Have you ever experienced that?
I have on many occasions. In the early seasons of my walk with the Lord, it freaked me out, the quiet, and led to what has been coined "desert trails". My heart raced as I reasoned I was somehow not really in the Lord. You know, the desert. That place of emotional struggle where God seems quiet. We describe it as "dry". It usually is accompanied with some intense desires for "direction" or an immediate need to hear from God. Often the "dry time" is lead off with a season in which we basked in a wave of emotion and connection with the Father. A season that causes us to emotionally respond. They are amazing. And then what we call "the dry season".
Over the years I have come to believe something quiet different about God and the quiet; the dry seasons and deserts make way for deep change.
The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
There is no end to hearing God. He is never quiet. The Heavenly Tabernacle is alive with cherubim, seraphim's and 1000's of angels on assignment. Alive with the millions of Christ followers now in glory; our great cloud of witnesses. Our hearts can know the love of God every day in a fullness of joy unimaginable. We are citizens of heaven and heaven is alive, today. Right now. We can be connected always with the Father's heart in a passion filled joy filled adventure. Never stopping. He never forsakes us.
Just stop and think about the love of God. Jesus gave everything so that we could be united to the Father. Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. (Phil 2:6) He was willing to endure the shame of the Cross, be counted as a criminal and blasphemer, to be rejected by Israel his own people, to win us salvation and perfect connection forever with the Father through faith in him and his perfect work. This is how we know what love is. Jesus laid down his life for us. (I John 3:16) This is his attitude and movement toward us, love, compassion compelling and driven with the fiery eyes we see in Jesus in Revelation. (Rev 2:18)
Here are a couple thoughts. Not new but maybe different starting places for a new journey with the Father.
1. Heaven never stops worshiping, seeing the Father, hearing of his wonders or acting in his will. The Kingdom of Heaven is moving all the time. Moving forward in the depths and riches of the Father's will and he invites us into that understanding as we follow Jesus.
2. The Kingdom never is lacking assignment or connection. Jesus overcame the world. Heaven's Kingdom is overcoming the world. Jesus said we could be one with him and the Father as the course of our lives (John 17). We are connected. Forever. Always. The Father has longed for this connection and through the perfect work of Jesus our Lord and the abiding and "ever filling us presence" of Christ in you the hope of glory. Through the Spirit of love and encouraging grace we abide in the reality of heaven here and now.
Could our starting thoughts be flowing from our dead relative, the sinful man? If we start there rather than with the reality of heaven we will certainly end up with connections broken. The Old man/woman is well acquainted with things like, abandonment, love starvation, hopelessness, deferred hopes and crushed expectations.
So how do we start taking this thing apart? How do we find new frequencies with the Father?
Possibly, what rises up in us is the more important thing to focus on. Usually I find myself loosing heart or becoming frustrated that God is not giving me the next piece. That typically is not the real issue. The real issue at times is that I don't really like the circumstances I find myself in and I continue asking God for something different. My initial requests for "guidance" flows from sincerity and out of the regular flow of conversation and intimacy. As the silence ensues I gain emotion and focus like a giant wave. My heart turns away or off the Lord and I fixate on the "need for direction" and not my need for connection. This typically puts a small ding in my heart and the steady flow of the presence of God. At least my perception of it. Because I believe it never ceases. We just cease to know it or dwell in it.
When he is quiet (I hope to come back to more on this later) I go into a hyper focused mode of "I need to hear what the Lord really wants me to do and he doesn't seem to be talking". All the old man old woman stuff rises up to taint my perspective and I actually begin to reflect those things back onto the Lord. "Why have you abandoned me?" Abandonment perspective fills up the void of my lack of connection with the Father and almost starts demanding God defend himself for abandoning me. Now the conversation is completely off the presence of the Lord and onto me fully. But the me I am focused on is my old man/old woman. The dead one. The zombie corpse of a life leading to destruction and emptiness. Having walked with the Lord now some 37 years, I still know the language and quickly take in the lies and false ideas of my old corpse. To encourage. I don't stay long listening to him anymore. I usually can tell quickly that I am leaving the presence of the Lord and as my heart drifts just a bit and my attitudes start off into that wandering waste land that my flesh knows so well.
What I have found in these desert times is...
It is best to start looking at a few key things. The passage for alignment with the Father is...
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."
and, "Follow Me" (Matt 4:19)
When we are following Jesus, the landscape typically changes and we have an opportunity to wake up to the reality of where our hearts have landed. If we are following him and not an idea of him or some prescribed teaching, but truly following Jesus through the abiding presence with the Spirit, we will be drawn back toward connection quickly. Because everything in the Father's heart is to connect with us, know us, walk with us and abide with us. He is the most wonderful papa.
I always found it interesting that all the elements come together at the same time to send me into the desert trial. All the pieces start falling apart in the same order. What I means is this.
Jesus pointed out the beginning place, the starting spot, the place to read our alignment and spiritual zeal from. It starts in the heart. The heart is passion. Zeal. Love. The heart is the place of feeling and connection. The heart is the place we are called to love God first.
When the heart goes cold and our passion and worship stop we know we have moved out from connection and abiding presence into the waste land of the wondering dead man.
Don't run from the desert. Run into it.
It can actually lead to some of the deepest encounters with the Father and life changing inner change of....
- Spiritual sight - ie the ability to see without seeing in the natural
- Real transformation - faith without sight is a step up. It puts some endurance into your walk. And it is the doorway to miracles and working with the Spirit in signs and wonders.
- Greater depths of his love both known and experienced - the Father is ever revealing his love. Now you are going to find it in places you never thought possible.
- We move from feeling as the reason we know God loves us to seeing into the depths of his love and knowing it forever.
When you feel like you are in the desert. Go on an adventure in it. Press into it. Wander around and take it all in. There is nothing to fear. Your papa is right there with you. He wants you to learn to see him and know him in a whole new way.
Turn up your trust. Tune out the dead corpse of the old man and soar with zeal in the fullness of his presence. The Father spent everything he had to stay connected. Believe.
Move Out Into Adventure with The Creative Father. Don't ever fear the desert again.
Thanks for reading. Send me your comments or comment below.
Follow and forward these posts if they bless you!
Thanks again,
Brother Jeff
Jeff Reynolds. Sr. Leader
Capstone Christian Fellowship
jreynolds@mycapstone.org
jeff@jeffreynoldsministries.com
www.jeffreynoldsministries.com
www.mycapstone.org
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