Spirit-Led to Where? Part 3 - Gateway Worship Center

CHECK POINT

A Leadership and Intercessory Letter written to those who desire Integrity in the Inward Parts (Psalm 51:6)

“Spirit-led to - Where?”

Text - Matt 3:16-4:1

Part 3 of 3

“Don’t Abort the Mission!”

19^th Edition

Written by Esther Dummer

December 13, 2004 – Posted December 18, 2004

From the throne where the dawn of creation broke over the earth - to the manger - to the temple - to the river - to the wilderness - to the people – to the Garden of Gethsemane – to betrayal - to the cross - the tomb and the resurrection!

Every step, every move, every place - planned and perfected by one who knew who He was and why He had come – never faltering or going backwards – the mark of a “Man with a Mission!”

Oh, to be so thoroughly captured by a call to a vision and to complete the mission such as Jesus.

John 12:27

Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

Jesus was born to die and every step that He took was with the “Heavenly Vision” in tact – never laid down, never forgotten, always propelling Him onward with His eyes fixed upon the Cross. He did not lose focus – no matter what came His way.

By the time of His death on the Cross He had faced more difficulties, persecution, rejection, temptation, sorrow and betrayal than any one man should face “in the line of duty” – but then when one knows why they are doing what they are – they will face anything to finish the course.

The Old Testament Prophets had foretold of Jesus coming in great detail. Jesus’ life was not a meandering trail of last minute decisions, but was planned in heaven before it arrived on earth.

The arrival of Jesus in Bethlehem as a babe in a cattle manger sent tremors through the forces of evil as they recognized the prophetic destiny that was upon this child.

To the undiscerning eye this baby would appear to be a child of average birth caught up in the crush of the society that He was born into.

Jesus’ parents did not stick out in the crowd and in fact were met with the “no vacancy” signs until they came to the stable where Jesus was born.

The enemy kingdom had been basically undisturbed by any “permanent solution” to the sin of mankind but here was the ONE who was sent to crush the head of the enemy.

There seemed to be a grudge match that Satan had planned for Jesus from the time that Jesus, with His Father, saw him cast from heaven, “fallen into disgrace.”

Soon the enemy had attempted and completed the annihilation of an entire group of sons of Israel in an attempt to get at the prophetic destiny that was upon this one child – Jesus.

And now here was Jesus, whose very existence was a constant irritant to the devil, stepping out of the Jordan River preparing to be released into the level of anointing that would split the sin and sickness of the world wide open, breaking bondages and chains from people, setting them free. He was to make claims that would challenge the thinking of the religious order of His day – claims as to why He had come.

There had been a tracking network placed to follow every step that Jesus made, from the time he was a small child to this time in history – out of the Jordan River and into the Wilderness!

It was evident that something was getting ready to transition into a higher level of ministry because of the anointing and favor of God that had just been placed upon Jesus life and ministry.

This is why it was imperative for Satan to try to stop Jesus Christ, dead in his tracks, bringing about the abortion of the mission that He had been sent to accomplish.

Why was the devil so diligent to come to Jesus, not once, not twice, but three times in this wilderness temptation?

Because he knew that if Jesus left that wilderness, winning over all the temptations, and got through this difficult passage, He would go on to fulfill the “call of God on His life.”

The devil had no choice but to try and stop Him.

This is the devil’s greatest fear with you – that you will go on to fulfill the call of God upon your life. The devil knew that he didn’t bring Jesus to this wilderness, no more than he placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

All he could do was to try to take advantage of God’s placement of His people in a specific place – using this time to attempt to do his evil work of deception and destruction to the children of God.

He has to destroy the plan of God for your life – he has no choice but to stop you too!

The enemy will use any method to try to stop you, trip you, turn you around, and cause you to fail or at least “feel like a failure.” He may use a friend or person who has the power of position to exert influence or apply pressure on you, thus making Satan the co-author of the plan to cause you to “abort the mission.”

Peter did that with Jesus not long before He was to go to the cross.

Matt 16:21-23

21 From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savors not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Jesus was totally focused on His call, so much so that He shut out every voice that would try to take His focus from His Father’s plan. Jesus was a “by the Book kind of man,” one who did not deviate from the plan. He had to keep Himself pure and prepared for the sacrifice that was to come so He sacrificed long before that day ever arrived.

He was set apart and to do anything that would cause an “aborted mission” would be unthinkable.

I would be safe in saying that people reading this message all have had an encounter with the “call of God” on their life in some capacity, with many of you still wondering when it is going to come to pass or with others where it went.
There may be some who have seemingly had one set-back after another and are on the verge of believing that you were mistaken in what you “thought” God spoke into your heart.

I can’t speak to that, but I can make a suggestion that this is the best time ever to allow the Holy Spirit to clarify your call and to purify your heart.

The wilderness times are good filters and sifting times – great for having us to come out of them with only what God has left for us to take with us. We need these cleansing times to help us understand some of our own issues, such as pride, motive, placement and religion.

It may be that God has even allowed this time to bring some to a place of surrendering something that God has been after for a long time.

God is serious about each of us – so much so that we have to believe that everything that He allows to come our way is to help grow us up from infancy to adulthood as His children.

We all have some personal disciplines that are lacking in our lives – this may a time to look closely at areas that need to be strengthened.

Maybe some appetites are out of control or there are some exaggerated ideas about ‘our ministry’ that have ballooned to some prideful proportion or maybe some are failing to honor God with pure worship.

Our hunger, calling and worship are always open to being tested by God being as they all directly relate to Him.

Remember the three areas in which the enemy attacked Jesus!

His Hunger

His Destiny

His Worship

From the devil’s point of view, these tests came to destroy these three significant parts of a most powerful call on Jesus’ life.
From God’s point of view, these tests came to strengthen these three things that would “set the nail in a sure place” for Jesus.

Every move that the devil makes is to “Destroy the Mission,” – “to bring us to a place of defeat, one so severe that we will not get back up to “finish” what God has called us to be and do.

For Jesus, it was all about the cross and the salvation of mankind as well as the defeat of the enemy.
For us today, it is still about the cross, the salvation of mankind and the defeat of the enemy.

One of the hardest things to do is to keep “the focus” when everything is out of focus – when our vision and our promises are blurred by situations that attempt to overshadow the light of our life.

It is amazing how fast our world can “appear” bleak to us – right in the midst of believing God for great things.

“Appearances can be deceiving.”

The high view of the “Kingdoms of the world and all their glory,” could look pretty tempting to someone who was not moving very fast towards the promises and destiny of God.

Even a rock may “seem” pretty tasty if someone can cause us to “see it” as bread and “smell it” as bread.”

When you have been in a secluded place – a hard place – a high place in the temple can look pretty inviting.

If the enemy can get you to take “his bait,” then the “call of God” is aborted.

We have to understand this!

Everything hinges on how we understand what kind of offer it would take for us to get side-tracked from the track the Lord has put us on.

If the devil tempted Jesus so severely, then we are not exempt.

It is not by “happenstance or fate”, but “by design” that we are called and placed by God’s hand to be in a certain place. If we all looked back on our life we would see a series of events that have brought us to the exact time, place and assignment that we are in. We all have said, many times over, that we felt the Spirit of God leading us to a place, generally arriving there with great feelings of anticipation for how God was going to use us.

We also found that in being in our “there” that we were faced with some incredible odds that at times seemed insurmountable.

I want to take a small space to talk to a group of people that are in a hard place right now. This part may not be for everyone at this moment, but difficult times are a part of all of our lives and seem to cycle around every once in a while for all of us.

I believe that there are some of God’s servants who feel invisible and insignificant, feeling that others do not recognize of the call of God upon your life, like you know God has called you.
There may be some reading this that have had many “false starts,” where you thought that “your ministry” was “really taking off,” only to find that it “fizzled out,” – or so you think…
There are those who see “others prosperity” or “church growth,” and feel like the “ugly stepchild to God,” because He “seems” to keep passing you by.

If only we would all remember that we send tremors into the corridors of hell because of the Spirit of God that empowers us to be where we are – because we have pressed and pushed and prayed and persevered – in tough times where the “breakthrough” has not happened yet.

Many of you are now in a place that appears to be the “end of the road for you.”
Some of you have heard the “lonesome echoing sound of the closure of your churches or denominational door in your face.”
Some of you have wondered where your brethren are now that the “lights have gone out” and “darkness has settled in upon your head.

Oh, I know, this all sound so fatalistic – Oh, but for God – it is!

If your life matches anything that Jesus went through, as He obeyed His Father’s call upon His life, then you are in the company of a “Great Cloud of Witnesses” – the ‘faith walkers.” (Heb 12:1)

The truth is that the wilderness walking times offer us great opportunity to believe God in the face of the enemy. But it does take a spiritual leap of faith to keep walking forward when you just want to run back.

The mystery is this – even though we are feeling so low, we are at the highest place of promotion – when God trusts us enough to put us in a place where He knows we will be faced with incredible odds for survival if don’t keep our eyes on Him.

This is not some game that God is playing, with us, pawns on His great board of life and ministry, but it is a very strategic move that He makes with our lives – to have us face off the lies of the enemy so that we will never be deceived by His lies, even in the face of tragedy, loss or difficulties.

Western believers, in particular, are not used to facing the real persecution, such as a “lion’s den,” or “beatings and being cast into prison,” but we do face the dark and sometimes severe times that test us seemingly beyond our emotional, physical and spiritual limits.

We have been teaching that everything is “Father-filtered,” and that we are “Spirit-led.”

This is a harmonious relationship that quite often brings us to a hard place solely for the purposes of God to be worked out in our lives.

It is easy to quote to others who are going through a hard time, a loss or pain or dry time spiritually, that “everything is Father-filtered,” but when it comes to us we realize how very confused and alone one can ‘feel’ when it is our turn.

I believe that there are pastors who are in this place right now and whole churches as well as individuals, who are in a wilderness time in which it feels as if ‘all hell is breaking loose against you.”
The finances have disappeared; the children have backslidden; the members have walked away; the Glory of God seems to have dissipated; you have lost something very close to you – friends, mates, property and such; the church is almost down to the bare nubbins and you wonder how you are going to pull out of this place;
For others, sickness has struck and brought you low. You have been praying and because the healing has not come as quick as you had believed for, you may be questioning the effectiveness of your prayers – not outright doubt, but wondering ‘where God is…’
Intercessors may be thinking about all the things you have prayed and believed God for that related to others but now you are facing something.

Many of you are trying to believe for a miracle but you find that “up-close and personal faith” is different from ‘far-away faith.’

Oh, how we can pray and believe and work ourselves into an “intercessory sweat” for others (and rightly so) whose pain and loss we cannot feel, believe that God is going come through for them, right now…and yet stumble in our prayer life and faith when it is we who have to believe for ourselves as to whether God is really interested in “us.”

The wilderness experience is a difficult passage for anyone who is walking through it, but we have One who went through a time such as this and He has never forgotten you or how it feels to be alone with the devil cutting loose against you.

This time of pursuit has brought faithful people to their knees over and over again – daring to believe that the promises that God made are attainable.

You have to know that you know, that you know, that you know lest anyone take your vision from you. You have to be steadfast and be it man or be it devil, you have to cling fast to what God has breathed into your spirit.

Just by studying the path that Jesus walked here on earth should teach us some things about “staying true to the mission.”

John 17:4 - I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

The Manger was not a great start and the Cross was not a glamorous end.

Jesus also felt the difficulty of getting the ministry into many people’s lives that He had so much compassion to help. He wept over Jerusalem and some of you have wept over a church or a city that is rejecting you, even though your heart longs deeply for their salvation.

I was not there to see how He felt when He was tired and lonesome for heaven’s shores. This old earth must have looked pretty dirty to him as he saw into the hearts and motives of the people that surrounded Him.

He saw the sin, pain, the enemy’s influence over lost souls and smelled the air fouled with demonic breath.

He might have looked at the task that was set before Him as a mountainous undertaking – after all He was here to redeem the world. The time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane depicts the terrible weight of responsibility that He carried with Him all the time.

We must remember that when we are led “up” of the Spirit into a hard place – every wilderness journey does have an end!

Matt 4:11 – VICTORY!!!

11 Then the devil left him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

I have a feeling that when Jesus walked out of that wilderness experience after meeting the devil head-on, facing him off concerning his “hunger, call and worship,” and the angels had come to minister to Him, that He must have felt His face turn like flint towards the fulfillment of His Father’s will.

There is something about the set of a jaw, the squaring of the shoulders and the stride that one steps with when they have come out of a trial in victory!

Anytime the devil leaves you is a good day!

There must have been a fresh breeze of favor blowing into His life as He stepped out of that time to choose His disciples and begin to perform miracles, heal the sick, cleanse the leper, raise the dead, feed the hungry and cast out devils.

I know there are a multitude of people out there who are wondering, “When Lord, how long?”
You desire to see that level of breakthrough in your ministry, to have God use you as He did His disciples.
I know that this move of God has raised our level of faith to believe God for things that seem to have disappeared from the church.

There’s just something inside of you nagging and causing you to fanatically hold onto things that others are telling you will not happen.

You are certain that God is moving to bring you into that place of being used for the Lord.

I am tired of “status quo.”

I am not interested in mediocre living.”

I really don’t want to go back to anything I used to have because it cost me nothing and I had to believe for nothing and “nothing is what I got.”

I know that God is going to bring you out of the “wilderness walking time,” and is about to release many of you into what you have prayed and travailed for – the vision that God has given you. But until then…

Maybe this time is to make sure the vision comes the way God wants to bring it to pass.

Maybe this time is to clean the mission of our own agendas and vision.
Maybe this time is to make sure we are pure enough to handle what God wants to do with our lives.
Maybe this time is to toughen our soft skins and take the whine out of us.
Maybe this time is to show us what we are made of and what God wants us to be made of.
Maybe this time is to cause us to know what faith is really all about – going for something we can’t see.

Fulfill the mission!

We, as servants of God have a mandate upon our life as surely as Jesus did.

“Even as my Father has sent me, so send I you.” (John 20:21)

In His Steps!

Every step, every move, every place – the mark of one who knows who you are and why you are where you are - the mark of a “Man/Woman with a Mission!”

This newsletter is dedicated and written as an instruction and encouragement to a powerful and focused group of people who have devoted their life to a life of prayer for the Church. It is written to incite them to move forward with decisiveness and purity. It is written to stabilize and align the errant things that are occurring in intercessory and church circles. It is written to break new ground in understanding our own hearts.

I would also like to take this time to say thank you to those who have subscribed, those who have forwarded these messages or photo copied and passed them on to others. Also, thank you to those who have written encouraging words to me. They are greatly appreciated.

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"Check Point" is an online newsletter published by: "Esther Dummer." Permission is hereby granted to copy and distribute for non-commercial purposes. Consider duplicating, in its entirety, as published, and distributing to friends, relatives, pastors or your church congregation, or forward via email. It is my delight to have those who desire to use these messages to further God’s move to do so.