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30th April 2020

Followers of the Wilderness - Followers of the Temple

Greg Simnor

Over the next few resources, we are going to look at and discuss the difference between being a follower of the wilderness and a follower of the temple. As previously stated, I am speaking in spiritual thoughts and spiritual words, so I pray you will be able to hear what is being spoken through the Spirit, otherwise you will probably hear the complete wrong thing and disregard what the Spirit is wanting to reveal in and to us.

This is a very real reality today in the church, His body, and it always has been. Although we are of the same people, we are not all of the same “kind”. We are supposed to be, and it is God’s heart we will be, but this unfortunately, doesn’t mean we are. It is the purpose of God we would be “one”, but this doesn’t make this an automatic reality, and sadly it is not.

Just like the 12 leaders who went in to spy out the promised land were all of the same people group, they were not all of the same “kind”. Two of those leaders, Caleb and Joshua were of a different “kind”. They were wholeheartedly abandoned to God, His Word, His purpose and plan, because they had lost their lives and were no longer living for themselves, while the others were of a different “kind”. 

The problem today is that those who are temple followers have no idea they are and genuinely think, and are wholeheartedly convinced, they are in Christ when in fact their lives don’t reflect this truth. These temple followers have a form of godliness but do not live a life of Godliness. These followers know how to answer all the questions correctly, and say all the right things, but when it comes to living the right way or righteously walking in the manner which Jesus walked, they are unable.  

Many of these temple followers have been raised WITH Christianity, but unfortunately not raised IN Christ. God loves all of His people, but not all of His people live for the Father's will. 

Firstly, when I speak about being a follower of the wilderness and being a follower of the temple, I am not referring to a physical place or building, but a heart posture and a mind-set in a person. Our hearts and minds can either be of the Spirit, the wilderness, the unseen, the promised land, the eternal realm OR the flesh temple, the seen, the world, the temporal realm.

Although Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt physically, and Egypt is a physical typology of the world, Egypt was still fully established within them, hence their disobedience to God and Moses in the physical wilderness was incredible. This is what kept them all, bar two people, entering the physical promised land. 

Freedom is not on the external but on the inside. In our hearts and minds. Plenty of people live in freedom on the outside, but in their hearts and minds they are in bondage. 

The question I want to pose to us all is, which one are we of? Which one do we inhabit and relate to? Which one are we eating from? Which one are we hearing and seeing from? Which one do we spend our time, energy, priorities and resources in and on? Which one are we living from and for?  

Although these are confronting questions we must ask them of ourselves, otherwise we run the risk of thinking we are in a reality we in fact aren’t. I can’t think of anything worse than to think you are in something you really aren’t and live from this form of blindness or deception. 

We have looked at Jesus, His disciples and John the Baptist all being a “type” of wilderness. A type of the unseen but seen realm, where an abundance of life exists, called the promised land, the eternal life in Christ. The natural or flesh has no reference for this spiritual dimension, and it is from this posture I want to discuss the difference between what it means to be a follower of the wilderness and a follower of the temple. 

Buckle up because this promises to be a bumpy ride, but I promise us all, that if we will truly enter into our spiritual act of worship, which is the laying down of our lives, completely surrendering every part of us, the Spirit of God will come and engrave the Word of God on all of our hearts, so we all can live the Way of the Kingdom wholeheartedly.