As believers, we no longer have to hide behind the doors of our pain, the pain
from past hurts, disappointments, rejections, abuse and so on. Pain can cause us to become bitter and angry. It can cause our hearts to harden without us even recognizing it. We don’t
just wake up one day bitter and angry with hard hearts, it happens gradually. When
our heart is not right we become numb and it begins to have a negative effect on our life.
It can cause us to feel like we are stuck in the wilderness with no way out.
We must consistently examine ourselves and allow the Lord to renew our minds and purify our hearts.
Psalm 139:23-24 reads, Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if
there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. We must allow the spirit to lead us at all times. 1John
4: 4b states, greater is he that is n me than he that is in the world. The greatest
one, the one who is more than enough, the Holy Spirit dwells on the inside of us, he resides in us to teach us and give us
direction. In John 14:16 Jesus said, I will ask my Father and He will give you
another Comforter--the Spirit of truth. He will be with you forever. The people of the world cannot accept him, because they
don't see him or know him, but you know him because he stays with you--he is in you.
Because of the Greater one that’s in us, we are victorious which is defined as having won a victory; triumphant;
we have been given the victory through Jesus. Jesus Christ is God’s all
and the fullness of God rests in Him.
John 15:11 says, “These things I have spoken to
you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. The joy
of the Lord is our strength and our joy is in Him only, not in our circumstances. We
can have joy even when we’re not happy. Happiness is situational, but joy
is a spiritual quality it is a fruit of the spirit.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all
thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths”. The Lord told me to trust him and while trusting him there would
be times when I have to demonstrate my trust for him by trusting others and I didn’t understand what he meant until
I reached a season of not trusting anyone, wanting to be isolated, believing no one could really totally understand what I
was going through. Psalm 62:7-8 amplified reads With God rests my salvation and
my glory; he is my rock of unyielding strength and impenetrable hardness, and my refuge is in God! Trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before
him. God is a refuge for us (a fortress a high tower). If we don’t trust God we can’t fulfill our God ordained purpose.
Psalm 23:4 David said, “Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort
me”. He expressed absolute trust and confidence in God, David new God was with him even in the valley and he allowed
him to protect and guide him. Just as God was with David, He is with us; he is
no respecter of persons and He is the same yesterday, today and forever. We must not allow what we see or what we experience to hinder what god promised for all the promises of God in Him
are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us says 2 Corinthians
1:20.
Earlier
this year, I felt lead to research spiritual numerology. The first number I researched
was nine, which is the last of the digits and it represents finality
or judgment; the end of an age or era, and is significant of the conclusion of a matter. It marks the completeness, the end and issue of all things as to man—the
judgment of man and all his works and the conclusion of the whole matter so far as man
is concerned. Nine is the square
of three, and three is the number of Divine perfection, it is the first of
the four perfect numbers. Three represents the three person godhead – the
trinity. It signifies the fullness of the Godhead – the Holy Spirit. We are currently in our 3rd year of ministry here and we are going into
the tenth calendar year which ten is also considered one of the perfect numbers,
and signifies ordinal perfection. It
implies that nothing is wanting; that the number and order are perfect; that the whole cycle is complete.
We are currently in the last days of our 9th
year and we at the Tabernacle Shalom Worship Center are in the 3rd month of our 3rd year of ministry. Throughout this year Pastor Hicks has been saying she senses a shift in the atmosphere and some
of the things she’s been teaching or speaking about are the Kingdom of God, Faith in God, Who We Are In Christ and what
we’re entitled to, Our Assurances in Christ which are listed in the bulletins weekly, and on the Holy Spirit and I believe
it’s all preparation for where the Lord is taking this ministry in it’s 3rd year.
I believe that as we enter our 10th calendar year that the Lord is going to begin perfecting some things
in this ministry and in the lives of people connected to this ministry. I believe
He wanted some of our cycles to be complete, some things to be finalized some relationships to be severed before He could
begin perfecting some things in us. I believe he has been and still is, purifying,
transforming and perfecting all of us, so that we can be prepared for the greater work that’s ahead of us.
When our hearts are pure the Lord
will begin to lead us out
of our wilderness experience. Deuteronomy 8:2-5
(New Living Translation) Remember how the Lord your God led you through the
wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you
would obey His commands. 3 Yes, he humbled you by letting you go
hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people
do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
4 For all these forty years your clothes didn’t wear out,
and your feet didn’t blister or swell. 5 Think about it:
Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for
your own good.
All of us, at some point in our lives will or have
had a wilderness experience. Many of us are in a hard place for various
reasons. All of our hard places are not the same; some of them we've caused and some were no fault of our own. Some of us
was born in the wilderness, but God said we are coming out of the wilderness into a land flowing with milk and honey an exceeding
(remarkably, surpassing) good land where nothing is lacking and land that is more than enough.
Haggai 2:9 states, The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith
the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts. Our
best is yet to come, beginning in 2010 and I declare my latter will be greater than my past.
Isaiah 43:19 (amplified) say, “Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive 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. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, There hath no temptation taken you but
such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with
the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
We must not allow our obstacles to consume us, but keep our focus on Jesus, the Arthur and Finisher of our faith. We must
allow God to be the lamp unto our feet and the light unto our path. I believe
that as we continue in His path the glory of the Lord will be revealed through us, even in our darkest places. Our darkest place is nothing compared to the light of the Lord. Just
like in the natural darkness has no power over even the smallest speck of light. 1 Peter 4:12-14 says, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning
the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake
of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the spirit of glory and of God rest
upon you.
The Lord wants to lead us into deliverance, complete wholeness in Him one step
at a time, but we must surrender our souls to Jesus again and position ourselves to allow God to speak to our heart and mind and not allow our mind
to become a battleground for Satan, who wants to take control of our mind. At times, we all must examine our relationships
and ourselves to see what and who we need to let go in order to move forward in our destiny.
We
must not become an enemy to our soul because of the pain of our past. When
we feel like we’ve reached our wits end we must not run from God, but run to Him. He knows what we’re going through
and He is our protection and security. When we run from God we become an open
door to the enemy. Philippians
1:6 (Amplified Bible) And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you
will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting
and bringing it to full completion in you. Isaiah 55:12-13 message says, "So you'll go out in joy, you'll be led into a whole and complete life.The mountains
and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song. All the
trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause. No more thistles, but giant sequoias,
no more thornbushes, but stately pines—Monuments to me, to God, living and lasting
evidence of God."
Always remember, as believers we have the victory through
Jesus Christ, because greater is He that’s in us than he that is in the world.
His word says that He is with us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is always with us through it all and we can experience joy through our trials,
regardless of what obstacles we face. The joy of the Lord is our strength. We
can trust God in spite of what our situation looks like and we can stand on the promises of God even if we don’t see
the manifestation of them anywhere in sight.
Tabernacle Shalom Worship Center is coming out of the wilderness into a land flowing with milk
and honey an exceeding (remarkably, surpassing) good land where nothing is lacking, a land that is more than enough.
Peace be with you...Elder Karen Scott
