Ken Winter
His Dwelling Place

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What does it mean to live in the shelter of the Most High and to find rest in His shadow? This is how Psalm 91 begins—a psalm many attribute to Moses. i believe that attribution is fitting. Moses is the one who carried Jehovah God’s instructions to His people for constructing the Tabernacle in the wilderness. He witnessed the fabrication of each part and completed the last of the work.

The Tabernacle was completed exactly as the Lord specified and was erected on the first anniversary of Israel’s departure from Egypt. That day, the Lord’s glorious presence descended upon it, covering and filling it with His awesome glory. His presence, previously seen in the guiding pillar of cloud, now took residence within His dwelling place among the people. From that day on, as His Spirit led, the people moved forward; when His Spirit remained in the Tabernacle, the people encamped.

His Dwelling Place
Ken Winter
An Unknown God

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In many ways, our world today mirrors the one in which the apostle Paul set out to share the Good News of Jesus. We have become so post-Christian that society now resembles a pre-Christian culture, where there is little knowledge or memory of Jesus. In this sense, we are not unlike the city of Athens, where Paul once preached.

After leaving Thessalonica, Paul brought the gospel to Berea. When the Jews in Thessalonica heard that the message had reached Berea, they traveled there to disrupt his work. Despite the opposition, many in Berea believed in Jesus. Sensing the danger Paul was in, the new believers encouraged him to leave the city. Some of them accompanied him as he departed for Athens, while Silas and Timothy remained to disciple the new believers.

While waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens, Paul went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and spent the other days in the public square….

An Unknown God
Ken Winter
Between the Already and the Not Yet

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As Jesus sat on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, teaching His disciples, He began this particular discourse with the admonition, “be on the alert,” and concluded with the exact same words. In reading His words in the Gospel of Matthew, we see that He directed this message to four distinct “audiences.”

First, He addressed His disciples' specific questions. Second, since Jesus’ earthly ministry focused primarily on the Jewish people, this message was also directed to them. Third, He spoke to His church—those who would follow after Him, including us today, who will be with Him in heaven before the Tribulation. (By the way, as a side note—as His people we will escape the Tribulation, but He never promised that we will escape tribulation.) Fourth, He was speaking to His followers who would come to faith in Him during the Tribulation (after the rapture, but before His second coming).

For those of us in that third group—believers following Him today—we live in a place between the “already” and the “not yet.”

Between the Already and the Not Yet
Ken Winter
Simple Stories, Profound Truths

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When Jesus spoke to the crowds, He often used simple stories (parables) to communicate profound truths about the Kingdom of God. Have you ever gotten confused over what Jesus was saying? If so, you’re in good company because even the apostles were confused—until they were filled with the Holy Spirit. The good news is, if we are followers of Jesus, we have that same Holy Spirit inside of us to reveal all truth.

Once, the disciples asked Him, “Why do You use parables when You talk to the people?” Jesus replied, “To those who listen to My teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.” He added, “I use parables because they look, but don’t really see. They hear, but don’t really listen or understand.”

Jesus was emphasizing profound truths ….

Simple Stories, Profound Truths
Ken Winter
No More Manna

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Have you recently lost a job or seen a significant income stream dry up? Are you feeling discouraged or confused about what’s happening? Are you struggling to make sense of an unexpected change in your life? There’s a lesson to be learned from the Israelites’ experience soon after they crossed into the Promised Land.

Few Israelites were old enough to remember the days before they ate manna. For them, it had become a basic staple of their diet—like fresh ground peanut butter is for me today. The generation that perished in the wilderness had been the ones grumbling, “If only the LORD had killed us back in Egypt… There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”God responded to their complaints and miraculously provided them with manna.

No More Manna

Wilderness

We Can Be Sure

We Can Be Sure

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The wilderness is that place – or more accurately those places – in our lives, where we are outside of our comfort zone. The wilderness is a place that is unfamiliar and, most often, uncomfortable. It is rarely, if ever, our final destination; rather, it is that place through which we must pass in order to get to the other side.

Sometimes we venture out into the wilderness willingly, because we know that the pathway to our desired destination leads through it. It could be the circumstances surrounding a move from one place to another, or the unknowns of moving from one position to another. Though we entered into the wilderness expectantly, and more than likely excitedly, we still encounter the unexpected twists and turns of the wilderness along the way. But more often, we enter into a wilderness involuntarily – either through the onslaught of a severe health issue, the loss of someone near and dear, the unexpected loss of a job, or the like. We didn’t volunteer for this journey, and we don’t like it one bit!

A Wilderness Blessing

A Wilderness Blessing

Journeying through the wilderness is never easy. It takes a lot out of you. When you’re on a journey through the wilderness there is often no place to really call home. Whatever there was, is no more because you’ve left it behind, and whatever is ahead, you have yet to experience. You feel displaced. You tend to feel disconnected from the world around you. (Sometimes that’s why God leads us on a wilderness journey – to disconnect us from those things that would otherwise distract us from Him and what He wants to teach us.) But even knowing that, there can be a disquieting in your spirit. 

When i first wrote a portion of this post, my family and i were nearing the end of the fourth month of a similar journey. At the time it seemed like an eternity. We have been on other journeys since that have lasted much longer. Though we counted the time as precious and were thankful for the Lord’s faithfulness, we were ready for our journey to be over! We never expected the journey to take as long as it did. We expected to arrive in our Land of God’s Promise much sooner. We hungered to put down roots in the new land God had planned for us. As grateful as we were for God’s provision and His protection, we were ready for the journey to be over. We were ready to share the testimony of what God had done through the journey, instead of what He was doing….

Waiting on God

Waiting on God

Through the Lessons Learned In The Wilderness books, God has enabled me to come in contact with many who have found themselves “camped” in the wilderness. Each day i am receiving emails or social media messages from people who are awaiting the fulfillment of a promise that God has given them. Often the comments are shared as a prayer request reflecting a desperation to see God’s answer regarding the healing of a loved one, a needed new job, the pain of a broken relationship, a heart cry to have a child, and much more. In many of those instances the waiting has been going on for months or years, and, in some cases, decades. My prayer list is growing daily with the requests.

Here are just two of those requests: A young woman is currently awaiting visa approval to come join her husband in the U.S. The process continues to lengthen as one hurdle after another has been added. In the meantime, this young couple waits on different continents for the Lord to bring about a swift resolution to their immigration conundrum. 

A family has responded to God’s call to serve Him in another part of the world as tentmakers. “Tentmakers” means that they need to have employment in that new country. For two years they have taken each step that the Lord has placed before them. They got rid of most of their earthly possessions and moved across continents on nothing more than a word from God. Today they shared a praise that they have received a job offer. There are still steps to be taken for everything to be finalized, but this offer is a huge step in that direction. It would appear that after two years their wait may be over. But, in other respects, their journey may have just begun.

Scripture is full of people who were waiting on God.

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