Our pilgrimage through life can be likened to a wilderness journey before we get to the awaited Promised Land of Heaven. Just as the Hebrews of long ago needed the guidance of God and received daily nourishment of manna from heaven, we also need God’s direction and provision for our journey. For 40 years the children of Israel were in the dry and parched wilderness. They faced many enemies causing them to fear, doubt and disbelieve that they would ever attain their promise. God was faithful to them; He guided them in the desert continually by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  In addition to the manna, He turned the bitter water of Marah into sweet water.  He also sent his Angel ahead of them to overcome their enemies (Ex 23:23, Neh 9:19, Duet 8:3).  

While in this world, we may be aware of our own wilderness or desert place. Our modern day enemies may be that of sickness or particular hardships. We realize that life is beyond our control, fear and disbelief monopolize our thoughts. We question God’s care for us or that He will deliver us from our sufferings and bring us through to a land of abundance and rest. God’s desire for us is to enter into the fullness of a blessed life, in fellowship with His Son who died to grant us full access to His Throne of Mercy. His complete deliverance was accomplished at the Cross, once for all (Heb 4:3). He gives us direction, comfort and provision through His Word to overcome any adversity we will ever face. The wilderness is no longer a barren place, we discover springs of living water where we can drink refreshment.

Isaiah 58:11 reveals to us this certainty:  “And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”  

The Hebrew meaning for drought means “dry places” –places exposed to the intense heat of the burning sun, parched from lack of moisture. When we go through dry places seeing ourselves as parched, dried up and unfit to overcome the opposition we face, God is at work strengthening our bones by imparting His hidden manna to sustain us and wellsprings of living water to refresh us. 

Whatever difficulty we are facing, God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in time of trouble (Ps 46:1). His Word instructs us not to forget His benefits of forgiveness, redemption, mercy and healing (Ps 103:2-4). So many, so weighty, so inexhaustible are the gifts of God toward us, we are not able to contain them.  Glory be to God, who sends us both physical and spiritual benefits everyday too numerous to be counted. These blessings are not only for bright days but on dark, barren days as well. As His child, when we are sick or weighed down by the burdens of this world, we can trust that God is loading us up daily with his benefits (Ps 68:19). They are bestowed on us just as the manna from heaven was provided daily for the children of Israel. God wants us to uncover the very brightest gems and jewels he has for us while we seek him on our wilderness trail of life; hidden treasures silently waiting to be discovered through the eyes of faith.  

Believing that God is imparting to you spiritual benefits on bright days when you’re healthy and everything is going well is one thing, it is quite another challenge altogether to believe God for His benefits on dark days when you’re sickly or when everything is falling apart. What we fail to realize is God’s great care for us. When you cry out to God in faith, trusting Him for deliverance, He will prove himself to you on those dark days of physical or emotional need, He will open the windows of heaven for you and pour out a blessing that you will not be able to contain (Mal 3:10). He will give you beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (Is 61:3).  Imagine what blessings God has already bestowed on us awaiting our access by faith right now!  

God desires to direct and provide in the barren regions of our life. He intends to work through each of us to share His goodness with others. We are His vessels, overflowing from springs of living water that quench the thirst in a dry and thirsty land. 

“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength; every one of them in Zion appeareth before God” (Ps 84: 5-7).

God has recently brought me through 3 months of intense physical affliction with a great joy and strength. He has renewed my vision to proclaim His gospel all over the U.S. and the world. He has blessed my family and my business. My health has returned to a place where my legs and lungs are once again getting stronger everyday. Glennis and I are back to taking walks as often as possible. It is exciting to know that God has been “loading up” my body with not only spiritual but physically benefits during these dark days. I have been satisfied in drought (Is 58:11) during my recent sickness and earnestly believe that my bones have been made “fat” with renewed bone marrow that will be utilized for my healing.  

Despite any hardship you may face, God has also given you everything needed for your wilderness journey as you access His benefits through faith.    

Many people have dreamed of Scott having been healed. Several family members and close friends have also had dreams of Scott’s complete physical restoration. The repeated occurrence of these dreams has been so unusual that even casual acquaintances have dreams that spoke the same message of healing. They all sheepishly mention them thinking their insignificance. Numerous people passively approach Scott, sensing a need to either encourage him or a responsibility to mention their dream encounter to him.

Through Scott’s personal experience with Jesus the Healer and these repeated confirmations, he awaits the promise of a physical healing that God has yet to manifest. Scott has always paid special attention to each individual’s depiction of their dream, in fact he has journeled many of them. Scott himself, has dreams with a transformation of healing occurring, he repeatedly has foreseen himself physically complete with a cooperative body. He has vision to share the hope and comfort found in a relationship with Christ.  Scott’s belief system continues with the assurance of healing while in a dream state of unconsciousness. So pervasive are the thoughts and verifications of physical deliverance that we both abide in expectancy.  

I do not have as active a “night life” as Scott, I seldom recall my dreams. Despite dedication and support to my husband and a compelling desire to share the good news of the Gospel;  it has seemed little strange to me that with all the dream “reports” over the last decade,  I had never visualized a renewal of Scott’s physical condition….until May 26^th, 2008, written below: 

“Scott & I were out of town on a trip, in attendance with others we knew. Somehow with the flurry of activities I was not with Scott (highly unusual in public settings). I was in a hotel room with a couple of others, the phone rang; it was Scott looking for me. He asked where I was and where I had been, he told me that he had been healed and I hadn’t been there. I could tell that he was perturbed with me. (Later when I awoke It struck me that I had heard Scott’s voice in my ear. It was the voice from long ago with the force of air and a nuances of his own. I could detect he even had his mid-western inflection.) I gave him my good reasons for not being there and asked where he was. He told me he was in a room at the hotel. The room happened to be adjoining, so I went right over and found him busy packing light clothing into a small suitcase. He had a toothbrush out of the side of his mouth, trying to do two things at once. He was in a hurry and he was stressing the urgency that we had to leave right away. (I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, Scott’s arms were moving hurriedly to fill the suitcase, he was talking with his hands and gesturing that we had to get a move on it.)   

I was astonished, standing before me for the first time in a long time was the stature of the man I had married. I marveled what God’s healing power had done to finally manifest that which we had believed for. I stood there in disbelief, although I had believed in faith for it! God had brought forth something that had no chance of “reality”. Scott magnified God reminding me that Jesus had told him that He would do it. I agreed that had been Scott’s constant testimony. We had both sensed there had been spiritual momentum with an increasing acceleration and hunger to see God through his Word. We had known His deliverance and answer to our prayer was near. 

As we left the room and walked outside, the weather was warm. We were dressed casually and late to attend a meeting of some sort. I didn’t get the impression that Scott was the speaker but did sense the obligation to be on-time, particularly since others were expecting to see the miraculous healing he had received. We walked down a flight of steps and onto a sidewalk. There was an expanse of green grass on our left. Scott took off running to do a cart wheel in the lush grass (This seems more like me as a young girl, I used to love to tumble around on summer days doing handsprings, etc in large grassy areas). I called out to him not to do it because I feared that his shoulders wouldn’t be able to withstand his weight while turning the cartwheel. My cautioning diminished his confidence; he went into a crouched “baby” cartwheel. I immediately knew that I had limited his belief through my voice of doubt.”  

I then awoke and replayed the dream as I lay in bed. I could still hear the sound of Scott’s voice; I treasured remembering his detached but familiar expression.  I thought of how I would regret not being with Scott when God anoints him healing, I was overjoyed how God had answered the prayer for a miracle and I thought of how the words I speak have influence over the actions of others. I desire to voice the possibilities empowering people to do the things God compels them to do. 

I thank God for the meditations he gives us. When our thoughts affirm His love and encourage our trust in Him, I say AMEN! Our faith relies on the substance of things hoped for and things yet unseen. Scott & I position our hearts in agreement believing that this disease (A.L.S.) is not unto death but for the glory of God. We have an expectancy that God’s promise will come to pass. We have a vision for our future with the purpose that Jesus be lifted high for all men to see.

In John 10:10, Jesus says “the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly”. The thief (the devil) steals, kills and destroys people through the words that come out of their OWN mouths. Jesus said “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mt 12:34). Whatever is in our hearts is readily available to come out of our mouths, bringing to surface the overflow of what we are occupied with. Whether attitudes of our fleshly nature or the peaceable fruit of righteousness pouring forth from our spirit. God knows the thoughts and intents of our heart (Heb 4:12) and is not fooled by our words when they don’t line up with what is in our hearts. Discerning persons are also able to determine what kingdom is giving voice to our words; the devil also is taking surveillance.  Our words may try to cover up and conceal the foundation in which we have been building upon, but over time it is abundantly evident.  

Proverbs 18:21 tells us, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Our tongues have the power to speak life or death into any circumstance we are in. We must not be careless with the words we choose to speak because God will hold us accountable for every idle word we say (Matt 12:36).  As we remember, in the book of Numbers, chapters 13 & 14; twelve spies came back to report of the findings they were sent to spy out in the Promised Land. All of them except Caleb and Joshua spoke unbelief with their tongues likening themselves unto grasshoppers, in fear that they all would be devoured by giants in the land if the children of Israel were to enter into the Promised Land.

Upon hearing this, the whole congregation of Israel lifted up their voice and cried, complaining and lamenting having ever left Egypt. God was angered; after all the signs that He had performed among these people, speaking through Moses He said to them “As I live, says the Lord,  just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you…”. In God’s judgment (verses 29-35),  He set Israel aside in the wilderness for 40 years according to the number of days the men had spied out the promised land (vs. 14:34). God’s rejection of the evil congregation that gathered against Him was that they would die in the wilderness. Only Joshua, Caleb and those under the age of 20 years would go in and possess the land of Canaan. The spies, who brought the evil report by the fruit of their tongues had caused the congregation to sin, they were all killed by a plague before the Lord.

God is listening to our words they have power and authority behind them, and they also have creative ability. We create our own future by the words we choose to say and. Our words will either testify for us or against us (Mt 12:37). God has a future of abundant life destined for us but Satan has a plan of death waiting. There are crossroads ahead for our future and we have two paths we could choose. Satan has plans for our death and destruction on one path but God has plans to give us a life of hope and future on the other narrower path. Jeremiah 29:11 reads, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” God loves you, He has a plan of hope for your future.

As we consider, in application to our own lives, God instruction for Joshua to meditate on the Book of the Law day and night that he might observe to do all that was written in it, then he would be prosperous and successful (Josh 1:8). God also told Joshua to be strong and courageous and not to be afraid or dismayed because of his enemies (vs9); God was with Joshua and He promises to be with us.

For myself, it is not always easy to confess God’s promise for health and healing as I’m hooked up to a breathing machine, fed through a feeding tube, wearing a brace that supports my neck with Velcro to keep my head in place. When my breathing was failing last month and I had no capacity to use my authority to declare scripture or the energy to read my bible on-line, my wife would remind me of God’s promises and say to me, “You are getting better every day” and, “We have a future together”. God also sent people that visited me, wrote e-mails and would call on the phone to speak words of life to encourage me. I was greatly strengthened and it helped to bring me to a place of expecting God for a victory with my breathing. Slowly my breathing improved and I began to regain energy to declare scriptures of life. During the time that I was most affected with restricted breathing, projections of death filled my mind but God kept reminding me that it wasn’t my time to go; He was using me despite my illness. I realized that God was sustaining me and I could not just pass away quietly in the night although I was having trouble breathing. No, God has a future and a plan for me and my wife, He wanted me to believe Him and confess scriptures of life. The issues of death and the timing of it belong to God (Ps 68:20) so I didn’t need to worry about that. One of my favorite verses that I would meditate on during this time was (Ps 118:17) “I shall live and not die and declare the works of the Lord.” Praise be to God, I have learned that when I am most vulnerable, in a position of weakness, that is when God’s strength is displayed greatest to the atmosphere and to those around. In confidence and completely at the mercy of God, I profess His words of life trusting Him to bring to pass that which He gave faith to believe.

We must comprehend the importance of thinking and speaking aloud the truth found in the Word of God seeking God’s guidance and provision for our lives. When things seem unfathomable and impossible, we stand on God’s Word for His best, this becomes the evidence of Faith…the substance of things not seen (Heb 11:1).  The world in which we live was framed by the power of the Word; the living Word has power to bring forth things into existence. Do we realize that we can pray words of life to affect our future? By possessing the indwelling Spirit, we are given access to the Resurrection power of Christ; this power brought Jesus up from the grave to defeat the devil.  We take charge of our mind and guard our heart, not being ignorant of our adversary the devil, for he will war against us to steal away our confidence. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God, for pulling down strongholds” (2 Co.10:4). This verse gives us our warfare plan. This is a spiritual battle; we are not to let Satan steal our future by playing his hand and confessing words of death. We are to take charge of our words and bring all our thoughts captive casting down anything that exalts itself above the knowledge of Christ. As believer priests in this world we have been given authority to speak words of life which come from the kingdom of heaven. When we confess God’s Word over our circumstance we allow God to do His creative work.  

 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb 4:12