The heat is blaring, and as the sun is glaring into your eyes you can't help but strain your vision for the hope that's there, yet left unseen. As you're fixing your eyes, that hope begins to fade into doubt and that vision begins to transform into an mirage, a delusion? As you thirst amongst the dryness, you feel your strength begin to fade and your soul begin to crumble.
You begin to search around in desperation, for something to satisfy you, as the hope ahead of you seems impossibly out of reach. Cacti hold water, right? Or is that a myth.. At this point you're not quite in a state to care, and the problem of threatening spikes on the otherwise seemingly harmless cacti seems somehow less problematic than it may have in the past.
You find yourself trudging through the sand towards the cacti in hope of finding something that will distract you and comfort the idea that maybe, just maybe, that hope ahead of you is something you could live without. Maybe, just maybe, you'll find something where you are that will allow you to get by.
It's safe to say that when we do this, unfix our eyes, we go from being led to leading ourselves into a wilderness we weren't meant to forge in the first place. We go from what feels like wandering in a desert to being lost in a sandstorm. We find ourselves unable to see, unsure of which direction to head, and stung from the consequences of our environment.
How true is this of our souls, our mindsets, our attitudes through desert seasons? How often do we turn, shift our focus, and find our thoughts, or actions, in pursuit of an oasis? An alternate realtiy appearing as though it will quinch our thirst in our current state of "need".
In these seasons, do we allow the shout of comfort to overpower the close whisper of God to move forward?
"Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice." (Deuteronomy 4:12)
I'm here to remind you that the true oasis doesn't lead you from God's promises to you, His plans for you, or the call upon you. Anything less than living water in the desert is a mirage.
"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. 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." (Philippians 3:12-14)
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18)
In the seasons where you feel as though the enemy is grabbing at your feet, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, our hope and the hope for humanity. Keep walking, keep trudging, because there is ultimately One source that quenches our thirst amongst the desert, and He is worth pursuing above all else.
*Side note: my challenge to you is to lead a life that's not easy, is uncommon, and against the status quo. A life where you live empty enough for God to fill the gap, yet full enough for God to pour into others.
You begin to search around in desperation, for something to satisfy you, as the hope ahead of you seems impossibly out of reach. Cacti hold water, right? Or is that a myth.. At this point you're not quite in a state to care, and the problem of threatening spikes on the otherwise seemingly harmless cacti seems somehow less problematic than it may have in the past.
You find yourself trudging through the sand towards the cacti in hope of finding something that will distract you and comfort the idea that maybe, just maybe, that hope ahead of you is something you could live without. Maybe, just maybe, you'll find something where you are that will allow you to get by.
It's safe to say that when we do this, unfix our eyes, we go from being led to leading ourselves into a wilderness we weren't meant to forge in the first place. We go from what feels like wandering in a desert to being lost in a sandstorm. We find ourselves unable to see, unsure of which direction to head, and stung from the consequences of our environment.
How true is this of our souls, our mindsets, our attitudes through desert seasons? How often do we turn, shift our focus, and find our thoughts, or actions, in pursuit of an oasis? An alternate realtiy appearing as though it will quinch our thirst in our current state of "need".
In these seasons, do we allow the shout of comfort to overpower the close whisper of God to move forward?
"Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice." (Deuteronomy 4:12)
I'm here to remind you that the true oasis doesn't lead you from God's promises to you, His plans for you, or the call upon you. Anything less than living water in the desert is a mirage.
"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. 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." (Philippians 3:12-14)
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18)
In the seasons where you feel as though the enemy is grabbing at your feet, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, our hope and the hope for humanity. Keep walking, keep trudging, because there is ultimately One source that quenches our thirst amongst the desert, and He is worth pursuing above all else.
*Side note: my challenge to you is to lead a life that's not easy, is uncommon, and against the status quo. A life where you live empty enough for God to fill the gap, yet full enough for God to pour into others.