During the last message that I shared with you, the topic centered on despair and the types of desperate acts that one can sometimes him/herself in as a result. Yes, they have found themselves lost in the desert.
Most of the time people will use their desert experience as an excuse to become hopeless. I want you to know that a hopeless spirit can transfer and everyone who lingers around a hopeless person will become hopeless.
If you are feeling despondent and dealing with disbelief (which has you discouraged) and you are becoming more and more depressed and your depression is leading to a bad disposition and now you are allowing this attitude to cause distress (which will definitely lead you to despair) you may now find yourself feeling as if there is no hope.
Please understand that God did not bring you this far to leave you. God only allows us to experience suffering just to perfect you. He only wants to bring us into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13b).
However, you must be the judge of your suffering. Ask yourself the question, “Am I walking in obedience to God’s Word?” If the answer is yes, then praise God in the midst of your troubles as David did. Praise Him no matter how bad the situation may look! Allow your soul to greatly rejoice when you sing to Him. Allow your tongue to talk of Hs righteousness all the day long. Job did, and guess what? God restored to Him all that he lost (and them some) after he confessed his lack of understanding and repented of his rebellion (Job 42).
The cause of spiritual or physical death in the desert is first despondency. The second is disbelief. The third is depression. The fourth is discouragement. The fifth is disposition. The sixth is distress and the seventh is disparity. These seven causes are significant to seven letters that spell DROUGHT! The desert experience will always produce a drought in your life if you allow it to. However, the Bible tells us that God has promised to give us rivers in the desert. Please believe me, the rivers in the desert are not your destiny, they are only your refreshment, revival and restoration. But, if you fail to line up with God, you will end up in a spiritual drought. And this is exactly what the devil wants. Just because you are going through a desert experience does not mean you have to be in the spiritual drought.
When God revealed these seven causes of death in the desert to me, I was ironing my shirt. I had tried all day long to prepare notes for the message to be preached. But to no avail.
Then, while ironing my shirt, I received revelation. It is import to stay before God and listen to what He has to say. This experience is what I call revelation, which means the word is illuminated and you receive the truth of the Word.
The illumination of the Word of God brings revelation, which ultimately brings transformation; the fact that God’s plan was to bring the children of Israel into the promise in a very short time. But, because of their disbelief and rebellion, He allowed them to wander in the wilderness until everyone of the generation that left Egypt was dead. They went through the drought and died without experiencing their God given destiny of the Promised Land. However, their seeds were blessed with the Promise.
The same is true today. You may wonder why we are so far behind in the church world. Well, it is because we have gotten into the desert of failing to do what God instructed us to do. Rather than experiencing a time of refreshment, revival and restoration in the desert, we have allowed our experiences to go into a drought.
The church world is in a drought and you know this because the church is now agreeing with the world by saying it is okay for men to marry men, and women to marry women.
Where does the church stand on this? It sits quietly by and says nothing. I am here to tell you that the bible does not condone same sex marriages and neither do I. I want the whole world to know that New Dimensions International Fellowship Ministries is not in a drought. We stand on the fact that God’ Word is true and we will live by it.
While walking for about five days in the Smoky Mountains, and waiting for a ride that never came back to pick us up, we realized that we only had enough food and water for five days and now our supply was gone. I turned and looked at the mountain and saw a little trickle of water running down the side.
I dug a hole and allowed the dirty water to fill the hole and then I noticed that the longer the water sat, the clearer it became and were able to fill our canteens. I can see clearly how God refreshed, revived, and restored us during our desert experience.
That desert just happened to be the smoky Mountains. My point is that the desert represents a time of trouble. You can be in the midst of people, alone or even at the Country Club. Anywhere, it can become a desert. Don’t die in the desert.
About the Author
Thomas Jenkins, Sr., the pastor of New Dimension Ministries, 110 Alta Woods Blvd., Jackson, is the founder and chairman of New Dimensions (formerly New Lake) Development Foundation. He accepted the call to the Gospel ministry in November 1979 and was ordained in 1981 by the Church of Christ Holiness, U.S.A.
Jenkins was born in Rankin County, on October 1954. He is married to the joy of his heart, Rose Mary and they are the parents of four children: Thomas, Jr., Sherman, Florence and Jasmine.
Jenkins is also the author of “From the Desert to Destiny.Additional excerpts from his book will be published in The Mississippi Link in upcoming weeks.
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