A Gentle Whisper

Numbers chapter 11 and Isaiah chapter 40.

Numbers 11 · chapter mention Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

We'll start in Isaiah 40 for a moment and then we'll spend most of our time in Numbers chapter 11.

Numbers 11 · chapter mention

As you're turning, greetings to North Richland Hills.

Welcome to you and those of you at Frisco.

Greetings to you as well.

Those of you at Southlake, please, as these next few weeks unfold, be praying for Pastor Robert and Debbie as they're on vacation.

Just pray that God would refresh them and renew them.

They carry such a heavy load here at Gateway, and we love them so very much and miss them, but we're excited for this time that they can spend away.

And this week we start a new series.

It's called The Wilderness.

And today's message is entitled A Gentle Whisper.

Now, when you think of the wilderness, there's probably many things that come into your mind, many images, because the wilderness can be seen as a time of isolation or desperation, an unwanted place of solitude, where, you know, it's barren and it's wilderness experience of the soul.

But it's also a place of great excitement.

It's a place where God meets us in very unique ways.

It's only in the wilderness that we really experience a complete dependency on God, away from all the activity and noise.

It's in the wilderness of our heart.

And the wilderness is not simply a place that you can go to.

For many of you today, the wilderness is a condition of the heart.

Because you can be in this great sanctuary filled with people and be in the midst of the wilderness today.

The wilderness is a special place, and we're going to pick up the story today, some 400 years after the death of Joseph, which is where Dream to Destiny concluded with Pastor Robert last week in that great series.

Now we find ourselves in the book of Exodus, and God comes to a man who's on the back side of the desert in the wilderness in a place called Mount Sinai.

And his name is Moses.

And in a burning bush experience in the wilderness, God calls Moses to go back to Egypt.

Because God said, I've heard the cry of my people these years, and I'm sending you back to Egypt because I'm going to set my people free.

And I'm going to take them to the land that I promised to their forefathers.

But before I do that, Moses, I want you to bring them back to this mountain where they will worship me because I want to speak to them.

Because I want to prepare them for what is going to take place in their life.

And so the wilderness can mean many things.

And when you think of the wilderness, what do you think of?

I know last week I was preaching in Lubbock, Texas, in South, or excuse me, West Texas, and as I was driving to Lubbock, I was driving there and I thought, this is the wilderness.

It may not be the end of the world, but I'm pretty confident for a quarter I can see it from here.

I think they call that place uh Amarillo.

Yeah, that's it.

Sorry about that.

Had to throw it in.

But see, the wilderness experience for us can mean many things.

We all find ourselves in the wilderness from time to time.

I mean, in the 1990s, the Dallas Cowboys won three Super Bowls in four years.

And now for 16 years, they haven't come close to winning a Super Bowl.

Welcome to the wilderness.

Maybe you're here today and you've received a job offer, but it's going to require you to move, and you're going, boy, that's a huge decision.

God, what what do you want me to do?

Welcome to the wilderness.

Or maybe you're here today and you're saying, you know, I'm in a dead-end job and takes everything I can to get up and go to work in the morning, and you find yourself in the wilderness.

Maybe you're a mother today and you were cleaning the house this week, and you found a family picture from 10 years ago.

And when you looked at that picture, you saw the face of your seven-year-old son, and he was so full of life and so joyous and happy and outgoing.

And now, ten years later, he's a rebellious, distant, defiant 17-year-old.

Welcome to the wilderness.

The wilderness is a place in our life that comes through crisis and through choice.

And there are times in our lives when the wilderness comes upon us and it's very unexpected.

We receive some news, something happens in our life, and immediately an ordinary day turns into a wilderness experience.

I remember several years ago when my wife was pregnant with our second child.

Our first daughter, Megan, was about a year old, and we were so excited for this second child as our family was growing.

And so we were preparing the nursery and making plans and talking to our daughter about this new child that was going to come into our lives.

And then in the middle of the second trimester, we went in for a regular routine visit.

And that heartbeat that we're expecting to hear was never heard.

And the plans that we had for our second child in a moment vanished.

Welcome to the wilderness.

You see, in our lives, God has times when he wants to prepare us to face new challenges.

Or he wants to comfort us to face new realities.

And so I'm going to share three points with you today, three insights to help us as we navigate through the wilderness of life.

And friends, let me remind you in this series, it is not only a time of challenge and pain and crisis, but the wilderness is a place in Scripture where God leads us to.

Because in the wilderness, God meets us in very unique ways.

In fact, in the wilderness, God meets us in ways that he cannot meet us in any other place.

So here's my first point The wilderness is a place of preparation.

Isaiah chapter 40, verse 3, the prophet is speaking here.

Isaiah 40:3

God is speaking.

And he's talking about a time that will come.

And it says in verse 3, a voice of one calling.

Now notice the colon.

I'm not the grammarian that Pastor Robert is, but I'm going to show you something in grammar here that's very important.

And so in scripture it says, after calling, a voice of one calling, colon.

And here is the quote In the desert, prepare the way of the Lord.

Make straight in the wilderness, a highway for our God.

Notice where we are to meet God.

It's in the wilderness.

There's one who's calling, in the wilderness, prepare a way for the Lord.

It says, make straight a highway for the king, for God.

And in ancient times, what they would do is the townspeople, when the king was going to approach triumphantly from battle, they would go out into the wilderness and they would make level a path.

They would straighten out the roads, they would take away the rocks so that his pathway back into the city would be smooth.

And so the analogy here for us is the challenge for us to prepare ourselves to meet God.

And the place where we prepare ourselves is in the wilderness.

This prophecy is fulfilled in Matthew chapter 3 and verse 3, through the life of John the Baptist.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

And this is what it says: For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, quote, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, colon, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Now I don't know why, but in the New Testament they changed the colon.

And the emphasis here is on John speaking in the wilderness, which is true.

I mean, if John wanted to have an audience, why not go to Jerusalem and preach?

But no, he goes into the wilderness to fulfill Isaiah 40.

But the emphasis here is not about John the person, it's about the place where you meet God.

One who is calling, colon, in the wilderness, prepare a place for God.

In the sense of preparation, as we know, was the repentant heart.

And God calls us in the wilderness to meet with God, but first, he wants to do some work in us.

We need to come to a place of surrender and submission once again if we're going to enter successfully into the wilderness.

And God's calling every one of us today to examine our hearts and lives because he wants to do a great work in your life.

He wants to speak encouragement into your life.

But first, he wants you to examine your life.

And preparation is just a part of life in general.

Athletes, before they ever enter onto the battlefield of a game, practice and prepare so that they're ready to face the challenges of that game.

Astronauts, before they ever enter into space, spend hours and hours in a simulator and studying in preparation for their journey.

Women, before you ever go out for the evening, don't you spend some time looking in the mirror, preparing yourself for your night out?

Men, before you ever go out for your evening, don't you spend some time waiting on your wife before she's done preparing in front of the mirror?

Preparation is a part of life.

And so the wilderness presents us with a unique challenge, the challenge to make sure that we are prepared to meet God.

See, the wilderness was not something that was unusual for Jesus.

Scriptures say that when Jesus was baptized by John, immediately God, by his spirit, led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.

So Jesus starts his public ministry in preparation in the wilderness.

And every time he is tempted of Satan, Jesus responds with the word.

And then at the end of his life, in the last three moments that he had before his arrest and trial, we find Jesus in a different kind of wilderness.

The isolation of the Garden of Gethsemane.

You see, the wilderness is not a place of physical desolation.

It can be the richness of a lush garden.

But when you're alone with God, that becomes your wilderness.

Preparation, friends, is a part of the journey into wilderness.

It's amazing to me when we think about the Exodus story of God sending Moses to set his people free and take them to the promised land, that he starts by first taking them to Mount Sinai, where he can speak to them.

Because God knows something about the promised land that the children of God don't know.

See, there's giants in the promised land.

And God said, I'm going to send you to Mount Sinai.

I want you to come to me because I'm going to speak to you, because you need to be prepared for what you're going to face in the promise that I'm going to fulfill in your life.

But you're not ready yet.

Preparation is part of the wilderness journey.

Here's the second point: the wilderness is a place of frustration.

Turn with me now to Numbers chapter 11.

Numbers 11 · chapter mention

I want to enter back into the story of the wilderness journey of the children of God after Egypt, but before they get to the promised land.

You see, because when they left Egypt, they left with all of the wealth of Egypt, Scripture said.

They were well supplied with resources and possessions.

But at some point in the journey travel of the wilderness, they have run out of the provision they left Egypt with.

They've come to the end of themselves, and now frustration turns into complaint.

And they said, Why are we in this wilderness with no food?

God, we're going to die in the wilderness.

What are you doing, God?

We are better off where we were.

Are you going to just let us die here?

And God does a supernatural provision of grace, and He provides this substance day by day.

In the morning, they would gather this flaky substance of dew, and they could make bread with it and other things, and they didn't know what it was, and so they looked at it and they called it manna, which means what is it?

And so every day they would go and they would pick up the what is it, and was the provision of their day.

But every day they ate manna, day after day, breakfast, lunch, dinner, manna.

The next day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Are you getting sick of this yet?

You see, the wilderness for some of you is the reality that life simply is ordinary and appears to be ordinary as you look into the future.

Day after day, the same thing.

Welcome to the wilderness.

And so they complain further.

And notice what it says in Numbers chapter 11 in verse 4.

Numbers 11 · chapter mention

Now they're so tired of manna, God's provision, God's grace in their lives, they want more.

They want real food.

This is what it says.

And notice, notice what it says here in verse 4.

The rabble with them, remember that word rabble, the rabble with them began to crave other food.

And again the Israelites started wailing and said, now this is in a whiny voice, if only we had meat to eat.

We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost.

Oh, and all the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks, onions and garlic.

But now we have lost our appetite, and we never see anything but this, what is it?

Notice the criticism begins with the rabble.

Now, I have to confess, I never really saw this until this week in study.

I mean, when I think about God delivering his people from Egypt, I only think of the Israelites.

But it says that along with the Israelites, the rabble also left Egypt.

And the rabble, in some of your translations, means a mixed multitude of people.

Primarily Egyptians and other people went with the Israelites into the wilderness.

But they were not the children of God.

They were the rabble.

They were not people of the promise.

And so let me caution you today: be careful who you allow into your life when you're going through the wilderness.

Be careful who you listen to.

Because if you listen to the rabble, who are not children of the promise, then they might take you in a direction God does not want to lead you.

You see, they were more preoccupied with the appetite of the flesh than they were the spiritual appetite of the promise.

Be careful of the rabba when you find yourself in the wilderness.

Now notice here, Moses has a response, a complaint of his own, raised to God in this very honest prayer, Numbers chapter 11, in verse 10.

Numbers 11 · chapter mention

And as we read this, notice Moses sharing this in the first person.

I, me, I, me, I, me, because in the wilderness you can feel very alone, like no one else has ever been where you've been.

Verse 10 the Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled, and he asked the Lord, Why have you brought this trouble on your servant?

What have I done to displease you?

That you put the burden of all these people on me?

Did I conceive these people?

Did I give them birth?

Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms as a nurse carries an infant to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers?

Don't you love the birthing imagery here that Moses calls on?

God, they're not my kids, they're your kids.

Why am I the one that has to carry them?

Then go on to verse 13, because now Moses gets very raw and honest with God.

Let me tell you something.

That's what happens in the wilderness.

We get very honest with God in ourselves.

He says, verse 13, where can I get meat for these people, God?

They keep wailing to me, give us meat to eat.

I cannot carry these people by myself.

The burden is too heavy for me.

And we see in the moment the honesty of Moses, and perhaps that's a voice and a prayer that you can relate to.

God, I'm going through this struggle, and the burden is too heavy for me.

I can't carry this any further.

Now, I hear the voice of Moses in this prayer.

Do you hear your voice as well?

You see, when I read this prayer, I hear the voice of a woman that I prayed with last Sunday night, and she came to me at the altar and she said, Pastor, she said, I've been cancer free for two years.

It's been a great struggle, but this past week I went to the doctor.

The doctors informed me that the tests reveal cancer is back and it is aggressive.

I hear the voice of a man who's struggling to find a purpose and meaning in his life, and he's struggling.

I hear the voice of a guy that I met with two weeks ago, and he said, I just can't handle this anymore.

I just I need to find a job.

I I can't handle the bills.

I don't know which bill not to pay.

I just can't handle it.

I hear the voice of a woman that I met with this past week, and she said, After 27 years, Pastor John, my husband came to me and said, I'm through with you.

I found somebody else that I love.

I just, she said, I just I don't know what to do.

I can't handle the burden.

And so there's a time of honesty in our life when we realize we can't handle it.

You know whose voice I hear in this story as well?

I hear my voice.

Some of you know my Best Buy story and how we came to Texas, and I was a senior pastor in a church in this area, and it was a disaster from the beginning.

It was a very troubled church, a lot of opposition and fighting, and it was a difficult time in ministry.

I felt, I felt all along like I was on the backside of the desert.

Felt like I was in the wilderness day after day.

When is this nightmare gonna end?

Finally, God released me from the church, and and I remember after a few months of searching, nothing, no answer, no new position, no new church to pastor.

And finally, I needed a word from God.

I told my wife, I need to get away, and I went to a cabin retreat in Mapril, Texas, for three days of isolation because I was at the end.

God, I need I need something from you.

I need a word.

I remember the afternoon of the second day, I wrote a letter to God, a long letter.

It was not a love letter.

And I poured out my frustration before the Lord.

And then this week, when I was preparing for this message, I found that letter.

Dear God, hi.

Remember me?

Well, as I sit and write this letter, I am 41 years old, an unemployed pastor, facing an unknown future filled with more questions than answers.

God, the past 18 months represent the most painful and confusing time of my life.

I thought that by now my life would be turning out differently.

Instead, I'm sitting here in Maple, Texas.

The picture of, not exactly the picture of effective ministry I'd envisioned several years ago.

The fact is, this is the last place unemployed and still looking that I ever thought I would be.

It almost seems like I'm having to start all over again, and that at times causes me to feel very frustrated and confused.

God, I don't feel like I deserve to be in this situation.

And the letter goes on for there for many pages.

I can't carry this burden anymore.

This is what God reminds me.

That's what he reminds me of every day.

You'll never be prepared for where God wants to take you until you're at peace with where God has you.

You'll never be prepared for where God wants to take you until first you're at peace with where God has me, has you.

And that's where God had me.

Now, when we look at this story again, look at God's response to Moses' prayer.

Because Moses says, I can't handle this anymore.

The burden is too heavy.

And God says to Moses, Find 70 elders, bring them to me, and the spirit that I've put on you, I'm gonna put upon them.

And then God uses the same language that Moses gave in his prayer to God, and he says, I will take the spirit that I put on you and I'll put it on them.

And then verse 17, they will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.

God always will bring people into your lives to help you carry the burden that God gives you to bear.

I think it's one of the reasons why gateway groups and other opportunities to find meaningful relationships is so important.

Prayer partners and friends who will help you carry the burden when you're facing the challenges of life.

Now, God turns his attention at this point in the story back to the people, grumbling and complaining about no meat to eat.

Verse 18, notice this.

Notice how God responds.

God says to Moses, Tell the people, consecrate yourself in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat.

The Lord heard you when you wailed.

If only we had meat to eat, we were better off in Egypt.

Now the Lord will give you meat and you will eat it.

You will not eat it for just one day or two days or five, ten, or twenty days, but for a whole month until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it.

Because you've rejected the Lord who is among you and have wailed before him, saying, Why did we ever leave Egypt?

Notice how their frustration leads to complaint, but now there's a shift.

Now instead of saying, God, I'm upset with you, now they're saying, God, we were better off without you.

We were better off as slaves in Egypt.

God, our life was better before you came into it.

And there's this cosmic treason that's taking place.

And God says, Listen, you want meat to eat?

I'll give you meat to eat.

Sounds like my dad there.

I remember him saying, Hey, you want something to cry about?

I'll give you something to cry about.

I'm thinking to myself, what kid ever wants something to cry about?

But I was not in a position to challenge my father at that very moment, and so I let it go.

And so they here's what the story.

Says the people complained about not having meat to eat, and God killed some of them.

Scripture says that while the meat was still between their teeth, the wrath of God came.

So, parents, next time your children don't want to eat their vegetables, just say, kids, before the meal, Daddy's gonna share a Bible story with us.

The people complained about their food and God killed them.

Broccoli?

Anyone?

And so Moses receives this instruction from God, but he's gotta question God because God says, Listen, I'm gonna give them more meat to eat than they could ever consume.

You want meat.

I can provide.

You see, God is our provider in the wilderness.

But Moses, still thinking of himself, which is a part of what the wilderness needs to get out of us, says, Where am I gonna get all the meat to feed these people?

That's impossible, God.

And God's response is wonderful.

Here's what he says to Moses.

He says, Moses, is the arm of the Lord too short?

Are you questioning my generosity or my competency?

You got a problem with my provision, Moses?

And so often that's what happens.

And God says, I'm gonna give them more quail than they can eat in a lifetime.

Because God has more power today than whatever you're facing.

He has more power than what you need.

You may say, Well, God, do you have the power to meet me in the wilderness and to overcome my problems?

Let me ask you that question.

How much power does God have in your life?

Let me tell you what scripture says.

He has enough power to create everything that exists.

He has enough power to part the Red Sea so that people can walk on dry land.

He has enough power to bring water out of a rock so that people can drink.

He has enough power to heal the skin of a leopard and to forgive the sins of a sinner.

He has enough power to calm the water when there's a storm.

He has enough power to walk on the water when he wants to get in the boat.

He has enough power.

He has enough power to meet every need in your life.

He has enough power to deliver Israel from Egypt, to deliver David from Goliath, to deliver Elijah from Jezebel, to deliver Joseph from prison, to deliver three men from a fiery furnace, to deliver Daniel from the lion's den, to deliver a little baby from in the manger from a man named Herod.

He has enough power to honor his covenant, love his enemies, and keep his promises.

In Jesus, he had enough power to come all the way down to earth and take on a little body like yours and mine.

And when they tried to kill Jesus, he had enough power to roll away the stone and raise Jesus from the grave.

How much power does God have?

He has all the power you need today.

God will do what he wants to do in your life today.

He has all power.

Point three.

The wilderness is not only a time of preparation and the reality of frustrations, but the wilderness is a place of divine inspiration.

I'm going to fast forward now, about 600 years from God's encounter with Moses and the children of God on Mount Sinai to a prophet named Elijah.

You may remember this story, the great victory that took place in his life, the destruction of the prophets of Baal.

And then Jezebel sends a little note, slips it, and said, I'm mad at you, I'm going to kill you.

And what does Elijah, the great man of God, do?

He runs off into the wilderness, into the desert.

And God leads him after 40 days to a place called Mount Horeb.

But Mount Horeb is just another name for Mount Sinai.

It's the same place.

It's the same place where God met his children 600 years earlier.

And Elijah starts by complaining, 1 Kings chapter 19, verse 10.

1 Kings 19:10

He says, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.

The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with a sword.

I'm the only one left.

And now they're trying to kill me too.

And God responds, verse 13.

He responds to the prophet and says, Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.

And then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains and apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.

And after the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

And after the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

Now in Exodus 19, God appeared to his children in the midst of Mount Sinai with great thunder and lightning and the shaking of the earth, the shaking of the mountain, it says, and out of that the voice of God came.

But now, 600 years later, he appears to Elijah, and there's the same fire and the same smoke and the same shaking of the earth.

But God's not in all of them this time.

Instead, it gets still, and God speaks a gentle whisper.

You see, God's not going to speak to you the same way every time.

And he's not going to speak to you necessarily the way that he's spoken to somebody else.

Because every time God encounters you in the wilderness, he has a fresh word for you.

And God wants to speak to you today in a gentle whisper.

A gentle whisper.

Now, some of your translations, some of your Bibles call it a still small voice.

And that word still there is the Hebrew word damam.

And the word can be translated just as easily, silence.

Silence.

And so what God does in the life of Elijah is God speaks.

But when he speaks, he speaks with such a sense of focus and clarity that he just whispers in silence.

So let me give you three things that you need to do today to hear the voice of God.

Three things that God wants to do in your life, whether you're facing a wilderness experienced today by a crisis, or you desire to find time with God out of choice.

Here's the first one: be silent.

Silence is golden.

Be silent before the Lord.

Psalm 46, 10 says this: be still and know that I am God.

And again, the word still there means to be silent before the Lord.

To quiet yourself and listen for the voice of God.

Mother Teresa once said very famously, God speaks in the silence of the heart.

Now, the second thing that we need to do, because here's the point.

You know, when you enter into the wilderness with God, it's a time more common for us as we complain, or we want to bring up things, or we want to try and tell God how we want for him to answer our plea, or we want to quote scripture to God like he's never heard that before.

God, you said you would do exceedingly abundantly, above all, I can ask or imagine.

And God's like, Where did you hear that?

That I gotta write that down.

That's good.

So often the answer God has for you is hidden in the noise of our voice.

So God is saying to us through Elijah that He wants to come into the wilderness of our life, but we need to be silent before Him.

The second thing that that word Damam means is to be still or silent, means to relax, to let go.

That translation of that word means, in the literal sense, it means to release your hands.

Release what's in your hands and empty them.

And somebody asks you today, what white-knuckled issues are you holding on to today?

The Bible says, be anxious about nothing.

But in all things, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving in your heart.

Present your requests to God.

And you can't present your request to God until you're willing to release them from your control and allow them to enter into the control of the Lord.

And here's the promise: the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Relax.

Here's the third word.

Listen.

Jesus said time and time again when he preached the word, he who has an ear to hear, let him hear the voice of the Lord.

Now, we're not talking about ordinary hearing here.

Hearing and obeying are synonymous, they go together.

When Jesus said, He who has an ear to hear, he's not talking about, did you hear me?

It's like a parent who tries to get the attention of their teenager.

I want you to clean your room.

A few minutes later, I want you need to clean your room.

A few minutes later, did you ever go clean your room?

I heard you.

Well, then do it.

You don't really hear God until you then obey what He said.

And see, the challenge that many of us face here today is to get all of the noise out of our life.

Noise is simply this: it's defined as unwanted sound.

How much noise do you have in your life today?

Maybe that's hindering you from really hearing the breath of God, the wind of God, the whisper of God.

Because the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3.16, all scripture is God breathe.

It's useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.

See, when you're in the wilderness, this is what God wants to do to you.

God wants to speak, a gentle whisper.

And that gentle whisper is translated another translation, a gentle blowing.

This is what God wants to do in the wilderness of your life today.

He wants to speak to you.

What he wants to do, that sense of all scripture is God breathed.

The Greek word is the word inspirited.

It's where we get the English word inspiration.

All scripture is inspirited.

It's God's Spirit blowing into your life to inspire you to stand up and act upon what God is speaking into your life today.

And some of you are here today, and that's exactly what you need to hear that God is here to speak his spirit into you.

John 20, Jesus is resurrected and he gathers his disciples, and the scripture says, and then Jesus breathed in them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

You need the inspiration that can only come through the voice of the Word of God, and you will hear it most clearly when you're willing to go into the wilderness and silence yourself and relax yourself and listen.

For there is a man that I know.

And he's part of this church.

And at times he struggles with being impatient with life.

His words can be harsh.

And at times he can be less sensitive than he desires to be.

He can be less generous than he ought to be.

And he would like to appear more spiritually righteous than he really is.

With a greater sense of spiritual reputation than he really deserves.

And he would like to remain anonymous today.

But I'm going to tell you who he is.

Can you guess?

It's Tom Lane.

No, it's me.

It's me.

It's me.

It's me standing in the need of prayer.

And it's you.

And God wants to come into your life today with a fresh revelation of His Spirit.

But in order to hear the whisper of God, in order to receive and inhale what God wants to exhale into your life, you need to set some time aside to be quiet with God.

Let me ask you this.

When was the last time you spent a half a day alone with God?

That's my challenge.

Sometime in the next few weeks, find four hours with God and let him breathe in you.

Because when he does, that inspiration is going to transform your perspective on life and you're going to walk away confident in the Lord and his provision.

God wants to breathe on you today.

Close your eyes.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?

What is God breathing in you today?

Are you in the wilderness right now, by choice or by crisis?

God is there with you and He will provide the answer you need.

If you are willing to relax and release what you're holding on to, if you're willing to listen first and be silent before the Lord, God is going to speak.

Be silent and know He is God.

And greater is He that lives in you than He that's in this world.

Heavenly Father, I pray that you would touch every life.

Lord, in just a moment, we're going to rise and the altar workers will come forward.

And you're going to meet people at this altar.

And I pray, Father God, that you would breathe life.

As you breathed into the dry bones of Ezekiel, would you breathe life into us today?

We pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.