Baggages

During our recent trip to Cebu for the pastors and workers' conference, going back to Iloilo was a learning experience for me. As we went to the pier to get aboard the ship going to Iloilo, security had to inspect all our things for deadly weapons. As I was passing through the metal detector, it kept beeping on me! The guard won't let me pass through until there was no more beep. So I had to remove my cellphone...then my coins and keys...lastly, my belt that had a metal buckle. Finally, the detector went silent after I removed all the metal objects attached to me. The lesson: Don't carry too much metal on my next trip.

Sometimes in our walk with the Lord we carry too much extra baggage. This can come in different forms like bad habits, bitterness, or anxiety. But it can also come in good packaging such as activities that don't really help us stay focused on God's call upon our lives. Sometimes good things become the enemies of the best things that God has for us. Let's seek the Lord for His perfect will for our lives and lay down anything that can hinder us from running our race. - RJ Alobba

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” - Hebrews 12:1

The Sandy Highway

Editor's note: I originally wrote this for a friend. Now I'm posting it publicly.

“For who has despised the day of small things?” – Zechariah 4:10

The desert is a place where the path is not so clearly defined. It’s a place only God can take you through, for he made pathways where there is none.

Contents

• How to know you’re in the desert
• What to do in the desert
• Don’t stay in the desert
• Time to go, take the Promised Land!

How to know you’re in the desert

The Israelites came out of Egypt going towards the Promised Land via the desert highway, which is invisible. They wandered around for 40 years in the wilderness, since they were disobedient and complaining (Ps. 95:10). The primary characteristic of the desert is the dryness of the environment. The secondary characteristic is the absence of borders and landmarks.

Dryness is the ultimate test of faith. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God… man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God. The food and thirst drive will always test the faith of the one from whom food is absent. The Israelites were provided for miraculously by manna. Water came out of the rock miraculously. When our faith is tested in the area of provision, this is one indication that we are indeed in a dry desert.

Liberty is one thing that we as Christians possess as joint heirs with Christ. All things are lawful, though not everything is good (1 Cor. 6:12). I won’t elaborate on this, but simply make this point: In the dry desert is freedom. Yes, there is a balance to all the dryness out there. No walls, no ceiling, no floor. Just open space. But of course, you can always build your tent. Each day has a miracle of provision in the desert life. Planting and harvesting are not suitable. This you learn to do in the Promised Land.

What to do in the desert

The desert is definitely not the place to shop. The purpose of the desert is training. “Temporary” is written all over the desert, if it has signposts. The desert is not the place to stay. It is the place to grow, the place to learn, and the place to be purified.

The Israelites had to learn a hard lesson in faith and trust. They also had to learn to leave the ways of Egypt behind. And the tests they went through separated those who will inherit the Promised Land and those who won’t. In one generation, only two passed the test – Joshua and Caleb. All the rest were from the second generation, the ones born in the desert.

Biblical examples of people prepared by God in the desert, or in a wilderness setting include Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, Moses, Elijah, and David.

The desert is God’s season of preparation. Passing through it will increase faith, mature the spirit, and produce iron-core patience.

The desert is the place to live by faith. Trusting God for your daily needs may be the hardest and most constant test of all. Living on the edge never has been easy, and this is the place to trust God in extreme circumstances. Know that God is always present, even in our lapses of faith, or acts of foolishness. Faith and foolishness are next door neighbors, and we at times find ourselves falling over the fence into the neighbor’s backyard.

Don’t stay in the desert

The desert is not the place of permanence. One dangerous thing about the desert is not that it’s hard, but when one gets used to it, it can become a comfort zone. Personally I was comfortable in my desert. Things were going so well, it seems. But it was time to leave. I didn’t want to leave. I liked the desert. The desert was my home (Beware of that thought!) It was time to move on, and God had to make me realize that over time. Looking back, I can see what could have been – but it’s just too late. Now that I’m out of the desert, it’s time to move on.

One battle that one must fight is the battle against Amalek. Amalek is a type of the flesh. Our flesh likes comfort. But giving in to it would be destructive. Israel had to deal with Amalek years later, in the story of Esther. The whole nation was almost wiped out by one Amalekite named Haman.

Time to go, take the Promised Land!

Battles have been fought. The flesh has been crucified. It’s time to take the Promised Land. The doors fling wide open into a new season in your life.

A few things to remember. The Promised Land doesn’t have manna raining everyday. The manna ceased on the day after Israel had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan (Joshua 5:12). It is the place to plant and harvest. It’s the place to work hard for your daily needs. But it is the place that one can have abundance that he never had in the desert. Another thing to remember is that the Promised Land has landmarks and borders. It is time to live in society as it really is. You’ll realize that not everyone can be trusted, and every major decision has to be thought through. There’s a certain level of responsibility in this.

The Promised Land is a land of hills, valleys, battles, and walls of Jericho that need to be brought down flat. Never neglect prayer, especially in major decisions as Joshua did in Ai (Joshua 7). But the Promised Land is also a place of victory.

May you walk victoriously, walking in the Spirit as you take your Promised Land!

Carrying a Corpse

As Christians, we live and walk in two natures: the flesh and the Spirit. The flesh is the old nature that is sinful and that won't go away until we meet the Lord face to face. The Spirit is God's nature that works itself out as we mature in Christ. The conflict goes on as long as we are here on earth.

During Roman times, if you murdered somebody, there is a very unusual penalty for you. You would be tied to the corpse of the person you killed, and you had to walk around carrying that corpse. The corpse starts to rot and smell bad, but you still had to carry it. This is what the Apostle Paul talks about when he said in the book of Romans, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."

This situation is spiritualized in our present day walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are born again and alive in the Spirit and at the same time, we carry around this old corpse called the flesh. That's why it's usually hard to make important decisions when the two are opposing each other. But the situation is not hopeless. God does the work to enable us to obey the Spirit as Paul said, "through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Our responsibility is to stay close to Jesus Christ our Lord. Read the Bible. Pray. Fellowship with fellow Christians. Obey God. You'll strengthen the Spirit's nature in you and starve the flesh. And the strong will dominate.

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Our Journey

As Christians, we are sojourners in this world where we temporarily reside. Unless we see life as a journey and not a destination we will never truly enjoy it in in its proper perspective.

I heard of a story of an American missionary to Africa who just came back to the U.S.A. He had been serving in Africa for 20 years. On board the ship where he was riding back to the U.S.A., a politician was also there. When the ship docked in the U.S.A., a band and a big welcome party welcomed the politician home. As for the missionary, there was nobody to meet him there at the dock. He was so sad that he complained to God saying, "Lord, I served you in Africa for 20 years. And You never even sent someone to meet me here just to welcome me back to my country."
The Lord replied, "Son, you're not home yet."

Enjoy the journey. This is the worst it can get. The best is yet to come.

RadX


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