“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (ESV)
The following is an article that Cheryl wrote for a Christian Women’s virtue magazine back in 2004. She spoke on this topic again last Friday night at our Friday Shabbat service. Enjoy!
Why is it that sometimes God's presence seems absent or far away? Other times His presence is so strong, and He manifests Himself through signs and wonders and powerful healings. Oftentimes in personal lives and in churches this happens continuously. We are on the mountaintop when God manifests Himself. However, when He withdraws, we tend to get upset or we withdraw from God and the church.
Graham Cooke says, “God likes to play hide and seek with us.” He hides so that we will pursue Him and seek Him with all our heart. This is the test of the wilderness.
The process of the wilderness must be looked at with the right type of perception. It is not a bad trip, but one that is meant to come to us for a great purpose. We can change our attitude and instead of asking “why have you done this to me God?” We must learn to ask “God, what do You want to teach me here?”
When God is present and there are great manifestations, we can't always hear deep truth. We are in so much in ‘awe of who He is’ that we just bask there. We are enjoying His presence whether we are laughing crying or just soaking and His incredible love. For example, in Luke 18:31- 34, Jesus is telling the disciples that soon He would be mocked and spit upon, scourged killed but on the third day he would rise again.
“And taking the twelve, He said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill Him, and on the third day He will rise.” 34 But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.”
Notice verse 34, “but they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.” They had been on cloud 9 experiencing His presence and seeing the awesome miracles take place. Jesus spoke and they did not hear the truth. He was telling them of His death and resurrection. We can also respond the same way when things are going great, and God is moving powerfully through us. We can't hear the deep truths because it may not be pleasing to our ears. So, in God's own timing, he decides it is time for a change. Into the wilderness we go crying all the way. We can either get depressed about it or embrace it, because it is there in the deep place, He reveals His heart to us. We must come to a place of stillness to hear the deep truths of God, so God withdraws from our soul (mind will and emotions) To take us deeper into our spirit. He removes the external to get to the internal so that we can begin living from the inside to the outside. Here our faith is tested and grows deeper if we respond correctly to God's process.
When God manifests Himself to us, we are experiencing God. When God is hidden in the wilderness, it is not about experiencing something. It is about hearing something. Here we can process our disappointments with God. Jesus walked through the rejection and betrayal too.
When persecution comes our way, we must realize that it's not what comes against us that's the problem, but what comes out of us. We need to learn to develop a place of stillness and peace, and I'm convinced that we can only learn that in the wilderness. When we learn to live from our spirit, that is our inner man and not react from our soul, we are on our way to true victory. God strongly develops our character in the wilderness if we cooperate with Him. When our character rises to meet our gifting in God, then manifestations will come!
God works in circles and not straight lines. This is because He is out to transform us into His image. When we grow in one area, He then takes us around the cycle again to grow us in another area. It is here He takes us from glory to glory.
The first place on the cycle is DECLARATION. God declares something over you and reveals a purpose or destiny of what He wants us to do. Here we feel that we are special to Him and thrilled that he wants to use us. God then moves us into the place of preparation which usually causes great distress. That is the reason why so many give up on their prophetic promises. Because the time of DISTRESS is an often-opposite experience to that of declaration. The purpose for the desert is to empty us of our flesh. At these times, we don't hear from God so clearly and there is no outward sign that God is even present. Many people decide to go AWOL here, because the journey suddenly becomes difficult, and we think we have failed. This step is intended to teach us how to walk by faith and not by sight. Jesus also went through this process when he was sent into the wilderness and fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. After which Satan came to tempt him. He exercised his faith and defeated the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Each time he used the authority of the word of God to defeat the temptation. Jesus also experienced the distress in the garden of Gethsemane. I have heard it said that “Jesus won at Gethsemane because he had been tested at the mountain of temptation”. It was in Gethsemane that Jesus said “Glorify your name in my distress”, (John 12: 23 – 28).
In our difficult times of distress, do not hold unto woundedness. While following the Lord we will be falsely accused even in the church. So let go of the wounds and do not go after vindication. That is called pride! A good indication of true healing is when vindication is not desired. We are to love our enemies, pray, and release them so that we can come into wholeness. It's in the desert place that God prepares His people for Himself (Isaiah 43 18 -21).
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
20 The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches,
for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people,
21 the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.”
When we're in the wilderness we must realize that it's all about intimacy! Through intimacy, we become willing to die to all our fleshly desires and surrender to His plan and purposes.
The next stop is DEVELOPMENT of personal character. If you hold on to your hurt, you will be a liability and not an asset. God burns out the need for recognition and we learn how to become a servant. God will not humble us. The Bible says to humble yourself. If we fail to do so, God will allow us to be humiliated that will lead to our humility. There is much to learn here, let God do his work.
The final stage is DEMONSTRATION of power. Here we realize the dream and we sense the presence of God. He will flow through you to see His purpose fulfilled. God will use you where you have been bound and broken to help others be set free, that is revenge on the enemy! The oil of joy that God pours on us will overflow to others we learned to warn the wilderness when the time comes for the demonstration of his power, God gets the victory it is not about us. In the wilderness God trains our eyes to look for Him. When we do not see Him, we need to detect his presence by faith. He is beside us all the way. In the wilderness our faith is tested. That is how God measures success.
Understanding this cycle that I have learned from Graham Cooke has helped me tremendously in my walk with the Lord. These are some of the tough things that we need to walk through to develop our character, to be overcomers and become Christ like. It is impossible for us to be in demonstration stage and have full blown manifestations continually. It is too dangerous for us as human beings because we could become full of pride and think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. We need to let God bring us to that desert place where we hunger to know Him more. It's a place where we learn how to communicate from our spirit with the Holy Spirit.
After going through this cycle at least 100 times (LOL), we can recognize the process and embrace it. The wisdom you gain from the wilderness will stay with you forever. Remember the desert place is a good thing so put on your sandals, get out your sunglasses and enjoy the wilderness journey. The afterglow will be His glory shining from you!