Prayer Works Morning Devotion: July 16, 2025

In The Presence Of God/The Lord

"Leviticus 9:22-24 The Israelites In The Wilderness"

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A very good morning to you everybody. I hope you had a wonderful night. You are well rested and ready to go another day. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you. We thank you for your goodness and your mercy towards us.  

We thank you, Lord, that this is the day that you have made, we are rejoicing it and we are glad in it. Thank you for redeeming us from the curse of the law even though we're crucified with you nevertheless, we still but yet leave. Not yet us, but Christ lives by faith in us. Your word dwells in us richly.  

We are able to say we are blessed, we are healed, we are set free. Sickness, cannot dwell in us The number of our days you will fulfill. Sin will not dominate us because the seed of God's word list, because we believe that Jesus Christ came and died on the cross.  

And we now have this abundant life and the victory that he provides, no weapon formed against us shall prosper. We are more than conquerors because of your great love. Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.  

We can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us as the redeemed of the Lord We say so. Brothers and sisters, today we are in Leviticus 9:22-24 I'll read then Aaron lifted his hands towards the people.  

Remember the children of Israelite at this point in time, they are in the wilderness. We are having an experience they have never had before. Their inner place between. Where they're coming from and they're out mid victory.  

So they are in the wilderness. And while they are in the wilderness this is where Aaron lifted his hand towards the people. He blessed them and came down from offering the same offering and the burnt offering and peace offering. And Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle of meeting and came out and blessed the people.  

Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and sat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their face.  

I want us to kind of pause a little bit and kind of think about a scene. As thousands of people gathered and Moses and Aaron just went into the Tabernacle. They come out of it and they are in the middle of the wilderness.  

So they're just built a tabernacle there and Moses and Aaron go in there to offer a peace offering. And when they come out, they bless the people. While they are gathered around the scene, offering and then while they are gathering around the glory of God then falls. In that place. And fire comes from heaven.  

I want you to imagine fire coming down from heaven and it consumes what is laid on the offering and it burns it. That sounds remarkable. Just thinking about this scene. But the thing that I want us to pay attention to is the fact that they are in the wilderness.  

There is something or there is a relationship that is between God's presence and wilderness. In fact, I would dare to say that God's presence usually prefers that a person is in the wilderness.  

Why? Because when you are in the wilderness, most times you are isolated from the things that gives you comfort. And you are isolated from possible help. So God usually prefers that when his presence or when we encounter his presence, usually is when we are in the wilderness.  

Moses was in the wilderness. Abraham, while he is in Babylon, Babylon is a reference to wilderness. Joseph was in the wilderness that's Egypt. David was in the wilderness where his father totally forgot about him.  

So you, Elijah, was in the wilderness. Jesus went to the wilderness, Paul went into the wilderness. Philip went into the wilderness. So there is a relationship that God's presence and wilderness have. 

So in other words, more times when we are going through challenges. Even though we might be around people most times, we are isolated in the things that we are going through because it's just us going through them. And in those moments, we have to realize that there are opportunities for us to experience God's presence. 

Wilderness moments, isolation, even though isolation is not necessarily good for us from a physical level, but in God's presence, it is a preference because it removes you from the things that usually gives you comfort.  

Or a place where you can lean on. In other words, I want you to realize that in this moment. That you need me. And I'm here to show you that I show up in wilderness moments. So we would and these moments are necessary.  

Because they remove in us. The things that God does not want to be there. In order for us to experience his glory. Why wouldn't the children of Israelite experience this while they were in Egypt?  

Because they would have taken it for granted or they wouldn’t have understood why, but after they have been isolated or removed from Egypt and they are in this place where they are coming from and going to.  

In that moment, God shows up in his glory falls, and Aaron and Moses bless the people and they experience God's presence in that moment. So we would have these moments, though we most likely don't want to experience them.  

They are necessary to helping us to experience God's glory. It's always amazing. It's amazes me when we immediately you know, get a victory and right after the victory, you experienced something that is contrary to the victory.  

Almost kind of like Lord I thought we were now getting to that place. Until you realize his goal is taking you through a wilderness moment, a wilderness journey where he is removing things, and sometimes these moments, this journey they are two days.  

Sometimes they are a, a, sometimes they are years of wilderness where he is doing something in him where he removes you out of your comfort zone. So that you can experience God's glory.  

I can testify that me and my family, we've been in a wilderness journey for the past five years. Where God is doing whatever he is doing. And when you are in these moments that's when you appreciate the most God's presence and his glory.  

And I'm sure most of us we can look back in our lives, or most of you might be going through it right now. Because they are necessary for us to experience and to reverence God's glory and not take it for granted.  

Because God is in the business of trying to move us to the glory realm and in order to go from glory to Glory, Wilderness moments are necessary.  

Jesus, before anything phenomenal in his life happened. He went into the wilderness and he went through testings. He went through difficult challenges. Elijah was in the wilderness, ravens had to come and feed the men.  

Experiencing God's glory does not come cheap. It comes with wilderness moments. Now we have to train ourselves that when we are going through these moments, we look for God's presence.  

Rather than let the wilderness moment consume us. Sometimes we focus a lot on the problem rather than turn our eyes towards God. So that we can experience what he is trying to get us to experience.  

Sometimes the Lord is trying to teach us things. Sometimes he’s trying to illuminate some things. And the longer we don't see or the longer we don't learn the lesson. The longer the wilderness moment might be as we see, the children of Israelites.  

God had told them this is where I am taking you now. When you get over there, I want you to send spies to go spy the land. And they go instead of believing what the word of God was, they believed what their minds was telling them as they stayed in the wilderness for another 40 years.  

So brothers and sisters wilderness moments are designed so that we can experience God's glory. I always say how else will we know God's love? If we have never experienced strife, how always will we know God is a healer.  

If we have never been sick. How else will we know God's presence if we have never been in chaos? It makes us appreciate these wilderness moments. So as we move forward with this life.  

Let's pay attention to wilderness moments. Because God wants to reveal himself in those moments, and they strip us off everything that we can lean on in finding comfort in this world.  

This world as we know it, this world as we know it. It is a wilderness journey because we are now removed from the original place that God wanted us to exist in, so we are in our wilderness journey. And we are constantly experiencing God in this wilderness journey. And within this wilderness journey, we have wilderness moments.  

Where we are also constantly experiencing God. So brothers and sisters that's why the scripture says, count it all joy when you first Rouse and tribulations because the testings of your faith will produce a perseverance and now let perseverance make do its work in you so that you can be found perfect, lacking nothing.  

And where do we get perfection? In God's presence. Where do we get glory? In God's presence. When do our problems get solved? In God's presence. When do we experience faith? In God's presence.  

When do we experience victory in God's presence. But the scripture says count it all joy when you face trials and tribulation, in other words, count it all joy, when you face wilderness moments.  

Because they test your faith and it produces the character in you that will enable you to live in the glory realm. There is nothing like seeing a person, experiencing God's presence without character. The two do not go together.  

God always prefer that our character is intact. So that we can experience his glory and his presence the right way. So brothers and sisters let's count it all, joy when we face wilderness moments. Because they test our character and our faith and out of it, what we get is God's presence.  

And I'm telling you, brothers and sister I'm going through it right now and I'm counting it all joy. I am counting it all joy. Because I know out of this we’ll get God's presence. Let us pray. 

Heavenly Father we thank you for your goodness and for your grace. Now as we look through our challenges help us to have a different view in what is being presented by the challenges. So that we can continue counting it all joy as we face these trials and tribulations and wilderness moments.  

We thank you for your hand that is upon us. That is guiding and protecting and walking with us. We thank you, Lord, for your grace. We thank you for your divine moments. We don't take them for granted when you come to visit us and when we experience your presence. 

I pray Lord, may we find strength in these moments to know Lord that what's coming is better and it's all worth it. Because you are purifying us, you are dealing with some things in us so that we can get to our victory with our character in intact. We bless you and honor you that you are a loving Father.  

And your promise still stands that you will never leave us, nor forsake us even in wilderness moments. So we thank you for the great examples that you have set in the scriptures.  

Now lead us into triumphant procession and we thank you for your Grace as we go through this day, be with us, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from the evil one, for thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever, Amen.  

Brothers and sisters count it all joy when you face trials and tribulations, because God is building something in us so that we can experience his presence, the right way. May the Lord bless you.  

May the Lord bless your families, your children, your grand children, your plans and everything else that you are trying to do. 

May God's hand guide you and give you revelation, knowledge so that you can execute whatever he desires you to execute in the right manner. Let's all have an incredible phenomenal day and we will see you tomorrow.