This past Sunday at MCC, our good friend Rick Roepke shared about the “desert moments” we all face. Rick described a desert moment as a season of spiritual dryness, where we may begin to feel like God has left, abandoned, or forgotten us. Drawing on stories like the Exodus, Elijah, and the Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace, Rick shared three professions of faith that we can have in the desert moments of our lives:
1. God provides for me in the desert.We are never on our own, never operating under our own ability. Like the manna God gave the wandering Hebrews, he provides everything we need in the desert.
2. God purifies me in the desert. God doesn’t cause bad or painful things, but God can use our desert moments to shape us more and more into the people he is calling us to be.
3. God prepares me in the desert. God often uses the desert moments to shape us and ready us for where he will lead us next.
We all know how the desert is like…but the good news is that we are never alone in the desert!
I have really enjoyed listening and being challenged over the past two weeks by John and Rick, but I am ready to get back at it…and its a good thing, because I am teaching this coming Sunday, July 18. If you want to get a head start for Sunday, then here’s the passage we will be looking at together:
Luke 9v23 “Then he [Jesus] said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” [TNIV]
What are your thoughts on what Jesus says to us here?
Josh Scott 