Character, surrender, and spiritual virtues are God’s preparation for ministry, but how does He accomplish these in our life? The view from 10,000 feet of the scriptures tell us.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers a warning about “becoming”. He told them not to be like the Children of Israel in the desert and resist God’s work of purification. He said that their story of failure in the desert was for our understanding and also as a warning. Paul said these things because he was familiar with the wilderness having spent time (immediately after his conversion) in the literal desert of Arabia as a tent-maker. It was there he learned how the Kingdom of God works (the opposite to the world) and was prepared for his ministry.
Carnal thinking asks the question, “Why would we have to be prepared, if Christ did all the redemptive work for us?” The answer is this: only what has been done by us in the power of the Holy Spirit pleases God. Scripture actually describes the difference between things done in the Holy Spirit and things done by the flesh as being ‘Good and Evil’. One of the purposes of the wilderness is to teach us the difference between good and evil. We learn to do nothing except as directed by the Holy Spirit. This level of surrender is exemplified by Christ and it’s at the heart of His successful ministry. He completed his purpose and fulfilled his destiny only by surrendering completely to the Spirit. So why can’t we just surrender as an act of our will and skip the wilderness?
Paul addresses this question in Romans when he says that he does the things he does not want to do, and doesn’t do the things he wants to do. He describes this as a battle between the Spirit and the flesh. Though the flesh has been defeated, we are still subject to fear, guilt, shame, bitterness, and idolatry. There’s a war within us for Lordship between the Holy Spirit and the flesh. The Spirit has set to work putting His and our enemies to death, and He needs our cooperation. After that, it’s a daily choice to live out of the Holy Spirit or out of our Flesh.
The Children of Israel didn’t have the same access to the Holy Spirit as we do and they didn’t understand God’s purpose in the wilderness, so they resisted His work. Misunderstanding this simple principle of God’s preparation in the wilderness became their downfall and undermined their ability to live in the promise God gave them. Consequently, a generation failed to fulfill their destiny because they couldn’t overcome their unbelief.
To Israel, God showed ‘His works’, but to Moses He showed ‘His ways’. Israel could not have been successful in their journey in the desert without the work of Christ and the cross. So why did God lead them into the wilderness knowing that they would fail? I can think of only one answer – for us! He wanted to model to the Body of Christ the concept of the wilderness and all its various stages so that we would not misunderstand His purifying work. Understanding this process is that important for us and to God.
Jesus uses the allegory of a garden which needs tending and weeding to teach us about the condition of our heart and His work. This process of preparation for God’s ministry, God’s way, can not be avoided, but it can be thwarted by us. We are warned not to grieve or quench the Holy Spirit in His work. There are times when we must rise up in the power of the Holy Spirit and battle in the spiritual realm and then there are times when we must submit to the circumstances and surrender our lives on the alter. Only the Spirit knows ‘which is when’. The wilderness is seasons of being left in need which exposes our ‘unsurrendered’ self. The flesh is hostile to God and His lordship. When we put it to death in the midst of the (figurative) battle, the Holy Spirit takes new ground in our (heart) lives, and we experience new levels of intimacy with Christ, power, and authority.
We are called to a destiny of fruitfulness, power, and authority and to rule and reign with Christ. That is our promised land. It’s an amazing ‘offer’ of equality with Christ. He has invited us into the Trinity and to share His glory as “above all others”. Like Paul, I fail daily, yet He has chosen me (us) to share His glory and power, because of love. What an offer! By cooperating with God in our journey in the wilderness, we destroy the enemies of love, joy, and peace, and receive all Christ received when He was resurrected. If there is a reason to praise God forever, that will be at the top of the list.
© Copyright 2014-15, Paul K. Weigel – All rights reserved.