Clouds roll below Duck Pass, California
Last week, I talked about remembering what God has done in the wilderness. But remembering is only one step of the process in embracing what God has done.
Views of near Cannonville, Utah
When we go out into the wilderness, we find peace and rest; often we also find healing and experiences with God we did not have back home. When we return to our more normal lives, it is so easy to forget; to get back into the routine, to stop living out of the freedom and healing we found in the wilderness.
Sherriffs Reservoir in the Flat Tops of Colorado
We can go back to the wilderness to find freedom again. But that’s sort of like making a cake by mixing up the flour and sugar over and over again, and never putting the cake in the oven to bake.
Hidden Lake from Reynolds Mountain, Montana
If we want to own our healing, so to speak, and actually move forward in greater freedom and healing, we must consciously walk out that healing and freedom in our everyday lives.
Lone hoodoo at Lick Wash, Utah
I have watched this with Christian conferences: the people come so hungry for God. They get an increased measure of revelation of God, and it is so beautiful. But when they return to their churches and homes, 90% of them will simply slip back into their former habits; the relationship they had – or did not have – with God before the conference. The next year rolls around, and they go back to the conference, hoping to again experience the level of revelation that so awed them the year before. And the situation repeats itself, year in, year out.
Dead tree along the Big Crater Trail, Idaho
The problem with this type of experience (forget, experience again, forget again) is that it’s “walking around the mountain”, so to speak. They walk the same path, year after year, with only mild variations in their experience of Christ, always returning to see the same viewpoint instead of delving into a deeper relationship, remembering, and building upon the revelation they received. The depth of relationship realized through acting on the revelation, living the revelation, would enable them to climb higher on the mountain and find an even better view (allegorically, at least).
Duck Lake from Duck Pass, California
This is part of why I find the photos on my desktop helpful. They are a reminder of God’s faithfulness, they are a reminder of the happy times, but they are also a reminder of what God did – the freedom and healing that I found there; the revelation of Him that I received. And when I remember, I can remember to consciously step into that freedom and healing and live in it. In that way, when I go out into the wilderness again, instead of having to start all over again, I can start from the place I left last time – only with the time in between, the healing, strength, and freedom has become stronger, become a part of me, and I can go higher and further and learn more in Jesus.
