Embrace the Summer!

The following is the July, 2010 artilcle I wrote for my column, "Sense"sational Musings for www.ithirstnw.net:

Oh yes, it’s summertime, and it’s HOT! It is so hot, sometimes I feel like I’m in a desert. Do you feel like that? How about spiritually speaking? Do you feel like you cannot sense the Lord’s presense? You know He’s there, but you cannot hear His voice, feel His embrace or see His hand.

May I suggest to you today to embrace the dry times? WHAT?! Yes, that is what I said, “Embrace the dry times!” Why? Because, when you do, that is what is going to help you to soak in more when God finally pours His rain on you and you sense His presence once again. That’s what David did when he was in the wilderness.

Psalm 63:1 - A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, You [are] my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.

On the flip side of that, I also suggest to embrace the times of soaking. When you do, you will be more apt to remember those revelations God blessed you with when you go through the next drought. That is what will carry you through.

We need to remember that God created dryness as much as he created water. He appoints the times and seasons in our lives.

Genesis 1:9 - And God said, Let the waters under heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
Psalm 95:5 - The sea is His and He made it; and His hands formed dry land.

God will decide when the dry spell stops and when rain begins. He also decides when rain stops and dryness begins.

Psalm 107:33, 35 - He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground. (35) He turns the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.

Embracing whatever season you are in will allow you to be ripe for discerning the plans and purposes He has in store for you. Many times when we experience God in incredible ways, times of spiritual drought seem to follow. However, what looks and feels like drought to us is something more. God is still working through that time whether we sense it or not. Remember, it was the Holy Spirit who led Jesus into the wilderness after His water baptism. The enemy came it at the end and tried to take advantage of Jesus’ time of hunger after 40 days of fasting. He tempted Jesus, but Jesus did not fall for it. Instead, He remained focused and reminded satan what the Word said. The devil then left Jesus and angels came to minister to Him. His ministry was then launched.

So, I guess that means that dry times in our lives are actually blessings! Let’s take a quick look at times in the Bible when dry times were answers to prayer.

1. Noah’s family and animals were finally able to depart the ark and walk on dry land.
2. The children of Israel escaped a life of slavery and passed through the Red Sea on dry land.
3. The children of Israel crossed over the Jordan River on dry land to enter the Promised Land.
4. Jonah was spit out of the belly of the fish onto dry land and given a second chance after disobeying God’s call to Ninevah.

As you go through your summer, embrace it! Know that this season will soon be over, and God will take you through the next season with even more revelation because of what you are going through now. Rest assured knowing that this, too, shall pass!

Isaiah 44:3 - I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your offspring.

He Loves Us!

I have often thought about how I have actually physically felt the presence of God so strong at times in worship. There is no way I can explain to you how that feels. Yes, there are times when I don't feel anything and yet I go on and worship anyway, because I know that I know God is real whether I feel Him or not. We need times like that to strengthen our faith, because faith is not what you experience with your five senses. It is so beyond that. As Hebrews 11 says, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Emphasis mine) However, I do thank God for the times that He so graciously has chosen to let me experience His manifest presence in my spirit, soul and body.

I saw a car recently that had bumper stickers that showed it was obviously owned by an atheist. Well, I say obviously, but on the other hand it also had stickers about being wickan, so I'm not sure how you can worship satan and still be an atheist. One of the stickers eluded to religions fighting over who has the best imaginary friend. When I read that I thought, "That person has no clue! There is no way God is imaginary. I have experienced Him! You can't tell me that anymore than you can tell me that the sun in the sky is imaginary!"

When I see this video I found on tangle.com, it stirs me to tears every time! Tears of JOY in my Lord, I must say! This young worship leader, Kim Walker (who recently married and is now Kim Smith) has a way of helping corporate bodies to enter into worship. I especially like what she says toward the end about experiencing the presence of God and how it changes you. Listen to this and see what I'm talking about. I pray you are as blessed as I am. (BTW, I tried to upload the video, but if it didn't work, just simply click on the title to this post and it will take you to the webpage with the video.)

'News from Legacy Ministries'

Click the title of this post to read the latest newsletter from Legacy Ministries and read about ordering my newly revised book.