Good morning everyone,

Isaiah 43:20-21-The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, 21 the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise!

I believe it is crucial for every believer to come to the place of experiencing and walking in the fullness of God (or being filled with the Spirit) not only to endure difficulty, but for the sake of boredom or dullness that comes from doing the same thing without any expectant change or outward excitement to our lives (Ephesians 3 v19, 5 v18). When we are placed by God to faithfully serve as ministers, whether that is as spouses, parents, friends, workers, etc what I believe kills our excitement for Jesus to live full of joy and love for people is a life that is unspectacular. In America, though we all face everyday stresses, persecution and trials in my opinion are not our most consistent hurdle to experiencing fullness in Christ.

I believe the hurdle we must get over is the reality that life is not supposed to be outwardly joyful and entertaining. Which can be difficult since we live in an entertainment culture. But in reality to expect life to be joyfully entertaining in order to have joy, is to have an unbiblical worldview, because there is no faith required for that kind of "abundant life". Paul in the 1 Corinthians 13 v11, (the love chapter) would say that mature love doesn’t "think like a child", who expects us (as children do) to entertain them when they are bored. So if our worldview is searching to find fulfillment in people, places, and stuff, we will always see those things as the problem to us not experiencing fulfillment, until we mature out of our "worldly and child-like" perspective.

Experiencing the fullness of God is actually to realize our love for Jesus over everything and everyone else! As Christians we can acknowledge how much God loves us, but the real question I ask myself is how much do I love God? Because that question must be answered regardless of the "desert" we maybe in spiritually? I believe God puts us in the "desert" for us to realize there is "abundant life" without literally seeing a way for it in the place we are at, which is the opportunity to experience a miracle! In that God calls us to deeper faith, love, and praise to realize that He alone is the river of "Living Water", supplying joy and contenment that He only can bring in the "dullness" of what we are experiencing. Judging from the scripture, I believe the Lord is honored much more when the "things" we see that are good and enjoyable from Him, are not the source of our fulfillment in life. Though we are grateful for those things, the Lord is highly honored when we are living like Jesus is much greater than His blessings! My prayer has been that I would receive all "deserts" to be seen as love sent from God, for the opportunity to experience greater fullness in Him, that I would have greater love, faith, and praise for who He is no matter where I am!

In His Love, Ld