Awaken LA Church

A.Wilderness Experiences Teach Us to Surrender (Exodus 14:12)

Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" ~ Exodus 14:12

“The goal is not always the destination but rather the journey.”

To get His people into the promise God needed to get them to a place of surrender, a place where they would trust Him, that they would believe His way was better than theirs.

I believe that is true for you and I God is not trying to punish you in the wilderness, but He is trying to take you where you could have never gone yourself.

These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ~1 Peter 1:7

B. Wilderness Experiences Teach Us to Follow
(Exodus 13:21-22)

21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. ~Exodus 13:21-22

Why did the Lord appear like this?

1.To make clear His presence
2.To make clear the path
3.To make it easier to follow

1.Stay on the path no matter how scary it gets. (Matthew 4:1-11)

C. Wilderness Experiences Teach Us to Trust

1.Trusting God Means Believing His Ways Are Better (Exodus 13:17-18)


2.Wilderness Experiences Allow God to Be Glorified (Exodus 13:21)
Lessons from the wilderness:
1.Our true identity is often found in the wilderness
2.We don’t realize that God is all we need until He is all we have
3.We can learn to let God write the story of our lives.