Victory in the Wilderness by John Bevere

Author:John Bevere
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Christian Ministry, Christian Life, General, Religion, Suffering, Christology, Evangelism, Wilderness (Theology), Christian Theology
ISBN: 9780963317605
Publisher: J. Bevere
Published: 1992-01-01T22:00:00+00:00

SECTION FOUR

Time of Preparation

CHAPTER TWELVE

Prepare the Way of the Lord

...where you are presently is a vital part of where you are going.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see [it] together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it]. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh [is] grass, and all the goodliness thereof [is] as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people [is] grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. [emp. added]

Isaiah 40:3-8

The desert, or wilderness, is the place where the way of the Lord is prepared, the place where every mountain is made low and every valley exalted. In scripture, mountains represent the strength of man. The Bible says, "That no flesh should glory in His presence" (I Corinthians 1:29). Man cannot bring forth the promises of God. No matter how good his intentions, without God's involvement man can do nothing of eternal value— even in Jesus' name. Jesus said, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do" [emp. added] (John 5:19). What a statement! Jesus said He could do NOTHING of Himself.

Jesus loved Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary, who lived in Bethany. Lazarus became very ill. John 11:3-6 says, "Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, 'Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.' When Jesus heard [that], he said, 'This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.' Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was" [emp. added]. Jesus loved Lazarus and considered him a friend. However, we see that Jesus did nothing for two days. Why didn't He go immediately to Bethany? The reason: God did not lead Him to go immediately. Jesus waited until the Spirit of God moved; then He moved. The Lord showed me that if that had been one of my friends whom I loved, I would have driven immediately to his house and laid hands on him, without even thinking of looking to the Spirit of God for His direction. We have had the mentality in the Church that, "Wherever I go, God will go—and do what I tell Him to do." This is backward thinking. God decides where to go; if we follow, He will tell us what to do. We have thought that even without

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