From the desk of Steve Shultz:
If you're been down and out, like so many of have been, or walked through the wilderness, this word by Tiffany Ann Lewis is for you! Tiffany Ann shares a great word of HOPE through the wilderness trials and what we're to learn, and the focus is NOT always on "the promise." You see, there is a process and a learning curve for us to walk through and grow into as well. Read on for more....
Tiffany Ann Lewis:
Draw Me! A Wild Ride Through the Wilderness
Draw me away, to where we become as one.
Where there's nothing left of me, and Thy Kingdom can come.
I'm longing to decrease, 'cuz I'm longing for more of You...
Draw me! Draw me!
Draw me, Lord, and I will run!
Draw me! Draw me!
Draw me, Lord, and I will run...
Into Your arms of Love, here I come.
Come and capture my heart, invade the corners of my mind.
And kiss me with The Kiss, that sets my spirit aflight.
I'm longing to decrease, 'cuz I'm longing for more of You...
Draw me! Draw me!
Draw me, Lord, and I will run!
Draw me! Draw me!
Draw me, Lord, and I will run...
Into Your arms of Love, here I come.
When I wrote this song, I hadn't considered that the God of the Hebrews leads His children into the wilderness. Therefore I sang this song with all my heart and, like young lovers do, I ran hard after Him only to find myself in the wilderness. Can you identify? (CLICK HERE to listen to a sample of this song.)
Dazed and perplexed, I wondered why this was happening. I tried to console myself with the story of Exodus, remembering that the only way to the Promised Land was through the wilderness. And on a day that I desperately needed to know that "all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen..." (2 Corinthians 1:20), the Lord spoke to my spirit, telling me that was not the purpose for this journey. You see, in my pain, I became so focused on God's promises being manifested, that I almost "missed the purpose" of my passage.
"That You May Know that Man Shall Not Live by Bread Alone, But by Every Word that Proceeds from the Mouth of the Lord"
Deuteronomy 8:2-3 makes the purpose very clear. "And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord."
The Hebrew word used here for "humble" is 'anah (pronounced aw-naw', Strong's #6031). I was surprised to discover that this word is used in many different ways. It is used in the typical sense, meaning: humble, meek, poor, weak, afflicted and so on. It's also used to signify a response of some sort and means: to answer, respond, testify, speak, shout and even sing. More stunning to me was yet another meaning of this word, which is: to be occupied, busied with. This suggests that while God does use affliction to bring humility, the purpose is not to humiliate us but rather to cause us to be occupied or busied with Him and Him alone. It is only a tool that God uses so that we will be occupied with Him, to concern ourselves with Him.
This brings a whole new meaning to one of my favorite Scriptures: Hosea 2:14-15. "Behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. I will give her her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt." Notice the prophet tells us the sequence of events that will occur. First, the bride will be "allured" into the wilderness. Second, she will be spoken to by God. Third, she will be given vineyards and a valley of Achor (Achor means trouble) which would be as a door of hope. Last, but certainly not least, she will sing, shout, testify—she will "'anah" there...while she is in the wilderness.
The Lord is a Jealous Lover; He's not trying to beat us down and reduce us to a pile of smoldering ashes, but He is drawing us again and again to our first love. "'And it shall be, in that day,' says the LORD, 'that you will call Me "My Husband" and no longer call Me "My Master"'" (Hosea 2:16).
While my heart sings at this prospect, I am also painfully aware that this "humbling" is done through the tests, trials and temptations that we encounter here in the wilderness. We read in Matthew 4:1 that Jesus was "led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." This is where it gets difficult, because in our weakened state we become vulnerable to the devil's lies. We may become desperate and try anything in order to get our prayer answered, or worse, we may lose hope and just give up the fight.
There are so many right now in the Body of Christ in the wilderness and are wondering if they are going to make it through. If that's you today, I have good news for you. First of all, you are not alone: a whole nation is there with you; we all experience it because we are all led through this way of the wilderness. Secondly, the God of the Hebrews has destined us to cross over! Let me explain.
The God of All Who Cross Over
The phrase "the Lord God of the Hebrews" is a title that God gives Himself in Exodus 3:18. You see, "Hebrew" is not just a language, Hebrews are people. The Hebrew word for "Hebrew" is 'ibriy (pronounced ib-ree', Strong's #5680) which means "one from beyond." It is used to describe one from beyond the Jordan. It comes from a root that means: to cross over, to pass over, through, or by. Beloved, by calling Himself "the God of the Hebrews," the Lord is declaring that He was, is, and forever will be the God of all who cross over.
This word is indirectly tied into the "temptations" we will experience along our journey. We read that Jesus was "led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." (Matthew 4:1) The Greek word for tempted here is peirazo (pronounced pi-rad'-zo, Strong's #3985). Peirazo speaks of a strong internal conflict and carries the idea of trying/testing a person for the purpose of ascertaining his quality, or what he thinks, or how he will behave himself in the trial. It's interesting to note that this word is derived from the word peiro, which means "to pierce." This reveals the depth of the trials and temptations that we will encounter.
The path to the full revelation of this word continues. I pray this will give you as much hope in the trial as it does for me in mine. Our test/temptation/trial (peirazo) is connected to the word peran (pronounced per-'an, Strong's #4008) which means: beyond, on the other side. Notice that this definition is the same as what it means to be a Hebrew—to be one from the other side. But here's the thing: it is through the word peiro, which means pierce, that all these words are connected.
What an incredible picture, revealing that even though our trials may pierce us, emotionally and/or physically, we are going to the other side because we are sons and daughters of the God of the Hebrews! Hallelujah! Can I get an Amen?
Hope in the Wilderness
We are all taking a journey through the way of the wilderness, heading toward the land that He promised us. However, we are living in the present and have an adversary that would rather have us just give up and die. I know there are times when we don't see the miracle manifested, and it's at these times that our faith needs supernatural support. I believe we can find that supernatural hope as we look at the equivalent word used for test/tempt in Hebrew, God's letters of light.
The Hebrew equivalent to the Greek word peirazo is nacah (pronounced naw-saw', Strong's #5254). As I have said before, Hebrew is a love language, a language of poetry and pictures. So, let's look at the Hebrew word nacah to see the beautiful spiritual picture the letters paint and find the supernatural hope that will see us through the wilderness.
Nacah (the Hebrew word for test/tempt) is spelled with three Hebrew letters: Nun – Samech – Hey.
Nun – The Sages say that the nun represents God's faithfulness. The nun also represents seed and life. Through this letter we can see that God is faithful. Beloved, He did not lead you to this wilderness so you could die there. "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
Samech – The samech represents God's support. The word samech actually means to lean, lay, rest, support (Strong's #5564). It is a letter that looks like a circle which has no beginning or end and can be seen as the heart of God where one can be protected by the strong outer circle. It looks like a hug to me, as the arms of God encircle and support me. Also, considering we are talking about trials in the wilderness, it's interesting to note that the letter samech also represents the sukkah, the tent that the children of Israel lived in as they traveled through the wilderness.
Some scholars say that the middle letter of a word represents the heart of the word, which in this case is the letter samech. Notice that it is the nun, the faithfulness of God, that brings us to the samech—the support of God. The samech in turn, brings us to our last letter, the hey.
Hey – The Hebrew letter hey means "behold" and represents the breath of God. Ah... the vital breath of God. Is this how Jesus could say, "Thy will not mine be done"? Is this the breath that filled the Apostle Paul when he prayed three times, yet the thorn remained? "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Perhaps because the letter hey has the numerical value of 5—the number of grace.
God's Love Does Not Disappoint Us
"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:5). GLORY! God's love does not disappoint us. We may be disappointed because what we were praying for didn't come to pass, but even in our disappointment, God's love is there for us to comfort, encourage, and give us the strength to carry on. "Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him" (Psalm 42:11).
In our test/trial (nacah), our faith (nun) leads us to the center of His heart (samech) and we receive the breath of God (hey), the grace to carry on. Beloved, here, in the midst of our wilderness, when the wind has been knocked out of us, by the grace of God, we receive our second wind. As we reside in the center of God's heart, we can hear it beat with a love that would rather suffer and die than live without us. This doesn't mean that everything is going to be all sunshine and daffodils, but it does mean that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus—nothing.
Beloved, the Lord is leading His Bride into the wilderness. Knowing what you know now, will you follow? Will you sing "Draw me" and run after Him? Will you allow Him to cause you to be occupied with only Him?
If your answer is Yes, hang on, because this life is a wild ride through the wilderness. Keep your hands and legs inside the moving vehicle at all times. Stay in the samech, the sukkah, the very heart of God, nestled underneath the shadow of His wing. Yes, we are in the wilderness, and yes, there are trials and tribulations that threaten to overtake us, but be encouraged, for we are destined to cross over—the God of the Hebrews will see to it. Amen and amen.
Tiffany Ann Lewis
Dancing with the Flame of the Lord Ministries
Email: tiffanyann@tiffanyannlewis.com
