Wilderness experience Luke 4:1-14

1. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. 2. He overcame the Devil in the wilderness. 3. Then He exited the wilderness in the power of the Spirit.

The wilderness is the season of vulnerability, temptation and a limited sense of God or good. The wilderness is God's training ground for our next season. It is the place of refining identity in order to take up office in Gods promises.

When our identity is shaped by victory,  integrity and faith, like Jesus, we will exit in the power of Spirit. The process God uses to bring us into ruling and reigning is through strengthening our identity.

The Israelites should have spent 40 days in the wilderness transitioning from slaves into land owners in order to be ready for the promised land. God did miracles to help them make that transition. However they failed to make that transition and their journey into freedom continued for 40 years. The wilderness was God's method to equip Israel for victory in the promise land.

When we go through a wilderness experience, it is important that we sit under the word of God concerning our identity in order to be victorious... If we sit under our circumstances, the enemy's voice or our fears will control the decisions we make and we will fail in the wilderness time and again.

God's design on every trial is to teach us that we don't fight for victory in our own strength but rather from His victory!

 

What is faith?Hebrews 11

1. Hebrews 11:1 When we desire something from God and commit ourselves to praying for it, our spirit reaches out to God in the hope that He answers us in the affirmative. Hope is our constant reaching for God to answer our prayers. Faith is the spiritual substance that God deposits in our hearts when He approves of our request and joins Himself to the process of seeing our prayers manifest in our lives. We can tell that God has answered our prayers because faith gives us a sense of 'assurance' that whatever we were praying for will be taken care of by Him in due time.

2. Luke 18:8 Faith is also the action of coming to God in prayer. Since He is our deliverer, if we repeatedly come to God with the same request He will eventually respond to our pursuit for deliverence and justice. Jesus recognised this process of hoping in God faith. Even if someone does not yet have the witness in their heart that God has answered their prayer, the process of getting His answer is also called faith.  * Faith requires an element of action James 2:17-18.

Why is faith important?

1. Hebrews 11:3 - God used faith to build something from nothing. Faith is the spiritual substance that enables us to build/release heaven on earth. We need it to bring heaven to earth!

2. Hebrews 11:4-12:1 - The people in Hebrews 11 who walked in faith were convinced they were contributing to building something from nothing. They were so convinced that even when they had opportunity to change their mind they continued to pursue God... and as a result they were pleasing to God.

3. Hebrews 11:6 Unless we live like God and those recorded in Hebrews 11, by living from heaven toward earth, we cannot live a life that is pleasing to Him.

Where does faith come from?

1. Hebrews 11:2 faith originates in God. 2. Romans 12:3 God deals out to us a measure of faith - each one receives a measure depsited within their heart in order to serve Him. 3. Romans 10:17 Faith can be transfered from person to person through speaking, prophecying or by someone hearing from God themselves.  4. Ephesians 2:8 It is a gift that comes from God as we look to God.

How do we get faith? 1. Hebrews 12:2 by coming to Jesus in prayer. 2. Romans 12:3 God deals it out to each one to accomplish His purposes.