Be ready for the battle...it is coming!

"So, guys, on this pilgrimage crossing the wilderness desert it will
require alertness, work, diligence, and hardcore truthfulness. It will
require direct obedience, loyal sacrifices and strict discipline. This is
all part of the process. God is growing us up; He is maturing us to serve
in His kingdom. Do not resist it, but do be ready for the battle, because
it is coming if you have not already experienced the battle. If you are
living fairly easy right now I must warn you…trouble is coming!"

Three things from God’s Word we need to understand
about the Christian life:

1. God’s ordinary path is to place His people into a state of suffering.
His people are usually always in some kind of awful trial.
Reference Philippians 1:29 and 1 Peter 4:12

2. When God brings to us His most wonderful mercies, first He takes
us to our lowest breaking point.

3. In God’s strange way, He works through trials, struggles,
suffering, and humiliation in our lives to turn these greatest afflictions
in our lives into the greatest of good in order to glorify Him.

"Gentlemen, let us play the man and understand God is going to use
us in the wilderness in some way."

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Bending in the direction of His will!

"Something I experienced and it took some time to learn is the fact
God draws us into the desert. Once we are there He can be silent for
an intensity of time. This creates a desperate, lonely experience deep
within our heart. God’s silence can be what draws us to listen closer,
listen intently to God’s commands. Thirst in the midst of God’s silence
can create in us an overwhelming desire to be found in the favor of the
Most High God. My observation, looking back on our experience, is
the intricate design my creator put into this. God did not go off to help
someone else and forgot about me. He was their carefully tenderizing
my heart, sifting my mind, and creating in my soul an ultimate thirsting
desire for Him. He was carefully purging me of sinful tendencies,
bending me in the direction of His will."

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God's Sovereign remedy for our ailments!

"My God has a sovereign remedy for any ailment we have. The
mental deception of depression can either consume a person or we
can embrace it and allow God to take His rightful place in our lives as
Lord and King over everything including a depressing downfall of
spirit. I understand whoever is willing to submit to God’s sovereign
provisions will be freely and effectually healed as God providentially
plans. These ailments are not permanent for most of our life, but go
on as long as we stay in our muck and mire before turning back to God.
I will warn anyone of us to be careful not to trust any healing not of
the blood of Christ. Be sure the healing is not just a man-made bandage
stuck over an open gushing wound.

In the words of Octavious Winslow in 1870:

“Take your case, as it is, to Him. Go to no minister, to no
church, to no rite, to no duty, but go at once to Jesus and His
blood and cry-believingly, importunately cry-‘Heal me, O Lord,
and I shall be healed’. Oh, what a loving, gentle, skillful healer
is Jesus! With not a frown of displeasure, with not a look of
coldness, with not a word of upbraiding, will He cure you. He
heals sin’s worse malady, cures man’s incurables, and never
loses a patient who seeks His saving touch. ‘Lord, be merciful
unto me-heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.’”

Whenever these bouts of illness storm your soul in a rage,
whatever the illness is, cry-out to the Lord to save you and heal you
and rescue you from the torment trying to defeat you to the depths of
your soul. Jesus will hear your cry as your repentance reveals a
sincere belief and trust that He is your Lord and Savior."

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When the darkness falls!

"Matthew Henry states:
“Let those who walk in darkness, and labor under
discouragements, take courage; God Himself will be a Light to
them.”

In those loneliest hours of our life, when darkness falls around us,
when all hope seems to be lost, our Lord will pierce through the
darkness with the purest Light of the Son of God. Jesus presents us
with hope for those long waiting periods for the dawn of day and He
conquers our darkened lonely fears with the Light of His Word."

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Defeat prepares us for Victory!

"God will win and overcome any resistance I have towards His direction, but it may send me in a spiraling depression for a season until I see things His way. I
have to remind myself over and over of Spurgeon’s words that “defeat
prepares us for victory”. Failure and defeats are an unpleasant part
of life. It is understandable we do not set out for failure and defeat, but
we have to come to terms with this reality. The reality is life is full of
failures and defeats in our marriages, our families, our children, our
jobs, our churches, our ministries, and on and on. The way in which we
respond to the failures and defeats will be the legacy we leave behind.
Also, how we react to these ills in our life will be the foundation we
build our legacy on."

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God is directing us from the backside of the desert!

"We must go through the valley in order to reach the foot of the
mountain in order to start the climb upwards again. Many times in our
pilgrimage through the wilderness, we think God is hiding from us or
has forgotten us altogether. But as we continue to wait and even move
forward slowly, we find that God was there guiding us from the
backside of the wilderness all the time. The providence of God is
directing us all the way, providing the strength to take each step
forward in our perseverance."

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The Salvation Message is Narrow!

"Jesus also tells the listeners John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He
is the ONLY way to the Father in heaven. This goes against
everything a secular humanistic people are brought up to believe. How
can this be? “I thought all I needed to do was walk an isle in a
church, repeat a little prayer after the preacher and boom, I am
in the family”. I have heard many say they did not realize it would be
expected of them to stop many of the sinful pleasures that dishonor
God, be expected of them to serve Him in some capacity that is
authentic service for His glory. For many people this message is too
narrow minded and exclusive and cannot be true. To state this
message is not true is to deny the very Word’s of Jesus Himself."

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Defeat Depression with prayer & Bible meditation!

"By taking on a new prayer life and life of intense meditation of the
Scriptures a new contentment should abound. The strength to be
content will grow within your soul like a water well that was once dry
as old bones, but now has a new spring of water filling it full to the top
and never goes dry again. Jesus Christ, The Word, is that spring of
water and you will not find it in this humanistic society and by
humanistic counselors. Christ is the deliverer of the strength in every
situation. Philippians 4:19 further explains, “My God will meet all your
needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” We have a
need for old fashioned, hard core Bible study, meditation, and prayer.
If you are not a Believer, this may seem foreign to you, but be sure to
read the chapter on Salvation before giving up."

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Salvation is of God, by God, & for God's Purpose!

"Let me take this moment to be very frank and honest with you at
this very point. Salvation is of God, by God and for God’s greater
pleasure. It serves the purposes and good pleasure of our Sovereign
God to preserve a certain people for all eternity to worship and glorify
Him. All throughout the Bible the gospel is recorded. Weaved
throughout each story, like a quilt, is God’s love story for His people.
God in His infinite wisdom designed the human race to serve His
greater pleasure and worship and glory Himself. His greatest joy is in
Himself. From this design, God chose a certain people to fulfill this
greater joy. As a people born into the family of sin starting with Adam,
we are at birth the enemy of God, totally depraved and unable to save
or revive ourselves apart from the new birth initiated by the Holy Spirit
doing the inner workings of each He has chosen to be with Him in all
eternity. God designed from before time that His Son, Jesus, would be
at the center of this love story and require His sacrificial death in a
horrible event that took place on the cross at Calvary. His love for His
people had no end as observed through His Son Jesus from a virgin
birth to the spreading of this good news of the salvation of God and the
fulfillment of God’s law in His own life on earth."

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Fight Off the Selfish Pity Party!

"Confession time is in order here. I still have times when life just
piles on top of me more than I can handle. It weighs me down to my
knees to the point of crying out before God. There is no way I can see
God if I am on the ground just trying to stand up much less look up. It
is at this moment I have to come to grips with obedience to God and
letting Him have all these cares that weigh so heavily on me. I must
fight off the petty selfish pity party moment and the temptation to
blame God for my ills. How can we fight off the temptation to be
selfish, arrogant and proud while keeping God as our vision? By
immersing ourselves in the Word of God! We need to be growing
deeper in His Word, digging out nuggets of gold. Surface study,
surface teaching and surface preaching keeps Believers from doing
great things for God."

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Deny Yourself & Follow Jesus!

"Prayer time in the wilderness was a turning point of my life. With
no vision to go ahead of me, because of the storm clouds of life blinding
me, I finally started to turn my thoughts away from myself, my family,
our stormy situation and focused my mind on the holy, majestic, and
sovereign God. God wanted more from me than just a verbal
acknowledgement of belief in Christ. God was pulling me away from
myself, bringing me face to face with who I am in order to deny myself
of any rights and place them all on Him. It was here at this moment
I realized God had the right to do with me whatever He willed and that
is exactly what He was doing with me…whatever He willed!"

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Strange Humiliating Situations

An exerpt from the book:

"God places us in humiliating situations in strange ways, but it is
necessary in order for us to understand the importance of total denial
of our self and total obedience to His commands. Self-denial is
described in many ways, but most vivid is we are to murder everything
about ourselves which gets in the way of obedience to God. Whatever
we do, say or think that draws our desires from doing what God wants
us to do should be spiritually mortified. The wilderness experiences of
professional trapper, Hugh Glass and God’s commander on the
ground in Egypt, Moses, came at what they would tell you a “strange
time”. As Believers, however, we must embrace the wilderness
experiences as a purposeful part of God’s sovereign plan. God’s plan
is to use us in the advancement of His kingdom and His greater glory.
We must yield ourselves to this season of life when we feel lonely,
traumatized, in horrific pain, bleeding from our exposed flesh, so
hungry our ribs are showing or thirsty. The strength, direction, and
ability to learn are planted deep within us by God Himself and when
needed, He will draw out of that well."

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The wilderness can be a horrifying place to be lost in. This is especially true when you discover God is the One who placed you there. In this book, A Pilgrimage Through the Wilderness, you will figure out God has a providential reason for you being in a spiritual wilderness in this season of your life.

When God wants to use someone for His tremendous purpose, He will always send you through a wilderness indescribable. You must go through your own pilgrimage in order to receive the lessons God has planned for you.

While traveling through the wilderness anyone must rely heavily upon God's Sovereignty to light up each step on your pathway. The wilderness is not easy, many times horrific, and always difficult. You will experience periods of time when you fear God has left you for dead in this wasteland, but after it is all said and done, you will discover God was always directing your every move from the backside of the desert.

Order your copy here APTTW

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A Pilgrimage Through the Wilderness

Just released today, March 2, 2010, my blood, sweat, and toils on the pages of the 118 page book called "A Pilgrimage Through the Wilderness". It was a wonderful time writing this book. How well it is written is not really the point. I suppose it is whether it can minister to someone going through their wilderness experience whatever that might be.

You can order your copy today by clicking here A Pilgrimage Through the Wilderness

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The Journey Through the Wilderness!

I want to introduce the Pilgrimage blog to you. It is the official blog site for author Scott Bailey's newly released non-fiction book called "A Pilgrimage Through the Wilderness" published by Publish America.

The site will be full of quotes and short inspirational post by the author that may encourage anyone walking through a lonely dry wilderness experience of their own. What the author is saying within the pages of the book is the fact God is sovereign over the affairs of His people and He is patiently drawing you from the backside of the wilderness methodically bringing you home.

Hope you enjoy the site. Feel free to comment on any post, but please keep it respectable. May the Lord richly bless your time here and hope you will get your hands on a copy of the book and the Lord will use it in your life.

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