“Whenever faith is starved in your soul it is because you are not in contact with Jesus; get in contact with Him and lack of faith with go in two seconds.”
– Oswald Chambers
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:13
Last Sunday morning I left for a solo 2-night trip to the desert for a time of prayer and seeking God. Sunday morning began with spiritual warfare, which continued sporadically for the entire trip and afterward. The enemy knows how powerful focused prayer is in silence and solitude.
The Airbnb I checked into had a notice that said “This is the desert! Keep all doors/screens closed at all times. We have wild animals, including javelinas, snakes, tarantulas, coyotes, and more.” Indeed, I did encounter a javelina and a coyote during my stay, along with cottontail rabbits, lizards, and plenty of birds. The temperature was in the 110’s. I took prayer walks and spent time seeking Him in this environment.
The desert reminds me of God: untamed, unpredictable, and dangerous, yet, serene and peaceful. Stay in 110+ degree weather long enough, and you’ll be at risk of heat exhaustion if you’re not prepared for it or somewhat acclimated to it. In the church of the desert there are no theological boxes, no soft, comfortable chairs, no loud worship bands to overclock the nervous system, no schedules or restrictions; just wild, wide-open space, God, and the animals and reptiles that populate that domain. I spent plenty of time seated on the desert floor, as the picture below shows.
In silence and solitude, we’re able to hear God’s quiet voice more clearly. It’s the perfect setting for several days of focused prayer, which might be why Jesus spent so much time in the desert alone.
“But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”
Luke 5:16
If the Son of God needed extended time alone with the Father in silence and solitude often, His people need it more so, especially in the insane asylum we live in today.
Not long before I left, Proverbs 3:5-6 came to mind:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.”
“With all your heart” was hitting me. I trust God, strive to walk with Him, and hear His voice, but, “with all your heart” was exposing a place in my heart that was off. It would be as if my heart had 40 tubes of conduit through which faith flowed, with several tubes blocked with debris. I started praying into “With all your heart,” asking God to do what He needed to clear out these spaces so I could trust and walk with Him more freely.
Trust is the cornerstone of every relationship. If we don’t trust God, prayer will be a short-lived ritual, we’ll fake it at church, and reading the Bible will be little more than an exercise in futility. We’ll be prone to doing life our way along with the world-class mistakes and screwups that come when self is on the throne of the heart. Hearing His voice will be difficult at best. Fear, the enemy of faith, will have it easy tormenting us. It’s hard to obey someone we don’t trust. And how can we receive love from God if we don’t trust Him, especially when we can’t see Him?
On Monday, God led me to pray through Psalm 51. When I hit verse 6; I parked there and prayed through it several times:
“Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.”
I prayed into it, asking the Lord to reveal the truth in my innermost being and make me know wisdom in the hidden parts of my core. As I continued praying through Psalm 51 a mini-revival took place; shame from sin of the past was exposed, and I broke down weeping. I released the shame and everything connected with it, and a sense of peace followed.
Then He brought me to Hebrews 11:6:
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
I certainly believe that “He is.” Seeing Him as “a rewarder of those who seek Him”… me… has been elusive at times. I know from personal experience that God has radically changed my life, answered many prayers over the years, and spoken to me. The impediment, or blockage of doubt, was connected to questioning whether He rewarded me for going after Him. Who can say they deserve to be rewarded by God for anything they do? Yet, He offers to reward us for going after Him. I can get also caught up in my failures at times; locking onto our failures prevents us from seeing Him and the gifts and blessings He offers.
Monday night I invited God to wake me when He wanted me up the next morning. Tuesday morning, the wake-up call came at 5:15am. Minutes later I was back out on the desert floor.
This time He had me read through the book of Phillipians. These verses stood out:
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Phil 3:12-14
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Phil 3:20
“Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord.”
Phil 4:1
“Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored[c] side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.” (Emphasis mine)
Phil 4:3
“If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.”
Phil 1:22
Sunday and Monday the Lord had cleansed and opened the faith-pipes in my heart that needed His touch. Now He was planting the immense blessings of being a citizen of Heaven and having my name written in the book of life deep in my core. I am to stand firm in those blessings, forget past failures, and keep pressing forward to my eternal inheritance. The time I have left here is for fruitful labor, which I ask Him for often. There, in the early morning hours of the desert, God answered my prayers and opened up my heart up to trust Him more.
There was more spiritual warfare later that morning, and again later in the day. The enemy will often attack to get us to doubt God’s healing and blessings. When warfare comes, we stand firm, shut him down, and move forward.
What God said to me, He is saying to all His blood-bought sons and daughters. Do you trust Him? With all your heart? Do you believe from your core all the blessings He has given you and who you are in Christ? No Sunday school answers or quoting verses here; be honest with where your heart is. Are you hung up on your failures? Are you moving forward, taking more ground for the kingdom and investing your time and treasure in that which has eternal rewards and significance?
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21
Jesus continues to invite every believer to come away alone with Him:
“And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.”
Mark 6:31-32
You can have a powerful, intimate, life-changing relationship with God, where you hear His voice and He pours life and healing into your heart if you’re willing to binge on prayer like many Christians gorge on Netflix, social media, movies and sports. When is the last time you spent a day or two alone with God, with all your props, distractions, and emotional crutches removed?
In scripture we see Isaac meditating alone in the field at night. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness before leading the nation of Israel. David spent years in the desert on the run from Saul before he became king. Elijah had a powerful encounter with God alone in the wilderness after crashing into depression after Jezebel threatened to kill him. John the Baptist grew up in the desert. Jesus prepared for ministry not in seminary or Bible college, but 40 days alone in the desert, and then He continued to go back out to the wilderness alone for prayer throughout the 3 years of His earthly ministry.
Silence and solitude with God are a critical part of every believer’s life. Without it, the roots of our relationship with God may have little depth and we’ll be prone to living in the flesh, just like many who sit in church on Sunday, get a little God hit, then move onto other things. (What’s for lunch?)
In the decades I’ve been attending church, I can’t recall ever hearing a pastor say he spent a day or two alone with God in a wilderness setting or challenging his flock to do the same. Then we wonder why so many are falling away or being exposed for sexual or other types of sin, including many pastors.
Many Christians will never do more than touch the tip of their toe in the vast expanse of what their relationship with God could be because their prayer life is half dead. They may be really nice people, but there’s no life in being nice. Attending Bible studies and going to church are good, but you can go to church for years and still be miles away from God.
Every believer can have as much or as little of God as they want.
Want more of Him? Been to the desert lately?
