Your Kingdom Come: Braving the Wilderness

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God’s been reminding me about a couple of key things since being here in Northern Ireland.

First, He’s been reminding me about some promises I have over my life about seeing His power on display through healings and miracles. I long to see more of God’s power flowing through me, but I’ve pulled back a bit from those promises because of my own challenges with sickness and because of a particularly difficult time last year. It’s felt like I’ve been in a long wilderness season.

He’s also been reminding me about a preach I used to do often from Acts 10. In the passage, through a series of supernatural events, Peter finds himself at the house of Cornelius – a Gentile. He tells Cornelius and his household all about Jesus, and the Holy Spirit begins to fall on them. This is the moment when God makes it clear that the good news of the Kingdom isn’t just for the Jews but for everyone who believes.

The verses I used to focus on were Acts 10:37–38:

“You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached – how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”

I love the way Peter summarises Jesus’ ministry in one sentence: Anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, went around doing good, healing all who were under the power of the devil – because God was with Him.

It’s a summary that should describe all of us, because we’re all called and empowered by God to live the life Jesus modelled.

I especially love that Peter includes: “He went around doing good.” That’s so accessible for everyone. All of us can do that.

Jesus: Anointed for Power

As God’s been reminding me about this preach, He’s drawn my attention again to the first part of verse 38: “Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power.”

He’s been reminding me that I’m called to see God’s power flow through my life.

Jesus models what a life of power looks like.

The reason He’s able to do what He does is because He’s anointed with the Holy Spirit and power.

Then I felt God’s invitation to look at the moment in Scripture when Jesus began to minister in the power of the Spirit.

Luke 4:14 – “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,” having spent forty days in the wilderness.

Suddenly the bigger picture made sense.

I’ve felt like I’ve been in a wilderness season, but God’s encouragement to me is that these seasons have the potential to release us into who we’re meant to be and help us see more of His power flow through our lives.

Truth: all of us will experience wilderness seasons – maybe you’re in one right now.

Also true: we’re all called to live the life Jesus modelled and experience His power flowing in and through us as we see His Kingdom come.

Encouragement: if we can respond to wilderness seasons well and lean into all that God has for us, we can expect to come out of them freer to be ourselves and seeing more of His power as we go around doing good.

Understanding Wilderness Seasons

A wilderness season is a time of testing, stripping, and formation in which familiar supports are removed so that deeper dependence on God can be established.

It’s often marked by hiddenness, waiting, or hardship – yet it serves as a place of encounter, transformation, and preparation for future fruitfulness.

Jesus’ time in the wilderness happened immediately after His baptism. The Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove, and the Father declared, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Then Luke 4:1 tells us:

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness…”

I don’t know about you, but I tend to end up in wilderness seasons by accident. I don’t willingly choose to be there or intentionally follow the Spirit into them. Wilderness seasons can be really tough.

But Luke 4 paints these seasons in a whole different light. If God is leading us there, there must be a purpose.

Sometimes God intentionally leads us into the wilderness.

Sometimes we run there ourselves because of our own actions or challenges – like Moses, who fled to Midian after killing an Egyptian.

Other times, we end up there because of other people’s actions against us – like Joseph, who prospered in Potiphar’s house but found himself in prison because of lies told about him.

However we end up in the wilderness, and no matter how long or challenging it is, God can bring good out of it. Truth: God has a purpose for these times – to meet with us, change us, and equip us for what’s next. The key for us is to respond in a way that moves us closer to God rather than further away from Him.

1. Invitation into Transformation

In wilderness seasons, things get stripped away.

The things we’ve been relying on – other than God – to give us comfort, security, peace, or identity begin to shift or are removed: relationships, roles, resources, routines.

When these familiar supports start to creak and fall away, we can feel exposed, unsafe, lost, or isolated.“The things I’ve been clinging to aren’t supporting me the way they used to.”

Over the last year, counselling has been part of my own wilderness journey. It’s been a tough but transformative process, revealing patterns I learnt as a little girl that I’ve carried into adulthood. It’s been painful and disorientating at times – I’ve often asked, Who am I without these things?

The reality is, we don’t realise how much our identity and security rest in things other than God until those things are stripped away. Wilderness seasons can feel deeply uncomfortable, but they’re also the places where God invites us into transformation. When everything else is removed, He reveals what’s really going on in our hearts. He puts His finger on our fears, pain, sin, and wrong thinking, inviting us to let Him in so we can experience deeper healing and freedom.

Wilderness seasons are an opportunity for God to pursue our hearts and draw us into deeper intimacy – if we’ll say yes and invite Him into the deep places in our hearts.

2. Opportunity for Encounter

When familiar supports are stripped away, wilderness seasons expose our desperate need for God. They create space for fresh encounters – moments where His presence becomes clearer and more intimate than ever before.

Two Wilderness Encounters

• Moses – After forty years in obscurity, tending sheep in the wilderness, he encounters God in a burning bush. He chooses to turn aside and approach, and in that moment God commissions him to lead Israel out of slavery.

• Elijah – Fleeing for his life and utterly desperate, he travels forty days to Mount Horeb. There, God meets him – not in the wind, earthquake, or fire, but in a gentle whisper – and recommissions him as prophet.

  
  

Whether your wilderness feels monotonous or chaotic, God wants to meet you.

• If it feels dry and predictable, look for His invitation to turn aside and draw near.

• If it feels like a mess and you’re completely broken, don’t give up. Get yourself to “Mount Horeb” – the places where you know He meets His people – and trust that He longs to encounter you even more than you long to encounter Him.

Both Moses and Elijah came out of their wilderness encounters freshly commissioned.There’s something about these seasons that propel us into our calling.

As God strips things away, invites transformation, and reveals His heart, we grow in dependence on Him – and that changes how we live out our purpose.

3. Pathway to Deeper Dependence

There’s a beautiful verse in Song of Songs 8:5:

“Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?”

The ultimate goal of wilderness seasons isn’t more power – it’s deeper dependence.

Dependence as we let go of false securities.

Dependence as we invite God to transform our hearts.

Dependence as we encounter Him more intimately.

The only way the lover in Song of Songs comes up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved is because she chose to move towards him during that time.

The same is true for us. We come out of wilderness seasons leaning on our Beloved only if we’ve chosen to draw near to Him.

Our Choices in the Wilderness

1. Move away from God – Close off our hearts, become weary, give up, or numb the pain.

2. Get stuck – Stay busy or distracted, avoiding the deeper invitation, and end up lingering longer than necessary.

3. Move towards God – Recognise the season, be honest about how hard it feels, invite Him in, and surrender to what He’s doing. Hold onto Him, even as everything else is stripped away – and remember, He’s holding onto you.

When we move towards God in the wilderness, we emerge leaning on our Beloved – more dependent, more intimate, more free. And out of that place of intimacy, we’ll see more of His power flowing through us as we go around doing good, healing all who are oppressed by the devil, because He is with us.

Final Thoughts

Wilderness seasons aren’t something any of us would choose, yet they’re often the places where God does His deepest and most lasting work in us. If we’ll trust Him in the stripping and keep turning towards Him in the uncertainty, we’ll find that He’s not just preparing us for what’s ahead — He’s forming Christ within us. And when we emerge, leaning on our Beloved, we’ll discover we’ve not only survived the wilderness but been transformed by it.

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Wendy Mann Equip | www.wendymannequip.com

'Equipping disciples of Jesus to live wholeheartedly and prioritise God's presence'.