Thank you, Sylvia. Thank You, Abba!

I already had two separate posts bouncing around in my brain this morning (it seems like the older I get the more empty space there is for things to "bounce" . . . GRIN!). Then I opened my email and here was this wonderful email from Sylvia Gunter. Such a pure word from the Lord! So, of course, I am compelled to share it!

For those of you unfamiliar with Sylvia - she is a mighty prayer warrior, Bible teacher, gifted writer and speaker. She has a ministry called The Father's Business and has authored several books that are MUSTS, in my opinion, for any believer's library. Check out her website at http://www.thefathersbusiness.com/


Sylvia has given me permission to share some of her material before on my blog. (See my post "Is the Father Pleased?" dated October 11, 2007 for her teaching on the Little Foxes of Sin.) She sends weekly devotionals to everyone who has ever ordered from their ministry. If you like this one, I believe you can subscribe to receive the email devotionals without purchasing anything by signing up on her website.


Here's today's devotional. Sylvia's writing will be in blue and my observations interspersed in black.

View From Back Side Of The Desert

There are three classes of people: those who have been in the desert, those still in the desert, and those who have your day coming in the desert! If you have been there, you need no explanation from me. If you haven't been there, no words of mine will explain it to you. It is not a popular topic, and God's people perish for lack of knowledge.

Sylvia's right. This is not a popular topic. Every time I write on this blog or share openly in my bible study group about my exile in the wilderness of depression I feel as if I have exposed a part of myself that I'd really prefer no one knew about. My depression is FAR harder to talk about and a lot more personal than sharing about my eating issues or my struggles with perfectionism. You would probably cringe at some of the things the enemy says to my vulnerable spirit about how others will perceive the things I share. And sometimes he's right. Sometimes people don't understand that there is a difference between being depressed and being IN a depression. But whether people understand or not - whether I feel naked and vulnerable or not - God has specifically instructed me to share from that time. And, Sylvia's right on another point too. God's people perish for lack of knowledge. I know. I'm one of the ones who almost perished for lack of knowledge. If I am obedient to share what God has done for me, perhaps someone else will be comforted. God is so good. When I feel naked and vulnerable He always faithfully comes alongside and stands between me and the enemy's taunts. I trust Him to use what He leads me to share however He sees fit.

Being "on the backside of the desert" is not a self-inflicted inconvenience or a detour because of our spiritual slackness. It is one of God's major destinations for those He wants to take deeper. He is deliberate in leading us into the desert to speak tenderly to us and to make our trouble a gateway of hope. God says, "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope" (Hosea 2:14-15). There we give ourselves to Him in a new way, and He affirms to us that we are bound to Him forever in righteousness, justice, unfailing love, and compassion (Hosea 2:19-20).

I agree with Sylvia that sometimes God leads us into the desert. However, I'm not quite ready to say that God *led* me into my most recent and most severe time of exile. HOWEVER, God is sovereign. That means that nothing happens in my life as His child that He didn't either ordain or allow. When I look back upon my entrance into this particular wilderness I am unable to pinpoint an exact time or reason . . . there are parts of it that I am still only seeing through a mist. But, I see with some clarity specific ways I opened the door for the darkness of depression to overtake me. God may change my thinking on this someday, but for now, I do not believe God ordained my depression. I DO believe He allowed it. And I shout hallelujah when I say to you that Sylvia is 100% right, He spoke to me tenderly there and made my troubles a GATEWAY OF HOPE. He is giving me back my vineyards.

God has purposes and blessings for us in the desert and afterward. From there, we will know Him as Lord more deeply. He wants to sharpen our listening skills to His voice alone. He wants us to know that the only proper response when there is nothing we can control is to trust that He is in control, and He can't get it wrong. He wants to show us that there are only two places to go: down and out, or right up into His lap. He gets us where we can't move in our flesh, because He must do everything of eternal significance by His Spirit. In the heat of the desert, He burns up or blows away all the wood, hay, and stubble of our pride, confidence, and striving.

I can only say Amen and Amen to every sentence in the above paragraph. So read it again and let its truths sink in.

The Bible says that John the Baptist grew strong in spirit in the desert (Luke 1:80). There, he preached the message of the new entrance of God into the affairs of earth (Matt. 3:1). The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert (Matt. 4:1, Luke 4:1). Luke 4:14 tells us that Jesus came out of the desert in the power of the Spirit and preached his first public sermon: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18-19). This was His mission statement for the three years of His earthly ministry and His ultimate ministry to us and for us.

What lies ahead? Based on the experience of the Israelites, we can expect more giant obstacles, more resistance by the heathen and hell itself, fiercer battles, and more confrontation with the forces of darkness. That is the bad news. The good news is that there are great things to come: more positioning as the Body of Christ to move corporately, more victories, more blessings, more light, more power in the anointing of the Holy Spirit, more of His presence, and more of His glory made manifest in our world. For the joy set before us... !

Yes, Lord, Yes! For the joy set before us . . .

Excerpted from Prayer Essentials For Living In His Presence, Vol 2, page 39-44. © Sylvia Gunter 2000.


For those of you who are in the desert, struggling to understand what is happening, in this piece I share my personal observations as one who has been on the back side of the desert more than once. (Sylvia Gunter)