This word is submitted by Teresa Seputis (ts@godspeak.org)

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		       Faith In The Dry Seasons 

Child of mine, I have a great care for you.  I am faithful and I desire
to teach you of My faithfulness.  I love to make you aware of My presence
and I delight in talking to you.  But there are times when I draw back
for a short season.. I do not do this to punish you, but to build your
faith.  

It is easy to know I am faithful when you are surrounded by My tangible
presence.  But child, I want you to know it in ever circumstance. There
will be seasons where I seem distant and you will not understand why.  You
will search your heart for rebellion or disobedience or unforgiveness and
will not find any.  You will wonder why you cannot sense My nearness and
why your eyes seem dimmer to spiritual things.  Child, this is the time
where I am stretching your faith.. to know that I am faithful and I am
ever present even when you cannot perceive Me.

This is the season where the enemy, the accuser, likes to come in and tell
you that I am mad at you.  His desire is to bring condemnation, to make you
feel separated from Me even though you cannot identify anything in your
life of behavior that should be separating you.  Child, this is where the
enemy wants to trick you into believing that I am not faithful, that I am
not loving and that I am not forgiving.  His desire is to put a crack in
a structural wall (so to speak) that your faith might begin to crumble. Do
not give into that temptation.  Continue to believe what I have said to you
in My word, that I am a loving Father, that I will never leave nor forsake
you, that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ
Jesus.  Know that you have been adopted into My family and that nothing
can separate you from the love of Christ.  Know that this is true even
when you cannot feel it.  For it remains true.

It is My desire to strengthen your faith, not to weaken or erode it.  It
is My desire for you to be able to stand on the promises I have given you
and to know that I will keep My word to you because it is My nature to
be faithful.  I want you to have a deep-seeded assuredness of steadfastness,
of My dependability.  I want you to know that apart from emotions -- apart
from feeling "good" or being lost in worship.  It is at that point that your 
faith becomes deep-rooted, mature and is able to move mountians.  It is My 
desire that you do with Me what I am doing in My power and authority.  It is 
My desire that you are not limited by human constraints and by lack of faith.
This is why I take you into the desert for seasons.. to strengthen your
resolve and confidence in WHO I am and in My faithfulness.  For child, I
am faithful and you can count on Me.