The Walk is a daily writing to inspire you in your own personal intimacy with Abba.

Listen, my radiant one—if you ever lose sight of me, just follow in my footsteps where I lead my lovers. (Song of Songs 1:8)

The Wilderness Place 4/19/24 The Wilderness Place 4/19/24

Encounters That Change Perspective

(8 minutes)

"Unfamiliar things always war against familiar things. And the enemy of the current move of God is always the last move of God. We must let ourselves question some things about the way we think. Is this producing fully alive? Because the Kingdom's idea of life and life more abundantly is you, fully alive. Let me ask you a question: what area would you consider of your life, fully alive? Because the Kingdom's saying every area of your life can be fully alive, but maybe what's keeping it from being fully alive is the way you think. This is why encounters are so important. But encounters can also be worthless. How many people in the Bible encountered Jesus and it produced nothing in their life? How many times have we had an encounter with God that produced nothing in our life? How many encounters have I wasted because I did not respond correctly? Well, how do we respond? Encounters are designed to change the way you think. It's an opportunity to let the encounter with God change something in my life that He wants to change." (Pastor Tim)

Encounters are important, be what we do with the encounter is equally important. How we respond to our encounters with Abba can mean the difference between the hair standing up on the back of our neck or our entire life being changed and us being brought more fully into abundant life. How are we responding to the encounters that we're having with Yahweh? Are we allowing the encounter to do what it's intended to do: change our thinking?

"Understand that any encounter that you have with Abba is an invitation into transformation, into metanoia. This is the soaking that takes place." (Pastor Tim)

And this soaking can happen every single day, throughout the entire day. Encounters are available every moment of the day. We just have to step into it. No matter where we are or what we're doing, we can invite Abba into the moment. We can start a conversation with Him in the morning that can go with us all day until we lay our head back down on our pillow at night. This intimate, unbroken fellowship is what we're made for, designed for. We just have to learn to practice the presence of God.

"I don't want you to get discouraged or allow shame and condemnation to come because you have some values out of whack. Encounters are meant to change that!" (Pastor Tim)

Let's talk more about metanoia.

Repent [metanoia] therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:19-21 NKJV)

And now you must repent and turn back to God so that your sins will be removed, and so that times of refreshing will stream from the Lord's presence, and he will send to you Jesus, the Messiah, the chosen one for you. For he must remain in heaven until the restoration of all things has taken place, fulfilling everything that God said long ago through his holy prophets. (Acts 3:19-21 TPT)

Abba's idea of restoration is returning all things to pre-fallen conditions. That's His heart for the cosmos. He intends to restore everything, and this scripture tells us that once that happens He will send Jesus again. That's not how we've heard it preached for the last hundred years in American Christianity, but here it is in the very first message that was preached after the Holy Spirit was given to the world.

"We have to be allowed to rethink some things. We have to be allowed to rethink some theology. If you believe things are supposed to get darker in order for Jesus to come then you will have no hope for restoration to take place. You can't hold these two things at the same time. You can't believe that things are supposed to get worse and at the same time, Jesus is being held in heaven until the restoration of all things. They can't coexist with one another.... We have to let God's word challenge some things that were said from the pulpit. We have to let the truth of God ask us some questions." (Pastor Tim)

Are we allowing our encounters with Abba to change our perspective? Are we allowing the truth of God to challenge some things we thought we had settled? Or are we having encounters with Yahweh, but not allowing those encounters to change how we think?

Why does it matter? Why does it matter that we allow Abba to change our thinking? Here's why:

Don't you know that when you allow even a little lie into your heart, it can permeate your entire belief system? (Galatians 5:9)

These little lies are affecting everything. Our current perspective is permeating our entire life and shaping our reality. How we see determines what we experience. This is why it's important to Abba. This is why Jesus comes to earth and His message to mankind is, "Metanoia, change the way you think!" This is why we must start allowing our encounters with Abba to go deeper, until they change our perspective.

It starts today, on your walk with Abba. Practice His presence today. Take every step with the dove in mind. We are walking in unbroken companionship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But the soaking on happens when you step in!

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Worship: "You Walk With Me" by Housefires

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 4/18/24 The Wilderness Place 4/18/24

Every Circumstance An Opportunity

(5 minutes)

"When we believe that we are truly God's favorite, that thinking determines how we respond no matter what the circumstance says. If we really believed that we were God's favorite and we were beloved, any and every circumstance would be an opportunity for us." (Pastor Tim)

Just like Joseph was able to excel in every environment because he knew he was his father's favorite, every circumstance we face will become an opportunity to see Abba's favor when we start believing that we are truly beloved sons and daughters. Believing that you are loved by the Father will change how you think. It will change your perspective. It will change how you see things that happen in your life.

Think about Joseph's life - sold into slavery by his own brothers, becomes a slave in someone else's home, targeted and accused by his master's wife, and thrown into prison. Let me ask you a question: would your current perspective allow you to see these circumstances as opportunities to excel and experience Yahweh's favor? Or would your current perspective keep you stuck as a slave to hopelessness?

It all goes back to how we think. Remember, how big you dream communicates how deeply you believe God loves you. Knowing you're favored of the Father will change your perspective.

"So imagine this: what if you so believed that you're His favorite that the circumstance did not determine how you responded to the circumstance? So when rejection comes, it doesn't feel like rejection. It feels like an opportunity. What if the flat tire is no longer an inconvenience, but you see it as an opportunity? What if a health crisis comes up, and you don't see it as a crisis at all...you see it as an opportunity? What if you find yourself trapped in a conversation you don't want to be in and it no longer says you're trapped...it's an opportunity? How you think determines where you are." (Pastor Tim)

What if the circumstance is not overwhelming at all, it's just an opportunity?

Are you a slave, or are you Abba's favorite?
You can't be both.

Beloved One, what circumstance in your life is waiting on you to believe you're Abba's favorite? The entire cosmos, all the way down to the circumstances you're walking through right now, are waiting for you to believe that you're Abba's favorite, because they want to experience His goodness, too. As long as we're enslaved in our thinking, they're enslaved. But when you put your coat on and start walking in your beloved identity, everything changes.

The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God's glorious sons and daughters! (Romans 8:19)

While you're on your walk with Abba today, take a look around and let Him point out every opportunity that He's brought into your life. You may be surprised at what He calls an opportunity, that you've been calling a trap.

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Worship: "Beauty for Ashes" by UPPERROOM

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 4/17/24 The Wilderness Place 4/17/24

Unless You Become Like A Child

(5 minutes)

"This is the invitation into the wilderness. Every single time God wants to speak to someone, He draws them into a place of unknowing. 'Abraham, I'm going to send you to a place you know not of. I'm not even going to give you a map to tell you how to get there.' But we hate that. Why do we hate that? Because we have to trust. Every step is about hearing and obeying. The wilderness is an invitation for you, me, us, we to go into the unfamiliar. And He doesn't let you bring what you thought you knew before with you. You have to let the unfamiliar challenge what you thought you were certain of, and we don't like that." (Pastor Tim)

You have to let the unfamiliar challenge what you thought you were certain of. This is what most of our encounters with Jesus feel like because so much of what we've learned isn't the way of the Kingdom. Pastor Tim illustrated this on Sunday when he shared Jesus' thoughts about children. Listen to Jesus' words:

Learn this well: Unless you dramatically change your way of thinking and become teachable like a little child, you will never be able to enter in. (Matthew 18:3 TPT)

Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3 NKJV)

So Jesus shares this Kingdom-truth, and what did we do? We removed the children, who were supposed to be an example to us, from our gatherings and stuck them in a back room. The very expression that Jesus said we needed if we were going to experience the Kingdom, we removed from our sight "so we could be undistracted." This is what we learned in American Christianity, but it was not the way of the Kingdom. These are the things we're unlearning in the wilderness.

As we venture out into the wilderness with Abba, He begins to undo so much of what we thought we already knew. At first, these interactions can be uncomfortable. Trusting can be uncomfortable. Having your previous perspective undone can be very uncomfortable. It can cause you to be unsure and question everything, and that's okay.

The beautiful thing about taking these wilderness walks with Abba is that you may be the most unsure you've ever been in your life, but you're closer to Him and His presence than you've ever been in your life, too. You may be spinning, but you're spinning in the Potter's hands. And like Pastor Tim said on Sunday, Abba can handle your questions and He can handle your doubts. This is what unlearning feels like. And now Abba can speak to you Himself about what the Kingdom is really like.

Beloved One, don't run away from these encounters just because they challenge what you thought you already knew. This is Abba inviting you into a new way of seeing. This is Abba inviting you into trust. Trusting like a child.

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Worship: "Preference" by Rachel Morley

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 4/16/24 The Wilderness Place 4/16/24

Metanoia: Moving Beyond Behavior

(5 minutes)

"We thought 'repent' meant 'change your behavior,' but you can't change your behavior until you change what produces your behavior. It's how you think. How you think produces behavior." (Pastor Tim)

It's so important that we see that Jesus did not come saying, "Repent, change your behavior!" The word "repent" is the Greek word metanoia, which means to change the way you think. This isn't a small thing. When you read the word "repent" in the scriptures, what comes to mind? Because if the default meaning for you is still tied to you turning from sinful behavior, we need to soak in Jesus' perspective a while longer, because behavior was not top of mind as He preached the message of the Kingdom. Behavior is the byproduct of what you believe and how you see things. Jesus came saying, "Metanoia, change the way you think!"

"You know, when the enemy with his deception came along coupled with the spirit of religion, he tried to convince us the problem was our behavior. So for a long time in the Bride, we focused heavily on behavior." (Pastor Tim)

Isn't that the truth? Haven't we just been licking our wounds in the church for years? We designed entire weekends around having an encounter with Jesus, and then ended up diverting our eyes to our own behavior, listing on paper our most troublesome sins and even the "unknown sins of past generations." Now we're not just focusing on our own sins that we can't shake, but grandad's sins that could have been passed down to us. Instead of gazing into the eyes of Jesus, we were cheek-swabbing past generations trying to find where the sinful behavior started. The funny thing is Jesus never used this strategy when healing or delivering someone. He simply asked them, "Are you ready to believe that you're healed?"

"Scripture tells us that whatever you behold is what you become. What you stare at is what's produced in your life...So for the longest time, the church focused on behavior, and everybody got really frustrated because we couldn't stop behavior. We find ourselves slinking back in this area and that area, because nobody was willing to go into the scriptures and find Romans 2:4, which says it's the goodness of God that changes the way you think. It's His goodness - not your discipline, not your behavior, not you focusing on your behavior. It's staring at His goodness that naturally causes your behavior to change. Well, how does that happen? Because it changes the way you think!" (Pastor Tim)

Jesus never came saying, "Change your behavior." But that's the message we've heard the entire time in American Christianity. And on the backside of everyone breaking themselves, striving to change, we find ourselves dealing with the same behavior, but now we're neck-deep in hopelessness and broken lives because the whole time we were staring at the wrong thing, and we ended up becoming what we were beholding.

Jesus' message, the message of the Kingdom, is "Metanoia, change the way you think." Abba wants to take a walk with us today, and the conversation won't be centered around your wrong behavior. The conversation is going to be about your thinking. It's going to be about what you believe, and how you see. Abba's going to ask you what you're staring at, the long list of problems...or His face? Because only one of those leads to metanoia.

Beloved One, don't let shame and condemnation keep taking you back to what's wrong with you. Let Abba's goodness lead you into what's true about you! Don't worry about behavior right now. Just focus on having an encounter with Abba, because that will be the thing that changes your perspective.

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Worship: "Abba, We Let You" by The Wilderness Place

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 4/15/24 The Wilderness Place 4/15/24

Metanoia, The Kingdom of God Is Here

(6 minutes)

"No, it's not a church. It's a family of beloved sons and daughters. It's a family, and we are endeavoring to embrace the unfamiliar. That's what the wilderness is. It invites you on a journey of you not knowing where you're going. The wilderness is an invitation into the unknowing. But also with that, it's an invitation into the undoing." (Pastor Tim)

How much of our thinking, believing and seeing needs to be undone? This is Jesus's invitation to every person. He didn't come asking, "Are you saved?" Jesus came with a singular message that was always in His mouth, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is within, the Kingdom of God is at hand." The Kingdom of God is right here, right now, ready to be accessed and embraced. All that's required is metanoia - what the word "repent" should actually be. Metanoia means "to change the way you think." Meta means "beyond" and noia means "mind." Jesus' invitation is for us to abandon what we currently think and believe, and go beyond our own mind.

Why is how we think so important? How you think determines how you live your life. It determines every how you make every decision in your life. Everything flows from what you believe and how you think.

Here's a simple story that Pastor Tim shared on Sunday to illustrate the importance of how we think:

Years ago, Reader’s Digest featured the true story of Nick Sitzman — a strong, healthy, and ambitious young railroad yardman who was a hard worker and had a loving wife, two children, and many friends.
One summer day, the train crews were able to end their workday an hour early. While performing one last check on some of the railroad cars, Nick was accidentally locked in a refrigerator boxcar. When he realized that the rest of the workmen had left the site, Nick started to panic.
He banged and shouted repeatedly, but no one heard him. With his knowledge, he predicted the temperature inside the car to be zero degrees. Nick’s thought was, “If I can’t get out, I’ll freeze to death in here”. Wanting to let his wife and family know exactly what had happened to him, he found a knife and began to etch words into the wooden floor. He wrote, “It’s so cold, my body is getting numb. If I could just go to sleep. These may be my last words.”
The next morning, his fellow crew slid open the heavy doors of the boxcar and found Nick dead. An autopsy revealed that every physical sign of his body indicated he had frozen to death. And yet the refrigeration unit of the car was inoperative, and the temperature inside indicated 55ºF. Nick had killed himself by the power of his own thoughts.

What a powerful story. So, how important are your thoughts? How important is what you believe?

"Do you understand why Jesus' first statement to us is "metanoia" - change the way you think? Do you understand that when Jesus shows up to people who have been trapped in dysfunctional bodies - broken bodies - hopeless situations for many years - the very first question that He asks is, 'Are you ready to believe that you're healed?' There is a correlation between what we think and the reality of our lives, is what Jesus is saying. He's saying how you think and how you believe is what's produced in your life. How many of us are tolerating things in our lives because it's how we think it's supposed to be?" (Pastor Tim)

How many things in our lives have we convinced ourselves will never change, and they remain the same because that's how we think and believe it's supposed to be?

Maybe the problem doesn't lie in the circumstances we find ourselves in, but in what we think and believe about those circumstances. And Jesus is showing up to invite us to change how we think, how we believe, and how we see. He's inviting us into metanoia.

Beloved One, are you ready to believe that you're healed?

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Worship: "I Love Your Presence" by UPPERROOM

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 4/12/24 The Wilderness Place 4/12/24

Wrapped Up In Abba’s Love

(7 minutes)

This is the story of the family of Jacob, who had settled in the land of Canaan, where his father Isaac had lived as an immigrant.

Jacob's son Joseph was seventeen, and he served his older half brothers, the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah, helping them watch over the flocks. One day Joseph went to his father with a bad report about their behavior.

Now Israel's love for Joseph surpassed that for his other sons because he was born to him in his old age. So Israel had made him a richly ornamented robe (a coat of many colors).

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father loved him more than he loved them, they hated him and would not speak a kind word to him.

One night Joseph had a dream, and when he shared it with his brothers, they hated him even more! (Genesis 37:1-5)

This bears repeating! Something was made available to Joseph that was not made available to the other kids, simply because he was identified as one beloved of his father. If you believe that you are God's favorite, it's going to open something up to you.

What will it open up?

The ability to dream. Joseph could dream big dreams, and it turns out Joseph was the only one who could identify himself as Daddy's favorite. That's no coincidence. Abba is trying to give us a key in this story. What if our ability to have hope and dream Kingdom-sized dreams depends solely on our ability to be rightly identified as Abba's favorite?

"How big you dream communicates how deeply you believe God loves you. And if you're not dreaming, and you're saying that God loves you, I beg to differ. This is a danger for every single one of us because of this reason: we fall into traps we think we're supposed to be in, we walk a few years down the road and all of a sudden the thing that brought fulfillment no longer brings fulfillment. And you know what happens? Your eyes start wandering. You start looking for something else to bring some sort of fulfillment into your life. And until you get a coat that identifies you as beloved, you will run after anything that looks shiny. This is why beloved identity is so important. This is why it's so important that you fall in love with Jesus and you realize how much He loves you. You let Him smother you with kisses before you do anything." (Pastor Tim)

Jesus did nothing for thirty years. He didn't do one single thing until He was fully immersed in the Father's affection. If Jesus needed to be wrapped up in this coat, how much more do we need to be identified as one beloved of the Father?

Your getting wrapped up in Abba's extravagant love will release you to start dreaming extravagant dreams. If you aren't dreaming, it's not because you don't have dreams, it's because you don't believe you're really loved. Dreams are the natural byproduct of believing you're deeply loved by Abba.

Joseph was beloved and dreaming big dreams, but was still immature. So Yahweh took Him on a journey of maturity, a process that He loves to walk out with us. I think Joseph is able to withstand the process because of the foundation he had - his beloved identity and the dreams that Yahweh had given him. Joseph finds himself on the other side of his wilderness walk with the maturity he needs to handle the anointing that Yahweh put on his life. When it comes time for his dreams to be realized, to have all of his family bowing down before him, he has the grace and compassion required to bring transformation, healing, and wholeness to his people. A nation is saved because of Joseph.

Would you believe that the healing of a nation is wrapped up in you? Would you believe that the entire cosmos is standing on tip toe, waiting with great expectation, for you to be revealed as a fully alive, fully mature, beloved son and daughter of Yahweh. The earth is groaning and anxiously waiting for you to be planted as a Mighty Oak of Righteousness. And it all begins right here: letting Abba fully cover you, from head to toe, in the coat of beloved identity so you can dream again. Will you let Him smother you with kisses? Will you let Him fully immerse you in His affections for you?

Don't be surprised when you start feeling hope rise inside of you, because a beloved son and daughter cannot help themselves - they must dream big dreams.

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Worship: "Beautiful Jesus" by Melissa Helser

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 4/11/24 The Wilderness Place 4/11/24

The Coat Of Many Colors

(7 minutes)

This is the story of the family of Jacob, who had settled in the land of Canaan, where his father Isaac had lived as an immigrant.

Now Israel's love for Joseph surpassed that for his other sons because he was born to him in his old age. So Israel had made him a richly ornamented robe (a coat of many colors).

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father loved him more than he loved them, they hated him and would not speak a kind word to him.

One night Joseph had a dream, and when he shared it with his brothers, they hated him even more! (Genesis 37:1-5)

Israel lived in the wilderness with his twelve sons. Joseph was special to Israel because he was born to him by Rachel, his original love affair. And one day Israel gave Joseph a coat of many colors. Listen to the way Dr. Simmons describes this coat in the footnotes of The Passion Translation:

"a long-sleeved tunic that went down to his feet. Most tunics worn by men would only go down to the knees and were often made without sleeves. This robe was not something one would wear at work but was considered to be a robe of special significance for a prince. The same Hebrew word is found in 2 Sam. 13:18 referring to the robe of a princess."

I think it's important to note that this coat/tunic/robe was long-sleeved and went down to the feet. This coat was designed to cover every part of the wearer.

"Joseph is his father's favorite. Joseph is loved more than everyone else by his father. His father identifies him as the one whom he loves. The difference between Israel and Abba is that Abba is big enough for all of us to be His favorite. And I need you to understand this: the fact that Joseph is being identified as his father's favorite is going to open something up to him that's not open to the other kids." (Pastor Tim)

Something was made available to Joseph that was not made available to the other kids, simply because he was identified as one beloved of his father.

"It matters that Joseph is identified as the favorite. It matters what you believe God believes about you. It matters if you believe God loves you the same way He loves Jesus. We say these things out of our mouths, but do we believe it in our hearts?" (Pastor Tim)

If you believe that you are God's favorite, it's going to open something up to you.

What will it open up?

Joseph had a significant realization at age seventeen that set him on a different path than his brothers. When his father wrapped him up in a costly coat of many colors, Joseph understood that he was beloved. And Joseph's coming into this understanding that he was deeply loved by his father gave him permission to dream big dreams.

"If I asked you if God loves you, you would nod your head in agreement, but here's how you determine if it's true. How big you dream communicates how deeply you believe God loves you. The dreams you dream communicate how deeply your heart believes that Abba loves you. What does that mean if we aren't dreaming for anything?" (Pastor Tim)

This is so significant. This truth deserves to be pulled into intimacy with Abba today as you take the walk with Him. Because the foundation for having hope restored is getting wrapped up in your beloved identity. Have you allowed Abba to place this coat of many colors on you? This coat is designed to touch every part of you. Is beloved identity covering every area of your life? It matters. Because having hope restored and dreaming dreams again relies on our being fully convinced that we are deeply loved by Abba with the same exact measure of love that He has for Jesus.

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Worship: "I Am Your Beloved" by Jonathan David & Melissa Helser

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 4/10/24 The Wilderness Place 4/10/24

Something Is Shifting, Hope Is Rising

(5 minutes)

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when desire comes, it is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12 NKJV)

How do we have hope restored? How do we believe for the impossible again?

Like Pastor Tim said on Sunday, this is about us getting into intimacy with Abba and allowing Him to bring up the special things He's put inside of us, things we enjoyed when we were children, things that we're uniquely designed to hope and dream for. Abba will uncover these areas in intimacy with Him and hope will be restored. This is all about finding our original design and original passions that Abba placed inside of us, because we had hope once, when we believed anything was possible.

We were designed to enjoy life. We were designed to be full of hope, seeing trees of life being planted in our lives that are actually our dreams being realized. That's the Kingdom life that we're called to be living right now. "Joy in every step we take." (Pastor Tim) Will we still go through hard and difficult things? Sure. But there's something different about how we walk through those things. "There's purpose, even in the steps that hurt. Even in the rejection, there's hope in it. There's purpose. I can endure anything if there's purpose." (Pastor Tim) And you can, too. The reason we don't endure is that we're not seeing our lives as full of purpose. Hopelessness has convinced us that our lives are meaningless. Abba is coming after this way of seeing in us. He will not stop until we are fully alive, and full of hope.

And this is not just about us getting hope inside of ourselves. It's about becoming hope. Your life is supposed to become a hope for others. It's designed to be a living witness of what it looks like to walk with Abba. "There are millions of people going through the same thing, who have gone through the same thing, that feel like there's no hope, until they see how you walk through it, with hope." (Pastor Tim)

"It's God's will for you to have a headdress of hope. It's God's will for you have bliss. It's God's will for every area of your life to point back to Him, and be a reason somebody wants Him." (Pastor Tim)

We don't dream because we don't have any hope of things changing. But something is shifting. We're beginning to see Abba differently and ourselves differently, and hope is right around the corner. Everything we need is locked up inside of intimacy with Abba.

Tomorrow we will look at a story that will be so significant in seeing hope restored in our lives. A key will be given to us in this story that will change everything. As you walk with Abba today, let Him prepare your heart for hope. Can you get your hopes up that hope is coming? That hope is rising up in you? Things are shifting in you, whether you can see it or not. You've been heading in this direction for some time now, and Abba is about to reveal things to you in intimacy that will unlock the hope inside of you. The only thing that's required from you is a, "Yes and I do!"

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Worship: "You Saved Me" by UPPERROOM

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 4/9/24 The Wilderness Place 4/9/24

What If It’s True?

(4 minutes)

"We never come out and just say, 'I'm hopeless.' We're too smart for that. But you can see it in the way you respond when you hear God's truth. You can see it when someone tells you something that even Jesus himself said, but you have no hope to see that established in your life. Because hope is required to even step over into faith." (Pastor Tim)

When hope's dream seems to drag on and on, the delay can be depressing. But when at last your dream comes true, life's sweetness will satisfy your soul. (Proverbs 13:12 TPT)

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when desire comes, it is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12 NKJV)

How does your heart respond when you read verses like Isaiah 61? When you read verses that say you're destined to become a Mighty Oak of Righteousness, planted by Yahweh, restoring ruined cities and devastated places, how do you respond? Do you feel excited by that truth and hopeful to see it come to pass in your own life? Do you feel something vibrating within you? Or do you respond with empty despair - maybe for someone else, but not for me? Hopefully my kids or grandkids will enjoy that, but not me?

How do you respond to God's truth about who you're meant to be?

We must stop long enough to ask ourselves these questions. If we don't, we will be carrying hopelessness and not even know it. What if the source of our depression is our unwillingness to acknowledge our hopelessness over who Abba says we are? We just read it in the above verse, if hope's dream keeps dragging on and on, the delay will make us sick. We will fall into despair the longer hope keeps getting deferred.

What if we don't have to wait any longer? What if our heart can be healed and hope can be restored? What if we can witness some Kingdom-sized dreams in our lifetime? Like Pastor Tim said on Sunday, "What if it's true?"

Bring these questions into your walk with Abba today. Sometimes the adventure of a lifetime starts with the question: What if it's true? What if this is really out there? What if I could really have this in my life? If you allow your heart to be open to the possibility, I believe Abba will meet you there and make the greatest exchange with you. He wants to plant trees of life in your garden that will nourish you and your family for generations. Before it ever happens in a ruined city, it must happen in you. Let hope be restored today!

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Worship: "Sound Mind & Turning On The Lights" by Melissa Helser

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 4/8/24 The Wilderness Place 4/8/24

Honoring Words Until We Become Them

(5 minutes)

"Everything you get from the Kingdom of God comes in seed form. Your part is, will you honor it when it looks like it's worthless? Will you honor it when it looks like it's small? Will you honor something that can do nothing for you in the moment? Will you value it when it can produce nothing for you in the moment? Everything from the Kingdom comes in seed form, and a lot of times we waste the seeds that come from the King because it doesn't look like we want it to look. It's not full-grown. It's not what we asked for. So this is why we're going to review. We believe everything that we're sharing and teaching is from the Kingdom of God and is due honor. That's why we stay with these things. We want to be people who hear a word, receive a word, and become the word. " (Pastor Tim)

We have to hold on to the words we're hearing from Abba. We have to treat them properly and treasure them until we see that word fully mature in us. Are you holding on to the words that Abba is speaking to you?

Our Kingdom family is treasuring Isaiah 61 right now, because we can see Abba's process of healing and wholeness in it. This is the process He has us all in right now.

The mighty Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is wrapped around me because Yahweh has anointed me, as a messenger to preach good news to the poor. He sent me to heal the wounds of the brokenhearted, to tell captives, "You are free," and to tell prisoners, "Be free from your darkness." I am sent to announce a new season (eon) of Yahweh's grace and a time of God's recompense on his enemies, to comfort all who are in sorrow, to strengthen those crushed by despair who mourn in Zion -- to give them a beautiful bouquet in the place of ashes, the oil of bliss instead of tears, and the mantle of joyous praise instead of the spirit of heaviness.

Because of this, they (you, me, us) will be known as Mighty Oaks of Righteousness, planted by Yahweh as a living display of his glory. They will restore ruins from long ago and rebuild what was long devastated. They will renew ruined cities and desolations of past generations. (Isaiah 61:1-4)

Can you see Abba's process of healing and wholeness? This is where we are! We've heard the gospel, but we're not stopping there. We're allowing Abba to heal the wounds of our broken hearts, so we can experience the true freedom of the Kingdom. We're on our way to becoming Mighty Oaks of Righteousness, planted by Yahweh Himself. We're moving towards being beloved, fully alive witnesses in the earth. A people who can shift the direction of an entire city just by being planted there. People who are changing generations with the Kingdom solutions they are carrying. We're letting hope rise inside of us.

As you walk with Abba today, allow Him to take you deeper into the words that you are hearing from Him. You've heard Him whisper your name in certain truths. Take those to Him today and ask Him to take you deeper. Abba, help us descend into these words and honor them until we become them! Ruined cities are waiting on fully alive, beloved sons and daughters to have enough hope to see things changed. It starts right here, with us honoring the Kingdom seeds that we're holding in our hands.

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Worship: "You Restore Everything" by Rick Pino & Abbie Gamboa

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 4/5/24 The Wilderness Place 4/5/24

I Found Resurrection Life

(7 minutes)

Peter told them, "I'm going fishing." And they all replied, "We'll go with you." So they went out and fished through the night but caught nothing. Then at dawn, Jesus was standing there on the shore, but the disciples didn't realize that it was him! He called out to them saying, "Hey guys! Did you catch any fish?"

"Not a thing," they replied. Jesus shouted to them, "Throw your net over the starboard side, and you'll catch some!" And so they did as he said, and they caught so many fish they couldn't even pull in the net! Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It's the Lord!" When Peter heard him say that, he quickly wrapped his outer garment around him, and because he was athletic, he dove right into the lake to go to Jesus! (John 21:3-7)

Peter goes right back to the thing he was doing before he followed Jesus, fishing. And because he was a leader, the others followed him even though it was in the wrong direction. Peter returns to the thing he abandoned before he gave his life to Jesus. After we experience a failure like Peter did, we resort to the life we lived before we knew Him. We return to the things we were good at before, because we feel like we failed at being who God called us to be. Peter went right back to fishing, but he couldn't catch anything.

"You catching nothing is the goodness of God. You going back to what you were before the call, and being unsuccessful, is the goodness of God." (Pastor Tim)

Jesus shows up on the shore at dawn, ushering in the new mercies of Yahweh, but the disciples couldn't recognize him.

"Jesus was standing on the shore, but His disciples didn't recognize that it was Him. Because when hopelessness is still there, you don't expect anything to happen. When hopelessness is there you can't see Jesus, because don't expect to. This is why we go to work day in and day out and never expect to hear His voice or to experience Him in a radical way. And we just go through the routine, with no expectation, because I don't measure up...I failed." (Pastor Tim)

The first one who realizes that it was Jesus was the disciple with beloved identity, the disciple whom Jesus loved, John. "Beloved identity is the only one who can see Jesus for who He is." (Pastor Tim)

When Peter hears John's words, the one who was once weeping bitterly and running away is now diving into the water, unwilling to wait for the boat and the other disciples to get to the shore. Peter is running to Jesus after making the biggest mistake of his entire life.

Once they are on the shore, Jesus pulls Peter aside. Peter finds himself by another fire, just like the one he was around days before when he denied knowing Jesus. And Jesus begins to ask him three questions, the same number of times that Peter denied Jesus. Jesus is pulling Peter back into intimacy with Him, back into union. The hopelessness that came from Peter's biggest failure, Jesus is about to restore. Jesus is taking Peter back to the moment those tears started - the moment that discouragement and disappointment set in.

"Don't think that your mistake disqualifies you from face-to-face with Jesus. Don't think that your decision disqualifies you from the love affair of Jesus. Don't think that you missed your appointed time and everything is ruined." (Pastor Tim)

Jesus still chooses you.

Even after your biggest failure.

And He will make you into everything you always dreamed to be.

This is resurrection life.

"He comes back with resurrection life and restores every area that you fell, that you were weak, that you made a mistake, that you couldn't hold up under the pressure...He restores everything." (Pastor Tim)

Beloved One, there's no such thing as "too late" or "too far gone" with Abba. Resurrection life is coming to restore everything - every area, every failure, every misstep, down to the last detail. Nothing will be wasted. Resurrection life is restoring everything and making your heart whole again. As you walk with Abba today, let Him bring you back to those moments of failure and restore you and your heart, so He can make you into the beloved son and daughter that you were originally designed to be - one that is fully alive.

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Worship: "I Can't Get Away & Downpour" by Melissa Helser & Naomi Raine

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 4/4/24 The Wilderness Place 4/4/24

When The Rooster Crows

(7 minutes)

The disciples are leaving their last supper with Jesus and they engage in a conversation they have been having, off and on, the entire time they've been following Him. Who's going to be the greatest? After Jesus interrupts their argument and corrects their thinking, He pulls Peter off to the side and shares some really important words with him.

"Peter, my dear friend, listen to what I'm about to tell you. Satan has obtained permission to come and sift you all like wheat and test your faith. But I have prayed for you, Peter, that you would stay faithful to me no matter what comes. Remember this: after you have turned back to me and have been restored, make it your life mission to strengthen the faith of your brothers."

"But Lord," Peter replied, "I am ready to stand with you to the very end, even if it means prison or death!"

Jesus looked at him and prophesied, "Before the rooster crows in the morning, you will deny three times that you even know me." (Luke 22:31-34)

"Jesus is telling Peter, 'You're about to go through a very bad situation, but I waste nothing.' Everything you walk through has purpose. Abba wastes nothing, even if it was your choice. Even if you were the villain in the story. Everything has purpose." (Pastor Tim)

Jesus is telling Peter that he is about to suffer, and go through one of the hardest things he will ever go through, but Jesus has prayed for him. If we're Peter this is where we start begging Jesus to go back and tell Satan to stand down. Jesus, just go back and tell him, "No!" But that's not the case. Satan had to obtain permission, but Yahweh was the One to grant it. Why? Because on the back side of this, Peter, you're going to be able to reach back and strengthen the faith of anyone who falls.

The religious leaders seized Jesus and led him away, but Peter followed from a safe distance. They brought him to the home of the high priest, where people were already gathered out in the courtyard. Someone had built a fire, so Peter inched closer and sat down among them to stay warm.

A girl noticed Peter sitting in the firelight. Staring at him, she pointed him out and said, "This man is one of Jesus' disciples!" Peter flatly denied it, saying, "What are you talking about, girl? I don't know him!"

A little while later, someone else spotted Peter and said, "I recognize you. You're one of his, I know it!" Peter again said, "I'm not one of his disciples."

About an hour later, someone else identified Peter and insisted he was a disciple of Jesus, saying, "Look at him! He's from Galilee, just like Jesus. I know he's one of them." But Peter was adamant. "Listen, I don't know what you're talking about. Don't you understand? I don't even know him." While the words were still in his mouth, the rooster crowed.

At that moment, the Lord, who was being led through the courtyard by his captors, turned around and gazed at Peter. All at once Peter remembered the words Jesus had prophesied over him, "Before the rooster crows in the morning, you will deny three times that you even know me." Peter burst into tears, ran off from the crowd, and wept bitterly. (Luke 22:54-62)

What did you believe God for before you fell? Before everything crumbled to the ground, what did you dream about? What expectations and aspirations did you carry in your heart before you messed up? Before the relationship fell apart, before you were caught up in addiction, before you realized that you weren't as strong as you thought you were, before you realized that you couldn't live up to words that came out of your own mouth...what did you believe God for before you fell?

"None of us actually walk away from serving God, we just don't serve Him like we used to. And then all of a sudden you encounter something that breaks you down. It causes you to question everything you believed about yourself." (Pastor Tim)

This is the moment that hopelessness comes in. It's one thing to have something done to you, it's a whole other thing when you're the one that failed. This is when hopelessness comes in and becomes a permanent resident. This is when we start following Jesus from a safe distance.

Abba is trying to convince us of something today that's very important - He doesn't waste anything, not even your failure that was brought about by your own doing. On your walk today, would you allow Abba to walk you back to that moment, the moment you fell? If you go back there with Him, He will show you that moments before it happened, He was there. He was whispering in your ear, "Beloved Son or Daughter, the enemy has obtained permission to come and sift you like wheat, and test your faith with the most violent storm you'll ever walk through, but I have prayed for you and I'm with you. And after all of this, when you are restored and your heart is healed, you'll be able to bring life to ruined cities, to broken families, to hopeless people. I prayed that you would be faithful to Me no matter what comes. No matter what comes. Even this will not be wasted."

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Worship: "Promises" by Joe L Barnes & Naomi Raine

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 4/3/24 The Wilderness Place 4/3/24

Hope Deferred Makes The Heart Sick

(4 minutes)

Have you ever looked up the definition of hopelessness?

Websters Dictionary defines hopelessness as having no expectation of good or success. The next definition is this: not susceptible to remedy or cure. Have you ever shared some helpful information or answers with someone, but they had no capacity to receive it? You were giving them the solutions they needed to the problems they were facing, but they could not hear or receive any help. Why? Because hopelessness is incapable of receiving a remedy or cure. When hopelessness is sitting on our heart we are suddenly turned off from receiving Kingdom solutions.

What Kingdom solutions and dreams are we not able to receive because of the hopelessness that's sitting on our own heart? What gifts are we unable to receive from Abba because hopelessness has become the lens that we see things through? And don't get me wrong, it's not hopelessness in all areas of our life. There are some areas where we are still hopeful and we can dream and access Kingdom solutions from Yahweh. But there are other areas where hopelessness has darkened our perspective, where unrelenting despair and disappointment have left our hearts sick.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when desire comes, it is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12)

"Without hope, you have nothing to exchange, to use your imagination to dream for. That means your hopelessness is keeping you from dreaming of what you were actually designed to dream for. That's why you think it's never going to change." (Pastor Tim)

What areas of your life is hopelessness sitting on? What areas have you ceased to have dreams for, ceased to seek out Kingdom solutions for? What areas have you determined in your heart will never change? These are the places where Abba wants to bring healing. These are the places He wants to lavish with His love. These are the areas that are keeping us from seeing significant Kingdom change in our lives. Faith and hope go hand in hand. Faith requires hope.

Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. (Hebrews 11:1)

Ask yourself an important question concerning the verse above: what happens if you remove hope from the equation? Suddenly, faith has nothing to grab hold of, because hope is gone. Do you see why it's impossible to see and receive Kingdom solutions in an area where hopelessness reigns?

Take these questions into your walk with Abba today. He wants to restore everything - until you are living fully alive. The first witness of a healed heart is hope, and hope is rising!

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Worship: "Rest On Us" by TRIBL

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 4/2/24 The Wilderness Place 4/2/24

Is hopelessness sitting on your heart?

(6 minutes)

"Hopelessness doesn't cause you quit God, it just causes you to settle. God's done too much for us to quit God. We've seen too much. We've heard too much. But you know what, you don't follow Him as hard as you used to. You don't believe for the impossible anymore. You can tell how much hopelessness has taken over your heart by what you dream for. We've got an empty tomb to tell us you can be anything you want to be." (Pastor Tim)

Why have we stopped dreaming? Why have we stopped believing for the impossible things? Why have we settled? Why have we come to a place where we value our own opinions over what Yahweh says about us?

Hopelessness.

Like Pastor Tim mentioned on Sunday, hopelessness is sitting on the throne of our hearts and there's no room for the King there. And this hopelessness speaks louder and is more convincing now than Abba's voice. This is how we get to the place where we read scriptures like Isaiah 61 which says we're to be Mighty Oaks of Righteousness, planted by Yahweh, bringing life to ruined cities, and we don't feel anything when we read it and we certainly don't think it's possible for us. Maybe someone else, but not me. We hear Abba's voice and we're not moved to excitement anymore, we sink even more into despair. Why? Because hopelessness has taken root, and it's been sitting on our heart for quite some time.

Hopelessness would want us to rush through these things and get away from verses like Isaiah 61, but we shouldn't leave it until we believe it. It is intimacy with Yahweh and hearing His voice that will root the hopelessness out. How far would you go to rescue your children out of hopelessness? Abba will go so much further.

"There's an exchange that has to take place. You have to let some things go in order to receive what He has for you." (Pastor Tim)

Abba wants to make a trade with you. Your ashes, for His beauty. Your hopelessness, for His heart and how He sees. Your thoughts about yourself, for His thoughts about you. We can't hold on to our hopelessness and see everything the Kingdom has for us. We must make the trade, so we can inherit the abundant life that Jesus purchased for us.

Abba's heart is to see you become fully alive.

Yes, fully alive.

The most authentic, unhindered, tender, childlike, trusting version of yourself. You, fully alive.

He's committed to this process and to seeing you become the most fully alive, beloved son and daughter that you were designed to be from the beginning. He won't stop until your lips declare with complete faith - "There's nothing missing, nothing broken, nothing wasted, and nothing stolen. I am exactly who He says I am and He's planted me in this place to be a living display of what a beloved son or daughter of Yahweh looks like when they let go of their broken hearts and hopelessness in order to receive everything that Jesus died for - life, and life more abundant."

Are you starting to believe it's possible?

Beloved One, it's all yours. The empty tomb says you can be exactly who you were designed to be. Don't let hopelessness hold you back!

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Worship: "Beauty for Ashes" by UPPERROOM

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 4/1/24 The Wilderness Place 4/1/24

Nothing Missing, Nothing Broken

(5 minutes)

The mighty Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is wrapped around me because Yahweh has anointed me, as a messenger to preach good news to the poor. He sent me to heal the wounds of the brokenhearted...(Isaiah 61:1)

"We heard the gospel so many times we can repeat it in our sleep. The problem is we never stepped over into having our hearts healed...You can say a prayer a thousand times every Sunday and still walk around with a broken heart. You can make your decisions from a broken heart. You can live your entire life believing Jesus is Lord and He's the Savior, and you love with Him with all that you are, yet everything in you can still be broken." (Pastor Tim)

After having an encounter with Jesus and your life pierced with the good news of the Kingdom, the very next thing that Yahweh wants to do is heal your heart. Except most of us stopped with having the gospel preached to us, and we never waded into the healing waters that Yahweh wanted to escort us into. So we had the good news, but we didn't have a whole heart that could reflect that good news to the world through a life that was radiant. Abba never wanted us to settle for having the gospel on our lips, but no healing in our hearts. He desires to see every part of your heart healed and made whole. Nothing missing. Nothing broken.

What comes next? After the heart is healed?

to tell captives, "You are free," and to tell prisoners, "Be free from your darkness." I am sent to announce a new season (eon) of Yahweh's grace and a time of God's recompense on his enemies, to comfort all who are in sorrow, to strengthen those crushed by despair who mourn in Zion -- to give them a beautiful bouquet in the place of ashes, the oil of bliss instead of tears, and the mantle of joyous praise instead of the spirit of heaviness.

After hearts are made whole, prisoners and captives can be totally set free and never have to worry about drifting back into chains again. Without a healed heart, your brokenness will lead you right back into captivity. After the heart is made whole, prisoners and captives are finally and forever set free. And you begin to live in a new eon or era of grace, where you're enjoying Yahweh's permission to be exactly who you were created to be. In this time, Yahweh is coming after all of HIS enemies - everything that hinders our love affair with Him. We experience Abba's comfort and are strengthened, no longer subject to sorrow and despair. We've gone through the great exchange, having our ashes removed and a crown placed on our heads, having our tears traded for bliss and joy, having the spirit of heaviness lifted off of us and the mantle of praise released in our lives.

Then we will be known as Mighty Oaks of Righteousness, those planted by Yahweh Himself. And we will be living displays of His goodness and glory. And just by our being planted in a place, we will bring restoration and renewal to ruined cities.

This all begins with having the heart healed by Abba's embrace. It all begins with allowing Him to come in and light up every part of our inner world with His radiant light until there's no trace of darkness or shadow hiding anywhere in us. This is how deep Abba wants the healing to go.

Beloved One, don't settle for the brokenness. Jesus purchased a whole heart for you on the cross. And the empty tomb says it's yours for the taking.

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Worship: "You Restore Everything" by Rick Pino & Abbie Gamboa

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 3/29/24 The Wilderness Place 3/29/24

Resurrecting Hope

(5 minutes)

John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, is the only disciple who gives us the story of resurrection life in a man named Lazarus. It takes beloved identity to see Abba's heart in this story.

In the village of Bethany there was a man named Lazarus, and his sisters, Mary and Martha. Mary was the one who would anoint Jesus' feet with costly perfume and dry his feet with her long hair. One day Lazarus became very sick to the point of death. So his sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, our brother Lazarus, the one you love, is very sick. Please come! When he heard this, he said, "This sickness will not end in death for Lazarus, but will bring glory and praise to God. This will reveal the greatness of the Son of God by what takes place." Now even though Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, he remained where he was for two more days. (John 11:1-5)

There are areas in our lives that don't look how we want them to look. There are areas where our hopeless lens is still seeing death and decay. And on top of that, it seems like God isn't doing anything about it. This was the case for Mary and Martha as they watched their beloved brother waste away, without any response from Jesus. And even though Jesus is delaying his arrival on purpose and declares that it will put His greatness on display, Mary and Martha are still having a hard time. What areas are you losing hope in because it seems like Abba's promise is being delayed? What areas are you struggling to hold hope for because of the time it's taking to see a change?

Now when they arrived at Bethany, which was only about two miles from Jerusalem, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Many friends of Mary and Martha had come from the region to console them over the loss of their brother. And when Martha heard that Jesus was approaching the village, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, "My Lord, if only you had come sooner, my brother wouldn't have died. But I know that if you were to ask God for anything, he would do it for you. Jesus told her, "Your brother will rise and live." She replied, "Yes, I know he will rise with everyone else on resurrection day." "Martha," Jesus said, "You don't have to wait until then. I am the Resurrection, and I am Life Eternal. Anyone who clings to me in faith, even though he dies, will live forever. And the one who lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:17-25)

Martha utters these words that some of us are speaking over certain areas in our lives: if only. Jesus, if only you would have come sooner, this could have been fixed. This "if only" language is the witness of hopelessness. "If only" really means "it's too late." It's over. There's nothing we can do about it now. Are you carrying this language of hopelessness? If so, you need to hear Abba's voice today speaking His truth over that area. Abba's word is "it's never too late, it's never too far gone, and it's never over."

"We don't have to wait until death comes to get us to have hope. I know this situation looks like death. I know it's been buried. I know it's been going on so long it's starting to deform, and decay, and stink. But resurrection is here right now. And you can have it right now. Eternal life is now." (Pastor Tim)

Abba is coming after the hopelessness in us. He's coming after that perspective that only sees death and destruction, instead of resurrection life and hope. Beloved sons and daughters who have allowed their hearts to be healed and their hope to be restored will be planted by Yahweh in ruined cities and devastated places, and they will bring His resurrection life and hope into that place to see it rebuilt and restored. In order for this to happen, we can't be affected by what things look like and how long they've looked a certain way. We must have Abba's perspective, or else the death and decay will always speak louder than His word concerning a matter.

Abba is coming after the hopelessness that still remains in our hearts. And we have to open ourselves up to His embrace and let him deal with that hopelessness. We have to bring our honesty to Him in intimacy concerning these areas. He can handle our questions, and He wants us to run to Him with these things. What areas have you stopped dreaming about? What areas have you stopped asking Him to heal and restore? These are the areas where hopelessness has set in. These are the areas that we've settled for death and decay. We've settled for tending a tomb, instead of trusting Abba to resurrect every dead thing.

"Do you remember when you believed that you be anything or you could do anything? I feel the Spirit of God asking us, 'Do you remember when you believed anything was possible?'" (Pastor Tim)

Beloved One, your imagination was designed for hope. It was designed to dream of all the ways Abba could resurrect and bring life to dead things. It was designed to trust Abba with every detail. Let Him resurrect hope in you today, because eternal life is here. You don't have to wait!

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Worship: "Promises" by Maverick City Music

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 3/28/24 The Wilderness Place 3/28/24

The Lens of Hopelessness

(5 minutes)

"The lens of hopelessness will affect everything we do, whether we know it or not. It is why it's so important that we have our hearts healed. Because it will taint everything we see, even the things of God, if we're not careful." (Pastor Tim)

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:1-2 NKJV)

I am a true sprouting vine, and the farmer who tends the vine is my Father. He cares for the branches connected to me by lifting and propping up the fruitless branches and pruning every fruitful branch to yield a greater harvest. (John 15:1-2 TPT)

Do you see the difference in these two translations? Answer this: what Father would you rather have? One who throws you away for not bearing fruit? Or one who gives you extra attention and care when you're struggling?

So why do we have one scripture with two different lens of the Father?

"They didn't deliberately set out to do this. But when you have lens of hopelessness you see God the way you see Him in your life. How can this be so different? It's the same original language! Because it matters who's looking at the language." (Pastor Tim)

When you have a lens of hopelessness, you can even twist the scriptures and end up with a Father that nobody would want. Hopelessness darkens your perspective, even your perspective of God. And if a person with a lens of hopelessness translates John 15:1-2, all they will see is an angry, distant Father who throws you away when you can't keep up. But give that same scripture to a man or woman that knows how deeply loved they are by Abba, and you get a more accurate picture of the Father because they have a lens of hope, and they've come to know Abba's true nature through intimacy.

"You can have the God you want to have, and your life proves it. Keep having your vision of God. Keep having the God you can't even call "Abba." Keep seeing the Father the way you see Him. Keep thinking that what He really wants to do is use you." (Pastor Tim)

Abba doesn't want to use you. Abba wants to be in union with you!

Here's an example of how this plays out: there are people in the hospital right now dealing with serious illness and disease. Some of them think they're there because God has thrown them out and this is the punishment for their fruitless lives. Others know how deeply loved they are by Abba and that He's walking hand-in-hand with them through every moment, because He doesn't do abandonment.

Does the Father throw you out when you can't keep up or does the Father never leave you or forsake you? Which is it? What lens are you looking through to see Him, hope or hopelessness?

Beloved One, hope is being restored in you. Allow it to go deep and undo all the distorted perspectives you have had of the Father. He's not the angry, dark, distant Father that religion painted Him to be. He is delighting in you. He's good. And when you're struggling He comes even closer and gives you special attention. That's what good fathers do! Let His goodness lead you out of hopelessness today.

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Worship: "Beauty for Ashes" by UPPERROOM

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 3/27/24 The Wilderness Place 3/27/24

What Does Trust Look Like?

(5 minutes)

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12)

"Abba has to restore hope and trust in Him before we can go any further." (Pastor Tim)

Abba is inviting us into the restoration of the entire cosmos. The resurrection of Jesus was the turning point, the moment that marked the restoration of the original design that we had with Abba in the garden, in the beginning. As our hearts are healed and hope is restored, we become the radiant bride that Yahweh plants in the earth to bring about this great restoration of all things. But it's so hard for us to have hope for that, because we're still dealing with areas that are not redeemed or restored.

"Can I just say something: there's no way the Kingdom can enter that situation until you're able to trust first. What does trust look like? What does it feel like? It's you, being able to be in any circumstance, not needing anything to change to be happy. Trust is being able to remain in every circumstance and situation, not needing anything to change to be happy, or in rest, or in peace." (Pastor Tim)

This is the seated posture that we've been talking about. This is what it looks like to come into rest. It's the place of complete faith, or restful trust, in Abba's goodness. It's what allows Jesus to be asleep in the middle of a storm.

You see, the Kingdom can't enter into areas where we're still running around in chaos and unrest, desperately crying out for things to change, so we can have peace.

"God refuses to step in because if He allows things to change to bring you happiness, you'll think change brings happiness. God wants you to know it's His intimacy, it's His love, that brings happiness." (Pastor Tim)

What area is the Kingdom waiting on you to get seated in? What area is waiting on your restful trust?

These are the areas that Abba wants to bring healing to, because your emotions are still submitting to the circumstance and not His goodness.

Abba is inviting us into healing waters. He wants every part of our heart made whole. He wants hope restored in every area of our life. He wants us to be seated in His goodness, no matter what situation or circumstance we find ourselves in.

Will you let His love nourish your heart?

Beloved One, Abba has so much in store for you and your family, and the city that He's planted you in. He has so much in store for the entire cosmos! But it will require healed hearts full of hope to see any of it become a tree of life. Go into your intimacy with Abba today and allow His love to invade your heart. He wants to nourish and bring life to the whole thing. Ruined cities and barren places are waiting on healed, whole Kingdom men and women to step into them with hope that can see Abba's dreams become a reality. This is your inheritance!

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Worship: "You Always Restore" by UPPERROOM

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 3/26/24 The Wilderness Place 3/26/24

Hope Restored

(5 minutes)

When the wounded hearts are healed, and the captives are set free, when we trade our ashes for His beauty, and our tears for His joy, and our heaviness for His praise, we then become Mighty Oaks of Righteousness, planted by Yahweh, to restore ruined cities. We are planted by Yahweh in devastated places to bring restoration and healing. What has been leveled by generations of brokenness, we will build up again, because of the deep healing that has happened in our own lives. As our inner world is transformed by His goodness, He plants us in dark places so we can shine His radiant light and see cities transformed.

"Imagine not having to strive to see things changed, you just being there sees things changed. That's what we're designed to be." (Pastor Tim)

What keeps us from being excited about this thing that Yahweh is doing in us? What causes us to read Isaiah 61, and respond with a "well, that would be nice...but" deep down in our heart? Why can't we see ourselves being completely healed, planted by Yahweh, bringing restoration and healing to desolated cities? Why can't we receive it for ourselves?

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12)

"When hopelessness has taken root, you can't even dream anymore. Let me ask you a question: when did you stop telling yourself the same things you tell little children? You can be or do whatever you want to do. Do you know why you stopped? Hopelessness. Hopelessness causes you to stop dreaming dreams." (Pastor Tim)

This scripture in Proverbs tells us that without hope, we stop having desires and passions. Without hope, we can't see ourselves being Mighty Oaks of Righteousness, planted by Yahweh, bringing restoration to devastated places. We can't see ourselves doing or being anything, because hope is what causes us to see with expectation and dream. And hopelessness kills all desire in us.

This is a practical way to gauge hope in your life: what impossible things are you asking Abba for? Do you have any expectations at all? Not from a place of desperation, but from a place of dreaming. From a place of allowing the passions that Abba has put inside you to be stirred.

Do you want to know one of the first witnesses to a heart being healed? Hope restored. Dreams restored. Passions restored. When we allow our hearts to be made whole, we start to hope again.

Beloved One, hopelessness may have set in and made your heart sick, but Abba is healing your heart and bringing desire and passion back to you. It will be a tree of life! And Abba will turn around and plant you as a tree of life in the city. You will restore ruins from long ago. You will rebuild what was long devastated. You will renew ruined cities. You will renew the desolations of past generations. Yes, you will.

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Worship: "I Lose My Ability" by Jonathan David & Melissa Helser

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Wilderness Place 3/25/24 The Wilderness Place 3/25/24

Learning To Be Loved

(5 minutes)

"Who wants to live a life worshipping the King, yet everything we do and every decision we make is made from a broken heart? And every decision we make causes more broken hearts along the way? Because broken hearts begets broken hearts." (Pastor Tim)

Brokenness begets brokenness. Like King David himself, when we live life with wounded, broken hearts and don't allow Abba to heal them, we inevitably pass that brokenness on to the next generation. King David doesn't have a life that any of us would want. He also doesn't have children that any of us would want. As Pastor Tim said on Sunday, we're not always doing this maliciously, we're just doing the only thing we know to do. When we don't allow the wounds of our broken hearts to be healed, we live and love out of those wounds, instead of whole hearts.

Jesus told us to love people the way He has loved us. This requires that we learn to be loved by Him. "Because the danger is we will love people exactly the way we've been loved." (Pastor Tim) And this is how the brokenness is perpetuated, generation after generation. Because we are loving our our families, our spouses, and our children out of the wounds of our broken hearts, instead of hearts that have been healed and taught to love by Abba. We love how we've been loved because that's the only example we have. Abba is asking us to take the walk with Him so we can learn to be loved and so we can be healed of every heart-shot that we are still living with, and loving with, from the past.

What areas do see in your life where you are still living and loving from a broken place? Can you come into His presence, let His grace extinguish any shame and condemnation surrounding that brokenness, and allow Him to speak tenderly to your heart about what He thinks?

I remember getting hurt as a toddler and running to my parents. The incidents always hurt my feelings more than they hurt me. And I was told something back then that I believed with all my heart - "a kiss will make it all better." And it actually worked, because the kiss wasn't for my injury, it was for my heart. Would you believe me if I said that Abba's kiss is designed to make it all better? Abba's kiss doesn't remove what happened, but it does remove what happened to your heart. The healing is very real and it's a result of Him lavishing His love on the wounded area inside of you. The real question is...will you let Him?

Let him smother me with kisses... (Song of Songs 1:2)

Beloved One, let Him smother you with kisses. Let Him lavish His love on the wounded areas of your heart. Don't resist. Don't recoil as He comes near them. Don't push Him away and tell Him not to touch. A kiss from Abba will make it all better!

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Worship: "Learning To Be Loved By You" by Melissa Helser

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!

The Walk is a daily writing to inspire you in your own personal intimacy with Abba.

Listen, my radiant one—if you ever lose sight of me, just follow in my footsteps where I lead my lovers. (Song of Songs 1:8)

208 Pass RoadGulfport, MS 39507

208 Pass Road
Gulfport, MS 39507