SITTING IN ASHES ~ Rick Joyner

Admin Sat 08 Nov 2008, 1:07 am

"Everyone who is growing in faith is constantly bring pressed into circumstances where more faith is needed."

Rick Joyner

SITTING IN ASHES
The basic calling of every person who calls himself a Christian is the calling to abide in Christ. Psalm 91:1 says that the person that dweels with the
most high God shall abide under His shadow, or His shelter. To abide in Hebrew means a place you permanently reside in. It is not a place you visit once
or twice a week, but a place were you live a nd breathe. It is in abiding in Him in order to become like Him. We live the way that He lived by seeing
what He sees, hearing what He hears, and understanding all things with the discernment of the Holy Spirit.

When we begin to live by seeing our lives and the trials that we are confronted with as possibilities for seeing the glory of God in our lives, then we
can start to see more of His glory.

Over the past three years, I have walked through the darkest tunnel I have ever been in - either before or after I came to know Christ as my Savior. It
has been the hardest fire I ever passed through. At times, I wanted only to sit down and quit. Nothing in me had a desire to go on, except that part of
me that regardless of circumstances will never quit calling out to God: the Spirit of God within me.

I shared this two weeks ago when I was ministering and an elderly brother came up for prayer at the close of the service. He said that he could relate to
me in that for the past three months he has seen his life fall apart and cannot find God in it. I understood those very words because I had lived in that
place. He said, "I feel like Job when he said, "the Lord giveth; the Lord taketh, blessed be the name of the Lord." And from the depths of my soul that
knew where he was, the Spirit of God spoke to him and said, "Yes, but Job also said, "I sat down in the ashes to wait for the Lord."

Sometimes we think we need a theology degree to understand God, when all we really need is to sit down and wait for Him; to listen to Him and follow Him.

For Abraham that meant leaving his home and following a God that no one had taught him about, and trusting that he was hearing correctly. He suffered for
it. He was also blessed for it. He listened and followed everyday. What a huge group of people he had to care for! Servants, animals, family. How completely
overwhelming for him without God. A nd what ridicule some family members must have subjected him to.

I can hear it now: "You're going where? What do you mean you don't know? You say you are following this voice and that you have no idea where it is leading
you! Do you realize how insane that sounds?"

Abraham's faith, as well as mine and yours, grows not in the safe places, but in the deserts. That is where you will find God. Many recorded life stories
in the Bible tell of people meeting with God in times of desperation in the desert places.

Is something in your life or the life of a loved one bigger than you? Sit down and wait for God. He will come. He came for Abraham and made Him great -
the father of faith. Is there something you feel called to say or do that you know is of God but is impossible without Him? Great! Turn your face and you
may feel the desert wind blowing, but what a wonderful wind. In that place is not death and doubt but life and faith...if you wa it.

We have to learn how to wait on God again. We need to learn how to embrace the time of pain. No one is perfected without it. What do you need God to
do? He is the Great I AM; able to do anything...wanting to move in you. Nothing is impossible to Him. Just wait.

Living for the Call