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

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                     For Those in the Desert Season

I have prepared a place of victory for you.  Have I not told you that
I am going away to prepare a place for you and that I will come again
to take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am?

Child of Mine, don't you realize that at times I must allow you to stand
and walk on your own, apart from the sensing of My manifest presence
with you?  In that sense, I must appear to leave you for a season -- not 
because I am abandoning you, but because I am teaching you to walk in 
faith.

When I walked on this earth, I gathered My disciples.  I walked with 
them and I taught them and I developed My character within them.  I did 
miracles before their eyes.  I allowed them to minister in My manifest 
presence because I was right there with them when they healed the sick 
and cast out demons.  I was near to them and would answer their questions.  
I taught them to walk in faith and in the power of My kingdom.  And after 
that, I "went away" from them -- I left them for a season.  I ascended into 
Heaven and I sent My spirit to indwell them.  Why did I physically leave 
them?  I left to prepare a place of victory for them.  

They could not walk in that place of victory while I was physically with 
them.  They could not learn to walk in next level of faith while I was 
physically in their midst.  When a storm rocked their boat, I slept in 
the stern of the boat to give them an opportunity to exercise their 
faith.  But they did not do so.  Instead they ran to Me and woke Me up 
and cried out to Me to solve this problem for them.  If I remained 
physically with them after My resurrection, they would not have learned 
to exercise the authority I had given them.  Instead they would run to Me 
to still each "storm" that came into their lives.  My desire was to teach 
My disciples to do what I did -- to exercise the authority that has been 
deposited within them and to still the storm themselves.   So it was 
necessary to leave them in order for them to learn to stand in My power 
and in My anointing.  They had to be forced to exercise My authority for 
themselves instead of looking to Me to take care of all of their "big 
problems."

It was never My intention to be cruel to them -- rather it was My intention 
to thrust them into a higher level of maturity and authority.  It was 
never My intention to abandon them -- rather I left My Holy Spirit within 
them as a deposit that would never leave them.  And My intentions for you 
are the same.

Child of Mine, I have given you the same deposit and the same promise.  
My indwelling Spirit is within you and will never abandon you.  I will 
not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.  And yet, I desire to come 
for a mature and seasoned bride, not for a small child.  So I will allow 
you to go through seasons where I cause you to stand in faith, apart from 
feelings, apart from manifestations, apart from the sense of My nearness.
Child,  I will never abandon you.  I am faithful.  But I must appear to
leave the boat.  Otherwise, when your storm comes, you will not rise up
in faith to calm the storm.  If you sense My nearness in all things, you
will not learn to stand and walk in faith.  You will not learn that I am
faithful apart from your emotions and apart from what you can sense --
for I am the Lord God and I change not.

Child, do not despair, I have not rejected you and I have not abandoned
you.  I know you feel alone and isolated for a season, I know you have 
been desperately trying to figure out what you did wrong so that you 
might "fix it" and get back into that place of tangible intimacy with Me.  
But child, this desert season is not a punishment and it is not something 
you can fix. It is a season where I withdraw the sense of My nearness to 
teach you to stand in faith.  This is the season where I thrust you to the 
next level, where you learn that I am faithful even when you do not feel 
"spiritual."    This is where you learn that My grace and My goodness are
not dependent on your perceived level of spirituality, nor are they 
dependent on your worship nor on your devotional habits.  My grace and 
My goodness are not things you earn with your behavior.  Rather it is an 
expression of Who I am. 

Trust Me, child, for I am with you whether you can sense My nearness or 
not.  Continue to honor Me, continue to do good, continue to trust in Me, 
continue to obey Me because you love Me.  Know that this desert experience 
is just for a short season and it is designed to thrust you forward and 
teach you to stand and walk in a greater measure of faith.  I am with you, 
whether you sense My presence or not.  I will never leave you nor abandon 
you.  I have prepared a place of victory for you, and I will cause you to 
walk in it.