Don’t Give Up, You’re Right At The End!
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
by Lonnie Mackley

MT 19:27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

I just want to encourage many of you today who are at the end of your wilderness time but who feel spent, wrecked, swindled, and just generally like giving up. Many of you have sacrificed all to follow God’s call and you have lost everything in order to live a life of faith that has left you less than exhilarated at the end. You want to hang on and keep trusting God, but there is another part of you that feels like you need to just think realistically and to not get your hopes up because you will just be disappointed in the end once again.

First of all I want to tell you something, if God told you long ago that He was going to do something big in your life, then guess what? He’s going to do it, and you should not let go of this just because there is little grace right now and you don’t know what to do next. Now obviously this whole wilderness thing was not about us getting some big prize at the end, but God gives us promises in order to help us to keep our faith and to hope for something while we go through the tougher stuff of growing up and being fully purified and prepared.

Many of you have wondered whether or not you are just crazy for believing these things and for spending your life doing this. Some of you even feel now that you have wasted your life and that you just made a big mistake. But in your heart you have felt a burning to walk in God’s power in order to help people so they can know God and be saved, and you have seen a destiny where like Joseph you will help many people to know God and survive some tough times ahead. Like John the Baptist, you have been in the wilderness all of your life.

You see, this whole place is likely to go into the tribulation and a very anti-Christian world government soon, so God needs to flow through people that He can trust here and who will represent Him as He really is. The day of the hypocrite is over. God is the biggest realist there is, and if there are things that need to change in our lives then He will keep at it until we are truly ready. How many times did you think you were ready to come out of the wilderness only to see a year later just how much you really needed what God did that previous year? You see, just like a regular father God doesn’t throw His car keys to kids.

ISA 49:8 This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, 9 to say to the captives, `Come out,’ and to those in darkness, `Be free!’

God is about to move on your life with a series of miracles and finances to restore you, and you will go from just sitting in your tent all day, to being very busy getting everything ready to go into this last conquest fully restored. I guess the main thing that I feel that God wants to say to you is that what He has told you is true, so don’t let go of it! And whatever areas that you have gone as far as you can, but have not overcome in, He is about to give you that extra help that you need in order to fully overcome all the way. So don’t give up!

This whole wilderness thing isn’t really about us that much anyway, it’s about all of the unsaved people you see walking by outside of your house or at the mall. God’s mind is on them 24/7. We were once just as unsaved as them and don’t you think God wants to help them? They are His creation and children just like we are. If you were still unsaved wouldn’t you want God to do everything possible to save you? Well you are God’s answer to their need. We are all about to go forth and preach the gospel in power, love, and true holiness.

So try to hang in there for this last part of your wilderness, avoid grumbling, and pick your promises from God back up and know that the same God that led you into this has already planned from the beginning how to lead you back out of it. Take things as slowly and carefully as you can as the miracles come and don’t get ahead of God. You learned to live by faith and by God’s moment by moment direction in the wilderness so that you could do it effectively in your promised land life and ministry. Know this, your restoration and vindication is right in front of you, so stand up and look up because your redemption is drawing very near now.

LK 21:28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

http://lonniemackley.tripod.com/

*Sigh* Excuse my ‘French’ but… it is really amazing how much ‘Crap’ one can accumulate in just 19 years of life.. and I haven’t even hit the tip of the ice berg yet.

I have been cleaning out my room today. throwing away all the trash and stuff that has found its ways into my many drawers throughout my room.
it seems like every drawer has more Knick-knaks than I know what to do with. and after getting a huge pile of knick-knacks in the middle of my room. (poured out from the many drawers)
I find myself putting it back away in the drawers. Just to get it out of my way. and also so I don’t have to deal with it yet. Even though its More Organized. and doesn’t have old shirt tags and random unused tissues interspersed with it. it’s still Useless junk.
(ha and this is only junk from the last 5-6 years!.. 5-6 years ago I took everything out of my room. (when I was past the ‘little girl’ stage.) and right now as I type this. it is sitting in boxes in the barn… waiting to be gone through.!!)

I am this close *holds thumb and pointer finger about an inch a part* to just throwing it all away.. I am getting tired of having all this stuff around that I never use! and all it ever does is get in the way. and make it harder to find the things you REALLY need.

mmm I don’t know. maybe I should sell it on ebay? but is it even worth going through all the trouble for the 2 bucks that I will more then likely get.?

I know this also has a Major Spiritual side to it also.

We hold onto all this Useless Junk. Useless Information. and Useless time wasters.
We think there important. maybe even a part of our identity. but when you get right down to it. and bring it up into the light. you can see what it is for what it is.
WEIGHTS!. it weighs us down.!

have you ever experienced the feeling. right after you cleaned out say. a bathroom. or your bedroom.
You went through all the junk. kept what you were using. and threw all the unusable trash. cleaned everything. and stood back and looked at everything. all nice and tighty. everything where it should be.
you have everything you need. nothing more. nothing less.

How did you feel?.. mm? FREE!. that Heaviness that made you start cleaning and going through stuff in the beginning, lifts! and you have a most awesome feeling of freedom.
(this is what happened with me and all my ‘Medieval/Renaissance’ stuff. God did a Inner and outer cleaning with that one.)

it is the same when God goes through your inner ‘chest of drawers’. We hide so much and throw so much inside them. to the point where you really can’t find anything anymore.

You feel heavy and tired. and unsure of what to do next. but all the sudden….

CRASH! BANG! God Pulls out the drawers (sometimes just one!) and Dumps all the contents on the floor. at first. your shocked. you consider for a moment asking if he knows what hes doing.
but then it becomes obvious to you that, that would probably be the stupidest question ever to ask GOD. so you sit back. and wonder.

So what is he doing? all the sudden he whips out this flash light and starts looking in the area where the drawer was pulled out. looking for all the things that may have fallen back behind the drawer. (When God goes through something. he gets into every nook and cranny) due to the drawer being SO over stuffed. After removing any of the contents that fell back there. he sits down and starts to go through all the things that he dumbed out onto the floor. while you helplessly sit close by unsure of what hes going to do next.

He first removes and burns all the old tissues and shirt tags and Only he knows what else that somehow found its way into the drawer instead of the trash. Now that part isn’t so bad. You actually feel much, much better after all the ‘trash removal’ but…. then. here comes the harder part, he starts going through the True contents! Holding each item up into the light of his son. he then makes the judgment…. should it stay or go?

are you able to handle the removal yet? if not. he may have to wait a few more years before the delicate surgery can take place. if its something that you are really holding onto and unable to give up yet. God is sovereign. and will gently place the item back into its spot in the drawer. and then move onto the next.

after he has done this to all the contents of the drawer. you then look over at the pile of ‘throw away’….

for a moment you think.. ‘Wait.. no… that thing meant something to me’ but God reassures you that it isn’t needed. Once all of it is taken away. you take a peek in the drawer.. ITS EMPTY! COMPLETELY EMPTY! for a moment you don’t know what to do and start to panic. ‘my LIFE was in that drawer’ you think. all your stuff that had meaning is GONE! but then. God returns. and with a smile on his face. hands you a gift. ‘this My daughter/son is all you really need’.. with curiosity. you open it. once you do a Light comes forth. shining so brightly that you are sure that it somehow is able to reach even the most deepest parts of your being.

and then God Smiles once more ‘this is all you need. This is my Son. he is the Light. he is the Word. and He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. he is the only thing you need. everything else was just holding you back.’ you turn and look. and all the sudden you notice. the Chest of Drawers is Gone! and in replacement is Exactly what you need for the day. you feel so free.! but all the sudden the worry comes upon you. What about tomorrow? this is only enough provision for today! how in the world am I going to make it! God then puts his hand on your shoulder and says ‘Child. I know you have need of these things. don’t you think I care? I cloth the lilys of the valley. I feed the birds of the air. don’t you think I will do the same for you? you are so much more important to me then these! don’t you think I will cloth you, Feed you. and give you exactly what you need?’

Then. the rest is up to you. you either.
1. lean fully on him. and say Yes lord! I Agree you are ALL I NEED. or
2. you smile and say. mmmhmm.. but in your heart you slowly Once again start to gather all the things that you think you need. and then….
somehow you end up back up at square one.. with God going through your drawers once more.

the choice is up to us. Do we let the spirit of the living God do its perfect work? or are we going to ‘go around the mountain again’… Are we going to Die to self? (and then live through Christ) Or are we going to Live for Self (and die to Christ).. its our choice. and each day. we must choose…… ‘Choose this Day whom you will serve’

Anyways.. I wasn’t going to write a book. but I guess I did. LOL. Man will make his plans but God will Direct his steps I guess. and I had no clue I was going to step there.

God Bless
Brittni
p.s there are many scriptures which come to mind if you wish to have a list. just ask. hehe.