The Wilderness Mentality

The Wilderness Mentality

Did you know you might be walking in the wilderness longer than you should?  A lot of people are actually in a wilderness right now, or at least it feels like it. It feels dry, hopeless, barren. Many people go through each day, never feeling like things will change. Our homes, families, health, and life are never moving forward. Life can seem like it will always be in the wilderness. 

Don’t let the wilderness become the focus, but focus on the outcome, the destination.  We may be going through the wilderness but it’s not who we are. We are not wilderness people. We have to go through it to get to where we should be, to become who God deserves us to be. The wilderness Is not our identity it’s only a place between where we’ve been and where we are going. God is with you, taking you through it. He wants you to go somewhere and become something through it. 

We Wander Aimlessly

But Some have developed a wilderness mentality. A mindset, that keeps them from really moving forward. They may even be out of the wilderness but they act like they are still where it’s familiar.  They may be surrounded by good, but still afraid of all the bad that could happen.  They start to identify more with what they are walking through rather than where they are going.  

A mentality that says everything is difficult, we expect bad to happen, It’s barren, desolate, wild, dry full of trouble and if we don’t fully trust God while we are going through this, we can develop a negative attitude.  It keeps us from really seeing the good that God is doing.  Negativity kept Israel wandering aimlessly.  Even though God had promised so much good they just kept expecting the worse. Instead of hope, they were full of negativity, despair, and gloom.

Even worse, Israel identified with their former life more than their new life.  “Why did you bring us out here God? We were comfortable and safe where we were.”  They had let their former lives in bondage become their identity. If Israel had maintained the right mindset through the wilderness when they reached the promised land their reaction would have been different.  “Oh, this is what we’ve been working towards, this is what God has promised, this is who we are, what are we waiting for, let’s go.” 

We Need a New Mindset

We need to develop a promised land mentality, a mindset of blessing of expectation of good, of hope in life.  A wilderness mentality can keep you wandering even though you are free and good is right there. You may even be standing in the promised land, but you still have the mentality of the wilderness.  You can’t get up and move forward.  You can’t even enjoy what’s all around you.  

This is like a former POW that is now set free.  You can put them in a huge mansion with a massive plush bed in a lavish bedroom, but every night they will sleep on the floor, in the corner because that is what they know. Even though they are free and in comfort, they are still in bondage.  

To be free you have to get up and walk with God.  Walk out of the wilderness, leave it behind, and start walking in a new mindset. One of blessing.  One of expectation of good.  Take a sick person for example, God may be healing them and they might be getting better,  but they live like they are still sick.  They must get up and walk out of the familiar, into what God has for them.   It’s right there in front of them, but they can’t go there.  They are locked in the familiarity of being sick.  They have developed a lifestyle around it.  It’s safe and well-known.   Many are walking around, still living as though they are sick, even though they are free and healed. In turn, they are missing out on what’s all around them.  Being sick has become an identity, a lifestyle. How can they live without it now?  It’s safe and familiar. It’s scary to have to walk outside and live again.

Keep Moving Forward

And being sick is just one example of this.  God says you are prosperous, you are free, you are forgiven.  But yet we live like we are poor, we are in bondage, and we are being punished. God says I have brought you to a promised land. But even upon seeing it, we say, “Oh there are giants, it’s too much, we are comfortable where we are.”  We identify so much with where we’ve been and what we’ve gone through. We should identify with where are going and who we will become. 

Don’t give up on seeing yourself healed and well. Don’t give up on seeing yourself prosperous and whole. Don’t give up on seeing your family rescued and saved.  Don’t let a wrong mindset or mentality keep you from where God is taking you.  Don’t let the familiarity of what you’re going through become who you are.

God let us see where we are going and what you are doing. Let us have a mindset of blessing, hope, and anticipation of good.  Break off this wilderness mentality.  Let us get up and walk with you through this until we are exactly where we should be and who we can become with You.

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