Hi saints. In my mind’s eye I can see the Holy City far and deep into a mighty desert.I know that in my flesh I would avoid deserts. The vision in my mind’s eye would, I suppose, be metaphorical for the narrow path that leads to life. It makes no sense to think that if I was seeking life that I would go seek it in the desert. Yet there it is, the church of God, surrounded by a mighty desert. There is no way to the heart of it but by striking out and heading deep into a place where my only resource, in fact life itself, will be God. If He does not go before me I will die, I will never get there. If He is not a cloud over my head then the sun will kill me. If He is not a fire by night then I will surely freeze to death. If He is not my rear guard, then the jackals and other predators of this hostile place will sneak up behind me and kill me. Righteous Lot was compelled to leave the city of comforts behind him and take up his dwelling place in a cave. This was too much for his wife whose heart belonged to the city where her comforts lay. How many of us would not look back when compelled to leave all that we know behind as our world descends into wickedness.

You see brothers and sisters, there is nothing attractive about the desert. It is not an alluring place, in fact quite the opposite. Now although Abraham did not dwell in a desert but I believe the choice that His nephew made is a good example of the choices that God is calling His people today to make. Lot chose the well watered places and planes of Sodom in which to dwell. Yes it was near a wicked city, but it was plentiful and life was easy there. Yet at what cost? Does the choices that we make have consequences? We may not lose our souls in the process but can it be that we would lose our walk , our intimate walk with Jesus because the cares of the world , the cares that inevitably come by living in proximity to Sodom, or being caught up in the systems of Babylon or remaining within a denomination or a church that has embraced the wickedness of the world that is was sent to seek and to save.

Now when we think about Moses and his forty years in the desert prior to the burning bush or indeed the children of Israels forty years in the desert or John the Baptist’s time in the wilderness and indeed Jesus’s symbolic forty days in the desert we begin to see a pattern. It defies the flesh to go into the desert to find life. Can there be life in the desert? Would we willingly choose to enter into a place where all flesh dies but for the Lord? Can we be drawn into a place where unless we encounter God Himself as we are stripped of all of our resources then we would surely die? God is raising up such a generation that will find abundant life in the desert. Who will find that water flows from Rock at the hand of God. That God Himself can make rivers in the desert. He can make a highway that leads to life.

Will you journey there? To journey anywhere you have to leave somewhere behind. What do you have to leave behind? Is there a desire in you to find God in such a deep way that He is life itself to you and that without Him you would surely die and have no desire to live? Can I encourage you today saints? God has made such glorious and mighty promises to those who hunger and thirst after Him with their “whole hearts.” God has made glorious promises to those who will seek Him with their whole hearts. Desert places? Yes. Yet a burning bush and some sand can and will be transformed into Holy ground, for where the Lord is, that is Holy. He is not to be found within the structures of man but He is found deep in the heart of the longing sacrificing heart. There are sacrifices to be made to come into this place. Do you desire to make such sacrifices to come into this place, for this is the place where vessels are filled with oil.

There is a generation of desert dwellers being raised, a generation of wilderness dwellers ready to rise up and come forth. A generation of saints who have counted the cost. A generation whose only desire is to seek Him with their whole hearts and His righteousness. A generation that shall be hated by the whole world. They will see the glory of their God. They will behold His glory and His majesty. And they will make declarations from that place. They will, like John the Baptist declare to the world ” Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world.” Yet, this generation also gets to declare “Behold the lion of Judah that rides on a white horse with a two-edged sword in His hand. He is coming, the King is coming! Lift up ye gates ye ancient cities and lift up ye doors for the King is coming and He is coming soon.”

This is the purpose of God’s remnant saints. We will make such a glorious noise of worship in the desert to our King. We will sing hallelujahs to His glory. Paul and Silas sang such praises in the midnight hour. Despite their scourges and stocks, despite their location in the depths of a dungeon they sang out the praises of their God. As they did, all of the prisoners listened in awe that men who should be most miserable were in fact encountering the glories of God. And suddenly the power of God fell to such an extent the whole building shook upon its foundations. Now imagine the whole world shaking upon its foundations saints! Shaking because the praises of the persecuted saints have caused the heaven to be rended, the skies to split open and the power and the glory and the presence of God to come down. The anointing of the anointed one will be upon us and the world will look into the desert, the prisons, the wilderness and hear a strange and glorious noise, a noise such as they have never heard before and a light that shines out of a place where no light and no life should exist, and they will be perplexed and be confounded.