Introducing Wilderness: Saying "Yes" Was Just The Beginning
We often carry the belief that our life will become instantly easier when we choose to say “yes” to Christ. But even Jesus Himself was called to the wilderness after being baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. It was during this time that our Savior grew closer to God, was prepared for His earthly mission, but was also tested by Satan.
The journey of the Israelites mirrors this same pattern of salvation, preparation, testing, and then deliverance to abundance.
Our journey with the Lord is no different.
My debut Christian non fiction title serves as encouragement for new believers or those newly surrendered to Christ. Your struggles do not negate your salvation. They are proof that God is working in you and preparing you for abundance. But before He can bring you into the abundance that is promised, there are specific wounds He must heal and lies He must defeat. If you’re ready to make sense of your wilderness season, then this book is for you.
Through study of scripture and reflective journal prompts, you will be guided from “yes” to abundance.
You will uncover the spiritual attacks on your life.
Understand how distorted love in childhood is still affecting you and your relationship with God today.
Defeat the lies Satan tries to sell as truth about you, God, and ultimately love.
The wilderness is not punishment. It’s preparation, divine healing. It’s the place where we are transformed from slaves to sin to hopeful heirs of heaven.
A Look Inside The Book: Introduction
You’re saved, but you’re struggling to trust, surrender, and follow the Lord. You question if He’s trustworthy, if your obedience is worth it. You question if He will give you what you want—the thing you yearn for, the thing you feel He’s put on your heart. You question how much longer you can endure the waiting for the promise. Perhaps you even question God’s goodness as you continue to wait on Him. You question if He really loves you, if He really hears you. You wonder what the abundant life truly is and if you even want it if it means letting go of everything you’ve known and surrendering your desires to the Lord.
You’re saved, but you’re still learning how to trust and surrender. You’re saved, but you’re still getting to know God. You are saved, but you’re not yet fulfilled by Christ. You’re saved—not yet sanctified.
I know the thoughts, emotions, and questions of the wilderness season well. I was saved by faith in Jesus Christ when I was a young girl. But it wouldn’t be until my thirtieth year of life that I’d truly get to know the Lord, feel His love for me, and feel safe surrendering my steps and desires to Him. I was saved, as are all who accept the gift of salvation through the Son of God Jesus Christ, but I was not transformed. I was not sanctified by the Holy Spirit. And even after recommitting my life to Christ at thirty-years-old, I still found myself in the wilderness. I still found myself in process. I still struggled.
My struggles are why I’ve chosen to write this book. I know what it’s like to be the little kid on the back pew of your small-town church, glancing at the clock while the pastor’s words fly right over your head. I know what it’s like to let childhood wounds taint your perception of God, self, and ultimately love. I know what it’s like to leave the church, thinking you’re finally free—only to realize over a decade later the chains of bondage that have been controlling you your entire life. I know what it’s like—to reconnect with the God who was always there, but you never really knew. And that reconnection—or strengthened connection—with our Father in Heaven is the purpose of this book and our individual wilderness journeys. The thing is, many turn back before reaching the promise of abundance due to impatience, misunderstanding, and a stubborn heart.
When we come to Christ, we often expect immediate transformation. Immediate fulfillment. Immediate delivery of what we believe has been promised to us. While some may experience immediate fulfillment after being saved, many of us—if not most of us—struggle, like the Israelites, after first being introduced to God. This is due to three key reasons.
1. We do not yet know God. Our understanding of Him and His heart is still in infancy. The enemy’s lies have yet to be fully combatted with biblical truth.
2. Satan attacks new followers of Christ the hardest because he knows we’re both a threat and vulnerable. We’re a threat to him because we are no longer his. Yet we’re vulnerable to his deception and discouragement because we’ve yet to put on the full armor of God.
3. We’ve likely been exposed to misguided teachings or perspectives that make us feel like our life should become instantly easier after accepting Christ as Lord and that our struggle means we’re not really saved.
Here is the truth in a nutshell.
If you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for your sins, then you are saved.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
Our salvation is not something we earn. It is freely given to us by the grace of God and accepted by faith in Jesus Christ, who paid the price we never could. If you’re a new follower of Christ and you’re feeling anxious—as if you’re not doing enough, as if you’re not good enough—rest easy. Your salvation was never about your effort or your performance. It’s always been about God’s love for you. You may not feel worthy, but He says you are.
What you’re experiencing right now is not the process of being saved—which is instant, sealed by your faith and His grace. What you’re experiencing is the process of sanctification by the Holy Spirit who now lives inside you. This is a process that not every believer submits to, but it is one that every believer is called to. The process of sanctification is lifelong. It is through this process that you will truly know God’s heart and His will for your life. It is through this process that you will feel safe in trusting and surrendering your steps and desires to the Lord. Your struggle does not negate your salvation. Your sanctification, however, will lead you to the abundant life which is promised.
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification…For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore, he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 4:3,7-8
“Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
“I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:14-19
The verses above are written to believers, indicating that our process of sanctification does not end with accepting Jesus as Lord. Accepting Christ as Savior is only the beginning of the transformation—an essential beginning, but a beginning no less. What is the end goal? What is the abundant life? Being filled with the Spirit of the Lord, the love of Christ, and the fullness of God.
God’s promise of abundance extends far beyond what we can see—the tangible, financial, or even relational things we desire. God’s promise of abundance is about the change that happens inside of us—the intangible, irrevocable freedom that occurs when our soul chooses Him. While our lives may never look the way we thought they would, all who follow Christ will come to know abundance. All who follow Him will know what it means to be free. However, that is not to say following Christ means never receiving the desires of our hearts. In fact, Scripture says the opposite.
“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
Jesus promises us an abundant life—not only eternal life. The blessings of the Lord begin here and now on earth. But our idea of the abundant life—our idea of the promise—may not align with God’s true promise of abundance for us, especially when we are new to the faith. And this is why the wilderness season—the place between bondage and abundance, the place between our desires and our destiny—can hurt.
The Israelites believed in God, but they did not yet know God well enough to trust Him to deliver them to the Promised Land. We see them struggle with trust and obedience in their literal wilderness wandering. Their journey is not so different from our own with the Lord. We believe, and yet we don’t give up the reins. We believe in God’s unconditional love for us and yet put conditions on our love for Him. We have a particular idea of what God’s goodness or promise is in our life, and when that specific blessing doesn’t come when we think it should, that prayer isn’t answered in the way we expected, we get angry at God. We question Him. Perhaps we even turn our backs on Him and return to our old bondage the way the Israelites wanted to.
The wilderness season is a time of trusting, testing, and transformation. It is the season when our faith is developed, and our understanding of God is aligned with truth. It is the season when the enemy’s attacks are the greatest. And yet, it is the season when we likely feel God’s presence the strongest—if we continue to seek Him through our doubt and discouragement.
In the coming pages, we will look closely at the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness, other relevant stories from Scripture, and my own story as we unpack the wilderness season. We will come to know the purpose of the wilderness—divine healing and divine preparation. We will defeat the lies of the enemy about God and ourselves, so that we may fully trust in Him. And we will let go of shame surrounding our God-given desires, stepping into the heir mentality of a child of God. It is with this healing and heart change that we may exit the wilderness into true abundance.
Wilderness (paperback) is available to preorder now on www.emilyamyers.com and on Amazon (ebook).
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