All things done through us by the Spirit of God are right. On the other hand, those things done without His guidance are not right. No matter how our programs sound or how good they appear to be, without Him the end result is bad. With this in mind we can think about an example.

God anointed Moses and Aaron to deliver the children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt. (The children of Israel were an Old Testament example of the body of Christ, The Church and Egypt represented the bondage of sin). This deliverance was good, but after they arrived in the wilderness it appeared that everything had gone wrong. The Israelites could not understand what was taking place. So, working in the flesh, a large group elected Korah as their leader. Then everything went wrong. As soon as they tried to overrun God’s program with their program many of them were destroyed (Numbers 16). God had a plan that would save man from sin and this had to be completed. They, the children of Israel, were an important key in His plan and after He got their attention He continued working through anointed men among them. This took place until Jesus came to take away the sins of the world. Then, after Jesus died, rose and ascended to His father, He sent His Holy Spirit to guide us. However, we have to accept Him and the Holy Spirit in order to be guided by Him. Look at an example of how God works with man and then apply this to your life. On this earth, there are three phases God brings His children through.

1. Accept Jesus as our savior and be delivered from the bondage of sin.

2. A wilderness experience (often more than one). This is where we learn to trust Him and without rebellion, follow Him as we are led by the Holy Spirit.

3. Live a good life, a life of peace and blessings because of His direction and our obedience.

When the children of Israel were in the Wilderness it looked bad, but they were in a process of learning to follow the Lord without complaining. When God is doing something in one’s life it often looks very bad, but the end result is good. Many times I did not understand what God was doing with me, but after I learned to follow Him, and trust Him, good always came. Think about the children of Israel in the Exodus. Then think about your wilderness experience, or experiences. Just as the children of Israel came under His covering, a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day we can come under the covering of the Holy Spirit, having the knowledge, wisdom, provision and protection of Him. Everyone should read the Exodus story (Exodus and Numbers) and see how God works. It is a perfect example of how God works with us and through us. He has always been that way, He is now that way and He will always be that way.

The hard part of this is our learning process, learning to follow God’s instructions without rebellion. The Apostle Paul said that his flesh was at war with his spirit. Apparently every Christian has experienced deliverance from sin and has experienced or will experience the wilderness, peace and blessings of the promise. Isn’t reaching His goal for us why we often go through things that we rather not even know about?

No matter hard our wilderness experience is Jesus is with us. When He and His disciples were in a boat and a great storm arose it appeared that all would perish, but Jesus stilled the storm (Mark 4). He is always with us and even in our times of troubles he is able to do abundantly and above all we can expect or know. He is our deliverer! We can always ask for His Spirit to work through us and help us be delivered from the flesh that causes so much trouble.

Personal: One year ago this February my wife, JoAnn, was transferred to live with Jesus, but two days ago the Lord gave this family a new little girl. Our son, Nick and his wife Anna, living in Dallas, TX, have their first child. This addition brings the number of our offspring to seventeen. If JoAnn were here I would thank her for being the great mother of this family.

Several months ago I told about changes taking place in this ministry. In March, I will tell some of those changes. For now, check the modifications on the KOJ web site.

 Dean Hubbard