A DESERT PLACE

When we think of something dry we are inclined to believe that there is no use or purpose. One generally believes when something dries up it has lackluster. This causes an effect on our thinking for anything that is positive or structured in our lives. There are so many times we as Christians feel lackluster in our homes, workplaces, relationships, and our secret entrepreneurship enterprises. All men (mankind) need someone to believe in what they feel is true and meaningful. There is nothing more heartbreaking than to have a dream or an inclination to help change the world for the better with the dream that the good Lord has placed in our hearts. A reassuring voice of hope and a firm but delicate handshake from a loved one or a close acquaintance will always encourage us to persevere.

Our heavenly Father has put dreams and hope in all of His beloved children’s hearts. You can rest assured it will be fulfilled if we continue to have the spark of fire and tenacity we had at the beginning of our walk with our beloved Lord Jesus Christ. If only we can have the same child-like faith we had at the very beginning then, and only then, are we able to walk out of God’s perfect plan for our lives. It is truly amazing for one to grasp this marvelous thing called faith; the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. At first, when our heavenly Father put the dream in your hearts, you are electrified with joy and hope, and assurance. But when time passes by and there is less support and gratitude your heart feels depleted and sad. Consumed with disappointments and setbacks can be regenerated, one feels. All it takes is one assurance that someone says to you, “I believe all that God is told you and put into your heart.”

Your persona is enlightened, your step is striving, but there is still a lingering void in your heart that will not subside only because it appears that it has not come to pass. So you feel like a dry root with no moisture and you are astonished and disbelief tries to creep into your mind. And you rehearse what you hear in your mind, “Maybe I am hearing things in my head. Maybe it wasn’t God. Maybe it was all in my mind: a pipe dream.” The adversary is constantly whispering these lies and trying to sow discord between you and your God. The human mind tends to believe what we hear in our mind. It is a natural thing, of course, but to the household of faith we are preached and taught to not listen to our minds, but what is in our hearts. God in heaven places dreams and purpose in our hearts, not our minds.

We use our minds daily to make decisions and frame our days based on this. There is nothing that we are functioned to do or task that a decision isn’t relevant. The very moment you open your eyes you will make a decision to give God praise and glory for the morning or not. Before you put your feet on the floor you will make a decision to kneel before God, your maker in heaven, or not. Before you walk away from your bedside you will make a decision to read God’s holy word or not. Before you walk out of your sleeping chambers you will make a decision to lift up holy hands and give God glory or not. All of this, brethren, are decisions that you will make before you even start your day. The mind is a very powerful tool, therefore no man can trust it. God tells us to renew our minds and to have the mind of Christ. We are told not to even have our own minds but rather the minds of Christ Jesus. Jesus is Lord! You cannot, you must not put any faith or hope in all you hear in your mind! It is your spirit man and your heart where your dreams are stored. Your spirit man will guide you to your purpose. Your hearts will show you your purpose. Amen!

But you say, “My heart feels so empty, my heart feels so destitute, my heart feels so dark, my heart hurts! How can I trust in something I can’t see and has forsaken me?” That’s it beloved. You can’t see your heart or feel it. There are times you feel you have lost your way and that your hearts have failed you, but the good news is that God is greater than your heart. You must believe it! God is greater than your heart! God has put dreams and beautiful purpose in your heart that no man can erase. Men may criticize and condemn you because they can’t see what God has placed in your heart and at times you are your worst critic, but, beloved, God is greater than your heart.

When your heart seems dark and lonely and you feel completely desolate as you’re in the wilderness all alone and that dry root seems to sprout in your mind, that’s when out of the ordinary a most magnificent bloom erupts in our darkest hour. Hallelujah! Hope is alive. Faith is crystal clear. In a blink of an eye, you can finally see what God has been telling you all along. This dry bitter root has vitality and no longer has lackluster. The visions that God has purposed in your heart have bloomed like a beautiful rose in a dry desert. And you look all around, standing there all alone by yourself, with no colleagues, stand-byers, friends, no one, just you standing alone and your heart once again is as it was in the beginning when God in heaven placed the dream in your heart; perfect. You feel it. You embrace it, and all men shall see it.

You are now the perfect bloom in a dry land, a desert, standing with dignity, beauty, and God’s glory. How? Not because you understood God’s plan but because you have faith in God’s plan. In our darkest hour when all has failed us, even our hearts, God has revealed to us that He is greater than our hearts in a desert place. Amen.

“For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things”(I JOHN 3:20).

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.”

(ISAIAH 35: 1-2)

Glory be to God,

Reverend Helen Trower