assigned to inhabit the Promised Land. Slaves don’t live in the Promised Land. Only children do.

Jesus also was led into the wilderness for a specific purpose. He was to face the temptations of the enemy. The parallel between their 40 years and His 40 days is incredible. Demanding manna, the satan offering bread.  Making of a golden idol, offering Jesus the world in exchange for worship.  When He came out of the wilderness, Luke 4 reads that Jesus was full of the power of the Holy Spirit and began his ministry. This creates great hope for our deserts. God wastes nothing.

Refinement
Many of us go into the desert looking more like Moses. The assignment may be clear, but the heart of the woman or man is lacking. There is work to be done. Inside of us. The Spirit uses this time to prepare us for our calling; to strip us of ourselves; to heal our bad traits; and to build up the weak places in our character. The calling on our lives has to be upheld by our character.

The hardship and strain of the desert allow us to face ourselves in a way that we couldn’t with all the noise and comforts that we surround ourselves with. The desert is meant to reveal who we are under pressure, without our props, so that God might fill us with His power, not our own.

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Cauterize: When Healing Hurts

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Relationships are hard. You know why? Because human hearts are broken.  We all have areas where sin, selfishness, or denial pollute our stories. Thankfully, Jesus has come for us.  “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” Psalm 34:18.  Even so, even with the Holy Spirit, we continue to find ourselves hurting others and being hurt in such a way that it causes us to shake our heads in shock and disbelief. God said to me once, you walk with a limp. We all walk with a limp. As soon as we accept this reality, He unveils the pathway of unconditional love. It is our calling.

But how? How, in the face of betrayal, disappointment, and failure, do we carry on in love?

God gave me a revelation decades ago, which burns just as hot for our current heartaches.

Through a prophetic prayer on a mission trip, God told me two pivotal relationships were shifting.  This word was confirmed when I returned home, but I still protested. I loved these friends. Despite the unhealthy tendencies, a deep affection existed with these women. God explained that our separation was needed for their growth — and mine.

As the threads of our lives began pulling apart, the Lord revealed my weaknesses and my role in the relational rat’s nest. Next came the grief. My heart balked over the loss of connection yet I complained every time I was with them, and when I wasn’t. It was an open emotional wound that I kept hitting at every turn, like an injured body part that keeps getting bumped.

The Lord gave me the word cauterize. Then He gave me a vision of a glowing firebrand coming toward my open wound. “No, don’t!” I said to the Lord, “I’m afraid of the pain!” The Lord gently asked me to trust Him and His process.

When I asked Him what on earth the vision meant, the Lord explained the whole point of cauterization was to instantly seal a wound to prevent infection, and to hasten scabbing and scarring to prevent further pain. He said He would cauterize my relational wound so that it could heal and still have a protective covering. He would desensitize it so that I could be around them without all the pain.  He did just that.

After the searing.

Here we are years later, and all three of us are healthier, at peace, and still friends.

However,  recent woundings have caused that weighty word — cauterize— to resurface again. Again, I am looking for His fiery touch to seal off the wounding.

People lie. We fail. We blow it. We lose our way.
We attack others with half-truths instead of owning our sin.
We malign instead of listening to the Spirit’s wisdom.
We isolate, or violate, instead of repenting and repairing.

We all walk with a limp. We are all in need of forgiveness.
The good news is we all HAVE forgiveness— and — we MUST activate it to live it out.

To move forward, to continue the human trial-and-error journey of love, we must appeal to the Great Physician for radical intervention. He will hurt us to heal us sometimes. Hear me now. He will bring a word, a scripture, a rebuke or exhortation, any fiery tool to seal up our wounds and speed our healing. Perhaps a hot coal from His altar.

And it will hurt.
Desperately.
And it will heal.
If we let Him.

I wonder, are you in need of a radical spiritual intervention?

Will you allow the Holy Spirit to bring a holy fire to your mortal wound so that you might walk in a way worthy of our calling? It is for freedom that Christ set us free.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.  Ephesians 4:1-6