Journeying With God In The Wilderness

Is there hope to be found in the wilderness? Jesus' forty days in the wilderness, which many Christians remember during Lent, echoes the story of God's people wandering for forty years in the wilderness. The book of Numbers tells of these wanderings but can be a difficult book of the Bible to get to grips with. Delving into this book alongside the New Testament and reflecting with prayers and questions, this daily Lent devotional explores how the Israelites' wilderness journey can speak to us in our daily struggles and challenges today. Through all the ups-and-downs of their wilderness adventure, we join with God's people as they learn to see the sure and certain fulfilment of God's future promises in the book of Numbers. We discover God's abiding presence through, as well as in, the wilderness. We see how the wilderness points us forward to the Promised Land, and to Jesus as the One who brings us into the fulness of God's promises. With readings from Numbers and from the New Testament each day, Journeying with God in the Wilderness guides us through an often-neglected book of the Bible, helping us to make sense of the Old Testament through the lens of the New and giving us Christ-centred hope. Journeying with God in the Wilderness is written as an aide to the spiritual journey of faith and can be read either individually or in small groups. It will encourage and inspire anyone feeling lost or bewildered on life's journey, or who wants to join in with the long Christian tradition of Lent as a wilderness experience, by showing them the fulfilment of the promises of God to his people in the wilderness. Join Mark Broadway this Lent and find hope for your wilderness journey.

Increasingly, many Christians and spiritual seekers feel they are in a sort of wilderness space where the familiar, settled, and normal parts of life have become unsettled, out of balance. More and more people are evaluating their lives and asking, Where to now? In Life Unsettled, Cory Driver uses the metaphor of wilderness journeying (a hallmark of the life of faith across the millennia) and the study of biblical texts, ancient Jewish legends, modern theological insights, and his own personal journeys to provide a guide for moving forward when we feel lost and confused. The biblical book of Numbers takes center stage in the author's creative musings about life in the wilderness. The Hebrew title of Numbers is Bemidbar, which means In the Wilderness. In this oft-overlooked book are stories of God's passionate intimacy and anger, communal formation and struggles, and personal failures and triumphs. The author shows how the wilderness journey in Numbers has a deep relevance for our time and for our personal journeys. The book includes a discussion guide ideal for group use.

The last forty years have seen transitions in mainline churches that feel, for many, like a journey into the wilderness. Yet God is calling us in this moment, not to grieve over the changes we have experienced but to hear the call to a new mission, and a new faithfulness. In Journey in the Wilderness, Gil Rendle draws on decades as a pastor and church consultant to point a way into a hopeful future. The key to embracing the wilderness is to learn new skills in leading change, to reach beyond a position of privilege and power to become churches that serve God’s hurting people.

Into the Wilderness: A Journey of Faith is the spiritually inspiring and surreal true story of a young girl from West Virginia who, at the age of twelve, suddenly finds herself deposited into the harshest environment imaginableaEUR"the streets and public schools of South Central, Los Angeles. There, she struggles to survive not only the violence, crime, and destruction around her, but also the resulting trauma, depression, sadness, and sense of hopelessness. Her sudden friendship with a Jewish family at the age of fourteen leads to a desire to know God for herself and a much needed encounter with Jesus at the age of sixteen. Five years later, a God-directed mission into the wilderness of Alaska quickly builds her faith in a powerful way, and her relationship with God is strengthened as she learns the meaning of spiritual warfare. For people who need answers to the questions aEURoeIs God Real? Does God care about me? Do I have a purpose?aEUR This book is for them.

Christian Israel transformed from a life full of bitterness, driven by selfishness and greed, to a life driven by love and his quest to get closer to Jesus. Through Israel’s self-discovery, he shows how important it is to accept the love Jesus offers. In Learning to Love in the Wilderness, he shares his story. He spent forty straight days writing about his path of self-discovery. Raw and emotional, it contains his thoughts, his doubts, his struggles, and his faults. Israel confronts his past, his lies, and why he harbored so much anger and bitterness inside. By the end, he learned the true meaning of love. He accepted the love of Jesus and not only forgave himself but was able to forgive others as well. He found inner peace, the peace only God can give. Learning to Love in the Wilderness chronicles Israel’s faith journey, discussing the process of learning to love himself by accepting the love of Jesus, becoming the man God created him to be.

Count your nights by stars, not shadows. Count your life with smiles, not tears. 1961. After a longtime resident at Nashville's historic Maxwell House Hotel suffers a debilitating stroke, Audrey Whitfield is tasked with cleaning out the reclusive woman's room. There, she discovers an elaborate scrapbook filled with memorabilia from the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Love notes on the backs of unmailed postcards inside capture Audrey's imagination with hints of a forbidden romance . . . and troubling revelations about the disappearance of young women at the exposition. Audrey enlists the help of a handsome hotel guest as she tracks down clues and information about the mysterious "Peaches" and her regrets over one fateful day, nearly sixty-five years earlier. 1897. Outspoken and forward-thinking Priscilla Nichols isn't willing to settle for just any man. She's still holding out hope for love when she meets Luca Moretti on the eve of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Charmed by the Italian immigrant's boldness, Priscilla spends time exploring the wonderous sights of the expo with Luca--until a darkness overshadows the monthslong event. Haunted by a terrible truth, Priscilla and Luca are sent down separate paths as the night's stars fade into dawn.

As I write these words I would say forgiveness is the most powerful spiritual tool one can take with them on their life journey. While in Maryland ministering at my very first out of state meeting is where God through the Holy Spirit taught me about forgiveness. When one refuses to forgive and allows un-forgiveness to reign in their heart it will literally paralyze them from moving into the true blessings God has for them. Life becomes more tainted one might say. In Matthew 9:2 we see Jesus healing a man from palsy (paralyze) the first thing he says to him was take up thy bed and walk thy sins have been forgiven. Jesus knew the cause of his crippling state, and forgiveness was the answer. When speaking to the people there he said, what's easier to forgive him or say take up thy bed and walk? He was stagnated and could not move because of unforgiveness and lay there without hope. Whatever the sin was it was not the problem it did its job. That was to stop him from moving forward in life. His life had altered its course he had become stuck. The life force of his spirit had stop until Jesus the life giver came. I can remember the day that Jesus came into my life giving me mercy here I stood a sinner and now my sins have been forgiven or pardon. There is a song that said, When I could not reach mercy, mercy came running to me Jesus has come to us. Glory! So just as you have been forgiven you too must forgive all those in your past that has hurt, disappointed you causing you to become stagnated in your life. Jesus the giver of life is here!

In Journeying in the Wilderness, author Terri Martinson Elton observes that faith formation in the church setting is contextual, and multiple forces are coming together today to create seismic contextual changes at record speed. These changes are disrupting aspects of our lives, challenging assumptions, and dislodging personal and communal practices. For the church to take seriously its call to form faith in each generation, it must be attentive to current contextual realities. Elton places confessional understanding of faith in dialogue with five contextually altering forces in order to provide a pathway for congregations to reimagine faith formation in the midst of twenty-first-century realities. The use of stories, nontechnical language, and biblical perspectives make this work accessible for congregational leaders and others who seek to explore new directions in forming faith. Processes and practices are offered to help both leaders and congregations contextualize their approach to their particular settings. Each chapter includes leadership competencies, shared practices, and group discussion questions.