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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A dying thirst for God!

“As a deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for
You, O God, for the living God!” Psalm 42:1-2

"In light of this verse, we should ultimately be found to have a dying
thirst for God, His mercies, His grace, and His holiness to the point we
are panting for it until we have been filled by Him. This pilgrimage is
where the greatest desire for God grows deeper. In the wilderness we
walk alone many times only with God as our comforter, where the
refreshing water is unlimited so we can keep coming back to our Lord
for His new mercies and strength. In the wilderness it can be hot
during the day and extremely cold at night. This draws us to God for
our cooling or our warmth, and much of the time we find ourselves
exposed and vulnerable to the elements around us causing us to rely
on God for our complete shelter. Through these difficult times we must
find the desire for God to be intense. This is all by God’s design and
under His sovereign control. Each event was carefully orchestrated
together before a speck of dust was created into Adam’s body."

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God is our portion!

“May the Living God, who is the portion and rest of the saints,
make these our carnal minds so spiritual and our earthly hearts
so heavenly, loving Him and delighting in Him, and may be the
work of our lives.”

Matthew Henry, another great Puritan pastor of by gone years and
writer, who had an excellent handle on the desire of God said,

“The joy of the Lord will arm us against the assaults of our
spiritual enemy and put our mouths out of taste for those
pleasures with which the tempter baits his hook.”

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Step into His wonderful light!

"We will experience times filled with darkness, temptations to fear
and give up, attacks by our enemies, heavy burdensome tasks and
more. The seasons of refinement are not easy to endure, but each
Believer must experience a time like this in their life. Not all seasons
of life are the same, but the lessons to be learned are for God’s greater
honor and glory. Do what you can see is clearly before you and stop
worrying about what you can only see vaguely out in the future. We
do not need to be anxious about what tomorrow has for us, what lies
in the dusky darkness, but let God take care of the tomorrows while
we take one small step at a time as God lights each step of the way
for us. An old saying goes like this, “Step into the light.” As Believers
in Jesus Christ, we are to step into His wonderful light."

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God is merciful!

"God has been merciful to me in my battles with depression. I want
so much to succeed for Him and succeed for my family. However, the
pain can be unbearable at times by human standards. As days go slow
with no relief in sight, this seems to be when the battle gets very intense
and the depression starts to settle in my bones like hard concrete
deposits forming at my joints causing pain, heartache, and anxiety.
These are the moments I am reminded of by the Holy Spirit the “Lord
is my portion”…He is my sustainer and healer always. My God is my
Adonai Rofi, my healer. As I move along many times not
understanding the pilgrimage I find myself on, my comfort is in reading
God’s holy Word. His Word will remind us of the vastness of Himself,
the salvation that awaits all those who persevere to the end, the healing
that is bound up in Him and the love He has for His chosen people.
Throughout the day to the end of each day my place is to be completely
satisfied in my Lord no matter the circumstances surrounding me. God
is most glorified in my satisfaction in Him."

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The Word of God...an Antidote for healing!

"Healing comes to us in different ways as I have said before. But
in our battles against the vicious bites of Satan, God does provide an
antidote called The Word we can retreat to and feast on in order to
survive for another day and another battle. This is available to us as
Believer’s in Jesus Christ. The ultimate results are the same; God uses
His Word in us to heal us in accordance with His will and purposes
resulting in the furthering of His kingdom and His greatest glory."

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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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Satisfied in Him!

"At times it gets lonely, desolate, jobless, food-less, painful, and
emotionally draining. I have been jerked from a deep sleep many
mornings in a sweat with fear of the unknown followed by days of
deep debilitating depression. I hope to show in future writings what
God taught me in my travels through the spiritual & financial
wilderness. The training ground found in the wilderness yielded such
rich spiritual food directly from the hand of God no silver spoon found
in this lush plentiful land of the world are worthy to deliver it to my
mouth. I have a favorite saying I have internalized and adapted from
John Piper, “God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in
Him in the deepest parts of my pilgrimage through the wilderness.” I
must be found totally satisfied in His glory, His presence, His Being
even in the middle of the most traumatic depressing wilderness I could
ever imagine."

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In need of a Savior!

"As I have stated before, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not an easy
pill to swallow for most people. Sure on the surface it may seem easy,
but when the Holy Spirit prepares to give a person a brand new heart
the gospel becomes more difficult as the reality of sin starts to bring
about humiliation to their soul and shame of a sinful life towards God
no matter how big or small begins to break down the defenses of such
a “good” person. The work of the Holy Spirit here brings the lost
person to see themselves exactly as they are, in need of a Savior to
forgive them of their sins. The lost state of being, before any
regeneration of the soul or before a new spiritual birth, finds us very
satisfied and comfortable in our sinfulness. We love our sinfulness
although most would not call it sin. At this point in life, the lost person
does not even recognize he is an enemy of God and follower of Satan.
This statement may offend someone right now reading this. Please,
understand we only have two sides to be on. You are either on God’s
side and a born again Believer and follower of Christ or you are not."

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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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