The body of Christ is in and coming into a greater positioning of ‘the desperate place’.
The truth is the church in western nations has become complacent and carried away by the ‘happy clappy’, ‘name it claim it’ doctrine that has lulled many Christians into a place of false comfort and peace. Religious traditions by the hand of man will not sustain God’s people in times ahead. This is not a criticism but a reality check for we must know where we are at right now, so we can be all that we are meant to be in the coming days and times.
There has been much talk about the end times and those with eyes to see will know that signs of the end of the age as shown in Scripture are starting to come to pass.
If this is so, then we must realise that God is looking for a people who are prepared to walk through these difficult times, positioned to speak truth and preach the gospel to what will be a desperate people. Most Christians in the Western church have not experienced persecution or endured hardship that has meant they are totally reliant on the Lord for their very substance, for their very life.
I have often thought if we are in the time of the re-establishing of the apostolic/prophetic back into the church then we must be positioned to need to know what the Lord is doing in these times. We see in the Bible how the Apostle Paul and his men and women spoke out and confronted the evil practices of the day, and addressed issues of righteousness in government, in both governance of nations and the church. We would be naïve to think that this would not be so today as the Lord raises up His apostles and prophets.
The Lord is bringing many of His people to the desperate place. The church has forgotten the truth that the desperate place is actually a way of God. Most of us came to salvation because we were desperate, needing His help. It does not stop at salvation, and in fact there will be many times where one is brought to the end of themselves as God allows things to happen to stop and bring us to a place of crying out to Him from a desperate heart. This is not a negative thing but as you will see it is actually crucial for ushering in new beginnings. It is a part of our walk with the Lord. This in fact flies in the face of the hyper faith, name it claim it, shallow pandering to man’s agenda to feel good, appeasing gospel that has been preached in recent decades.
This is a wake up call, a rallying cry, to get us out of the place of complacency and into position for what the Lord has for us all in the times ahead.
So what does it mean to be desperate?
Desperation means: to be utterly without a way so ‘to be quite at a loss’, without resource, in despair. Desperation is also a readiness to take any action in the desperate situation. The truth is God does not show Himself great in abundance, He works in emptiness. The dry, barren place is where the blessing is.
So how can this line up with the thinking that says ‘come to the Lord and all will be well, name it and claim it as mine doctrine’ that is regularly preached from our pulpits? How does that help the struggling Christian who is in financial ruin, who struggles with sin issues such as lusts and addictions? How does that help the family who is falling apart because of division, hatred and turmoil because the family is broken and hurting? If we are going to be relevant in these and coming days we must recognise the truth of the ‘desperate place.’
The desperate place actually positions us for breakthrough! However, we have to be willing to allow the Lord to bring us to desperation.
Desperation can be likened to a woman in labour, as the contractions increase, in order to bring the baby to birth. Every women who has had a child knows the anguish in the transition time when the cervix is fully dilated and the pushing begins to occur. There is such anguish that she cannot be quiet, she must cry out, and groan and moan to bring about the birth. It is interesting to note that the word anguish means a narrowness of place, a compressing. There is an anguish of soul. David’s soul was afflicted in his anguish. He was brought low ready to die as seen in many of the Psalms. This speaks not only of death in the natural, but of a desperation of death to his soul.
Psalm 88:15-18
But to You I have cried out, O Lord,
And in the morning my prayer comes before You.
Lord, why do You cast off my soul?
Why do You hide your face from me?
I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth;
I suffer Your terrors;
I am distraught.
The enemy of desperation is complacency. Complacency is the state of being self satisfied, calmly content. Perhaps it can be likened to being lukewarm as spoken of in Revelation 3:16.
Unfortunately complacency is an easy trap to fall into particularly as it can be a way of life for many in Australia under the stronghold of ‘she’ll be right mate’. So long as life appears to be going well we can be lulled into a ‘ho-hum’ way of living and being until circumstances stir us up to arise and ‘come to life’. When we are desperate we will rouse from complacency and become passionate for life to come.
A great example in the Bible is of Hannah. She is a barren women needing a miracle.
Maybe you are in the barren, dry place? This is where the blessing is! It may not appear to be so but this is where God works in our emptiness. God doesn’t show Himself great in abundance, He works in emptiness!
We see her desperation in 1 Samuel 1:2-19. There are some important keys in these verses that help us to understand the ‘desperate place’.
- The Lord closed Hannah’s womb. It was by the hand of God that she was unable to conceive. Perhaps you are in difficult circumstances because it is the Lord wanting to bring desperation for a change in circumstances to come. Maybe you are in the place of needing a miracle?
- Hannah had a rival who delighted in her plight and took great joy at her grief of soul. Hannah’s husband, Elkanah had two wives, Peninnah and Hannah. Peninnah provoked her severely, in other words she was ridiculed at the most extreme level a person can bear. Yet Hannah did not lash out. Perhaps you are experiencing persecution beyond what you feel you can bear? How are you reacting to the wrongs being done against you?
- She was provoked year after year. This was not a short lived annoyance, this went on for a very long time!! This led Hannah to the desperate place. Maybe this is you right at this moment? She was grieved in heart and nothing could heal her, not even her husband’s love. All she wanted was a child.
- In verse 10 it says Hannah was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.
- Hannah came to the place of giving up, of sacrificing the very thing she wanted. She handed her heart’s desire back to the Lord for His will to be done. Maybe the Lord is wanting you to put your dream, and what ever is causing you grief on the altar?
- Often those round and about don’t understand the bitterness of soul. Maybe you have an Eli that does not understand what you are going through and is quick to judge the situation because they are blind to what is really happening to you? Maybe like Eli they will realise it is actually God at work.
God vindicates Hannah and we see the promise come to pass. God will come to our rescue when we are desperate for Him and for the promise to be fulfilled.
Remember He is the one who gave you the dream in the first place.
It was God who put the desire in Hannah to have a child, but it was also God who blocked her womb. The ultimate victory comes when we can give testimony to the goodness of God, to His power being displayed from the desperate place to breakthrough!
John 17:21-24
A woman, when she is in labour, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.
Desperation positions us for breakthrough!!! It can be a time for the power of God to be released to bring change in your circumstances!! Transition positions us for change! Desperation is a way of God. We know we are coming into desperate times when we will need the Lord’s help like never before. These can be times of incredible growth in our relationship with the Lord, and in the forging of our character, bringing those areas not yet surrendered to the Lord to the altar. That is the power of the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary for me and for you. The Lord is with you in whatever place and circumstance you are in right now!
Be encouraged!! The desperate place is a good place!!! It’s the place of miracles!!!
