Page 145 - GRACE

GRACE, Exploring Its Riches

5. Satan Does Come to the Desert to Tempt: From
the example of Jesus, we know that the devil is also
waiting for you in your desert. He knows that if you
pass your desert test, then a major promotion and grace
await you on the other side of your desert. He waited
for Jesus in the wilderness and checked Him out with
tests throughout His time in the wilderness (Matthew
4:1-14; Luke 4:1-13).

6. You Can Be Damaged or Defined in Your Desert:
The Jews who did not believe and had a wrong
attitude, all perished in the wilderness. But Caleb and
Joshua were defined by God in the same wilderness.
The wilderness or their desert proved the grace of God
in them, and they came out better, refined and
successful because they fulfilled their mandate.

7. You Leave Your Desert with Your Peculiar Grace:
In the case of Jesus, we see Him return from the desert
in the power of the Spirit and became famous (Luke
4:14-15). In old time we see this about Elisha also. At a
time when his colleagues and contemporaries were
hesitant, Elisha followed his master, Elijah, across
Jordan to witness his passage with the Chariots of
Israel with the flaming fire. When Elisha returned and
showed up from his ‘desert’, his former colleagues
esteemed him and bowed before him (2 Kings 2:9-15).
Notice he did not demand it of his colleagues; the new
level of grace he carried simply attracted it.

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