1

“You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you,

testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man

does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you

just as a man disciplines his son.” (Dt 8:2-5)

Why does God allow painful situations and then wait, appearing to be so distant, as they tear away

and frustrate us?

God has to wait until we are absolutely bankrupt of hope in our ability, of help from friends or

family, and are convinced that all that is left is to lay down and die. If He lets the pressure off

before we come to the end of self, we will think we delivered ourselves by our power or wisdom, or

just got lucky. We won’t see Him as our deliverer.

2

“You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you,

testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man

does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you

just as a man disciplines his son.” (Dt 8:2-5)The same mouth that spoke the substance into

existence out of nothing, which was formed into the first man; who then breathed the breath of life into the form and created a living, breathing being, still

speaks the very words that we need for daily life. We can’t possibly live apart from Him.

Make sure you are getting this. You are no less dependent on God’s words after He created you by the words of His mouth, than you were before He spoke your body, spirit and soul into being!

3

“You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you,

testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man

does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you

just as a man disciplines his son.” (Dt 8:2-5)So do you know in your heart when exposed to painful circumstances, that God Almighty is completely, totally

and absolutely behind every single event of your situations, drawing you to Himself by exhausting you of your reasons to trust in yourself so that you are left only

with Him for relief or for life?

4

“You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you,

testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man

does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you

just as a man disciplines his son.” (Dt 8:2-5)Or do you believe that things like that just “happen”

because there are selfish people in the world and that there is no relevance or significance related to them, and

all you can do is try your best to overcome them or wait till they pass?

5

“You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you,

testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man

does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you

just as a man disciplines his son.” (Dt 8:2-5)

It’s pretty effective isn’t it!When God takes us into things that really irritate our flesh, we have to decide whether or not we want to cohabit with our flesh, or allow God to

drive it out of us. It is what God has been doing since Adam and Eve created the problem.

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MOVE – If I know what the truth is and I believe it, there is nothing left to do but to move on it with my will and my faith in what I know is true, and to direct

all of my thoughts and choices according to that divine purpose.

What was the “M” step of our “I am” system?

This is the step where a LOT of Christians stop short, and while they know the truth and can teach

the truth, there is no or little follow-through that actually triggers the power of God. That is, there is no choice of action that creates the point where God

may enter the situation and empower us.

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MOVE – If I know what the truth is and I believe it, there is nothing left to do but to move on it with my will and my faith in what I know is true, and to direct

all of my thoughts and choices according to that divine purpose.

What was the “M” step of our “I am” system?

This is the step where a LOT of Christians stop short, and while they know the truth and can teach

the truth, there is no or little follow-through that actually triggers the power of God. That is, there is no choice of action that creates the point where God

may enter the situation and empower us.

There is something about the human will that the Lord loves to engage. It is very much like

knowing that Jesus did on the cross for us, believing it is historically accurate, but falling

short of personal appropriation in faith.

Acknowledgment of historical fact does not equate to saving faith, as refusing to move or

choose to order our lives according to things we know are theologically accurate does not equate

to living in faith.

8

You can have a brand new car with a full tank of gas, water in the radiator and oil in the crankcase.

But if you don’t drive it, it’s absolutely useless. It’s not the potential that has value, but rather where you go in it.

So with the potential of the Christian life, you could say that knowing facts about its potential and not doing anything relationally with it is not just useless – it is

actually a liability.

The new car that is ready for use, that is not actually used, is in fact a liability, not an asset, because you still pay for

the insurance and depreciation.

So too, truth that we do not engage can become a liability. It is frustrating to not experience what the truth promises, and when we know it but don’t live it, it is frustrating and

we tend to charge the truth with the failure.

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Can you imagine how frustrating it would be to know that we have the potential to draw the Lord into every

experience and find victory in everything we did – yet live in self-will and defeat?

Are there valuable things that God said to you that are useless because you have never moved on them?

Because sometimes God has to take what we had in order help us appreciate what He makes available to us.

10

Sometimes God has to bankrupt us of ourselves, our solutions, our confidence in self or others, and leave

us with nothing BUT GOD.

If you were in a house that was surrounded by a million soldiers with rockets, howitzers, tanks and weapons of

mass destruction, and they told you that you have 5 minutes to walk out and surrender or they would reduce the house to ash in a nanosecond, what would you do?

Even if you had a 45 Colt and 20 boxes of ammo, the battle would be pointless. It would only last a few seconds after

you fired your first shot. You wouldn’t fight; you would probably not even count the minutes down. You would

walk out the door with your hands up.

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“Are you in a hard situation that you can’t handle?”

But what if God appeared and said,

“I think I have a reasonable solution for you. This is a little high-tech but all you have to do is push this red button and every person and every weapon will

vaporize instantly.”

You might feel so empowered and relieved that you might poke your head out the door and say, “Listen,

I’m about to destroy all of you and your weapons, but I am a God-fearing person and if any of you don’t want to be vaporized you have 4 minutes to join me

in this house.”