The valley of Baca

[Nick Daniels]

The valley of Baca

The Valley of Baca is a reality for every single person. Some have just come from there; others are headed there in the future; some are there now. This is the valley of weeping. It's a place where we find ourselves. It may not feel like it but David called the people who go here "blessed." They go from strength to strength because their tears fill the pools. If you're there now remember the words you're about to read. They may save your eternal soul.

TEXT: Psalm 84:4-8 - [4] Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah. [5] Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. [6] Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also fills the pools. [7] They go from strength to strength; every one of them in Zion appears before God. [8] O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.

The valley of Baca is a reality for every single person who "dwells in thy (the Lord's) house." Certainly those who don't know the Lord will also experience bitter weeping and tears in the course of their lives, but there is a spiritual law none of God's children will ever escape and that is the law of sowing in tears and reaping in joy. Some who are reading this have just come from Baca; others are headed there in the near future; others are in there right now and are very discouraged. This journal is for you. No one is immune from the valley of Baca. There is absolutely nothing you can do to keep you from this place. It's a necessary part of your eternal journey. If the Lord didn't take us all there or allow us to go there we would miss out on our eternal destiny.

Some of us wind up in Baca on our own. Choices we make cause us great pain. We do reap what we sow. Others of us the path to Baca is not that simple. We have not made bad choices but in fact great choices and we still have experienced Baca's sting. Some have died there because instead of Baca purifying us and making us more in love for Jesus, we have grown bitter and angry at God and have fallen into perdition. Some have felt God has forsaken them when they arrive here. Others go through with little change and wind up coming here again and again until finally something comes on in their head that they have a God in heaven who loves them supremely and is so wanting them to be "vessels" of honor unto Him. Oh yea, forgot to tell you that too. There is no guarantee you will make just one trip here. Some of us have made many. Some of us have never been here - YET. But to say it again - you will go through here at one point in your life or another. Pride is the only thing that keeps you here. It's the only thing that nullifies the effect of Baca once you arrive. The quicker you become broken before the Lord, the quicker the exit. St. John Of The Cross once wrote a book called, "The Dark Night Of The Soul." It's a good book and the title basically describes what you feel once you arrive in this valley - darkness. You will feel isolated. You will feel lonely, fearful, cold, indifferent, forsaken, let down and discouraged. Take heart child of God. You're on a journey and that journey will always take you through the Valley of Baca. David said you are "blessed."

What Is The Valley Of Baca

Even though there is only one mention of this name in scripture, the Valley of Baca was a real place. Scholars believe it was a valley in Palestine thought by some to be the same place as the Valley of Rephaim <2 Sam. 5:22-24> where it is recorded David warred against the Philistines. It was here where the Lord sent the "sound of a going" in the mulberry bushes as a sign He had gone before David and Israel into battle against their enemies.

2 Sam 5:22-25 -

Other scholars believe the valley could refer to Bochim, the place of weeping (Judges 2:1-5).

Judges 2:1-5 - And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I swore unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. [2] And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? [3] Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. [4] And it came to pass, when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept. [5] And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the Lord.

The reason for this thinking is because the word Baca literally means in the Hebrew, "a place of weeping." And take it from someone who has been here more than once - you will weep here. There will be days when you will do nothing but weep and hurt. You will cry bitter tears seeking relief to the darkness you find yourself in. That's why the journey here is so necessary for us today - especially the 21rst Century church here in America. We seemed to have lost our ability to cry and weep anymore over those who are lost around us. We have lost our compassion and mercy. Only a place of weeping will instill God's compassion and mercy back to our focus.

You see, tears have a power to them. Weeping and travailing is what is needed in this hour of harvest - not showmanship, hype and manipulation. Godly sorrow is an emotion that cannot be faked. Many may weep because they have been found out by their sin, but the weeping here in Baca goes WAY BEYOND that shallow experience. When we weep here before the Lord it is usually a sign we have touched His heart and have stopped our pursuit of everything else BUT HIM! It's a sign we have been BROKEN before the Lord and have reached such a point of desperation and lovesickness for Him that our hearts pant just like David described in the Psalms - "like a deer pants after the water." If there was ever an hour when the church needed this to take place within her walls it is NOW. If we are not going to allow God to do it now, then when? If we are not going to be the generation that truly embraces Jesus and HIS LOVE then what generation will? If we are not the ones who will take the responsibility for our children and the lost then who will? The media? The government? The educational system?

Baca is both a place of redemption and transformation. It is not a bad place to be even though we may feel like it is. When we arrive we find ourselves questioning the Lord about what He is doing with us. I hate to tell you this - He seldom answers you here. Oh, He's still there - He'll never leave you or forsake you - but He will feel a million miles away here in the Valley of Baca. Yet, as horrible a place as it seems and will feel to the flesh, it is IMPERATIVE we visit this place on this eternal journey with Jesus. It will be here where our heart will become HIS HEART and our vision will become HIS VISION. Without a visit here many will fall to pride and ego that always ultimately leads us into deception and damnation.

The Church Has Lost Her Ability To Weep

I heard a recent prophecy from Nita Johnson concerning the recent attacks of September 11th. She said the Lord told her that if we as a nation did not become BROKEN before Him with weeping we would face total destruction. Brokenness is an experience we are missing in the church today. I hate to even call it an experience. That sounds so temporary. Brokenness is a lifestyle before the Lord we must embrace if we are to see true revival. Tears have the power to change heaven and we are not wanting to weep! We are wanting to be entertained and boast to each other about our church building programs. We want to arrogantly proclaim how much God is "doing" instead of concerning ourselves with what we are BECOMING! God has always been more concerned about the inner workings of our hearts than what we may be accomplishing FOR HIM. Many have done great exploits in His name but have had awful motives only to be seen of men and to brag to others. This is vanity and a recipe for destruction both on a corporate level and a personal level. The debacle of the recent divisions in Brownsville testify to man's tendency to take what God is doing and try and box it into man's schemes and plans. The result will always be death.

Weeping and brokenness bring supernatural releases from God and sets captives free. This is what the Valley of Baca represents - the place where we come to in our lives where we become so broken before the Lord that He becomes our only source of living. Granted the choices we make may hasten this trip here but it's all in the providence and plan of God for us to go here. When we weep and allow the Lord to break our hearts - our hearts become HIS HEAR; our eyes become HIS EYES; our hands become HIS HANDS; our feet become HIS FEET; our words become HIS WORDS; our strength is replaced by HIS STRENGTH and we BECOME like Jesus instead of just being mechanical Christians who "do" a lot of things but have a heart cold as ice.

Baca is not an easy place to be. Many who go there perish under the burden and despair if they are not in total connection to the Father. BUT ALL GO THERE AT ONE TIME OR THE OTHER. There are no exceptions! All of us have wept bitter tears over the things that have happened in our lives in one form or the other. Some may tell you they haven't and everything in their life is peaches and cream. If they are telling you that then mark their name down on your prayer list - THEY'RE HEADED TO BACA! Pride and arrogance are about to take a huge blow in the Body of Christ. There will soon be no more "big" name evangelists. God is about to clean the church's foundation unlike He has at any other time in history. The reason is because more is at stake right now than at any other time. It's harvest time and the greatest need to be able to reach the harvest is a heart like Yeshuah's. It's not a heart that is tainted by the deceitfulness of riches and prosperity the way the world views prosperity and sadly many in the church view prosperity. This prosperity will come from within, not without. Yes, the blessings will flow, but they will only flow after we as a body of people have been broken of our self-will and nothing is in our hearts except an intense passion to love Yeshuah with everything IN US.

I remember preaching on this subject one Sunday night at a small church in North Florida many years ago. I didn't really understand what I was preaching then. I'm not sure I know totally now but I have been here a few times and I do have a better grasp on what David meant when he penned these words. In one sense, the Valley of Baca was actually a garbage dump where all the refuse was taken and just dumped there. It was a desolate place where nothing grew. It was a lonely place. It was a cold, damp, maybe even fearful place at times. But David said those who passed through here were BLESSED. David said they went from strength to strength. David said that the tears shed here in the place of Baca made the wilderness a pool. Jesus summed it up better in His sermon on the Mount when He said "blessed" are those who mourn for they would be comforted. You will mourn in Baca. You will mourn over your condition here. You will mourn over past choices and paths you have walked with your life. There will be regrets here. It's a place where no one is around to offer you a cheerful word or pat on the back. No, there are not many "friends" who go with you to this place. Just you, yourself and your own heart and emotions.

It's a place where all the hype and put-on are shredded away in bitter tears. You will mourn over the failures of your life. You will mourn over the wasted chances you have been given. You will mourn over the fact you have been given so much yet you have so little. Yet, David called it a place of blessing. Strange terminology for such an awful place to find ourselves in during the span of our lives. Baca. Learn the word. Remember the place. You're headed there friend one day and the only thing that may keep you from falling into total despair are the words you are about to read in this journal

Baca is a place of breaking. It's a place of inner soul searching that makes us look into the darkness of our souls and lives and just weep bitterly over the things that are so little like Jesus. If we are truly His, that will concern us more than appearances. We find out who we really are here. It's a place where everything is stripped away from us that means anything to us. It's a place of bitter weeping very much like that which was heard in Jerusalem over the slaughter of innocent children that Jeremiah described as "Rachel weeping for her children, but they were not." It's a place where we weep and weep and weep and weep till we have no power to weep anymore. And sometimes here no matter how much we weep - "they were not." In other words our weeping doesn't seem to be changing anything outwardly. But it's a place we must all go through if we are to be used in the coming harvest and the days ahead.

No matter the cost, nothing is more important than our souls! Jesus said if we could gain the whole world and lose our soul that in the end it would be one of the poorest business exchanges in eternity!

Mark 8:36 - For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Blessed Is The Man Whose Strength Is In Thee; In Whose Heart Are The Ways Of Them

The church must come back to the point where our strength is in God, and not ourselves. It really saddens me to hear the hype and fleshy display of self that goes on in our churches - especially here in the West. Steve Gray called it "hoopla," that many times goes under the name of "revival." Friend, "revival," is not a term that we need to flippantly use or say unless we realize what is necessary to bring forth a revival. Revival is when the people of God become BROKEN before the Lord and see themselves as GOD sees them. When we get a glimpse of that - just a second of that - there is not a human being standing that will remain standing! I was in a recent service and no more than 5 times I heard the church's pastor proclaim, "God is here, God is here, God is really here this morning." NO, God was not there either. His presence may have been there in a measure but if God would have truly been there none of us would have been standing! We'd been on our faces weeping! God help us in this generation to get a glimpse of that. Lord that is so needed in this harvest generation. Lord start with ME. Help me never to boast or arrogantly say in pride again that I am somebody when in fact Lord I am NOBODY except my STRENGTH be in YOU!

Oh neighbor, do you hear what I am saying to you? Our churches have become nothing more than glorified entertainment centers. We are so busy trying to figure out how to keep the people entertained, not bored and coming back for more each Sunday. Let me tell you what will keep the people. A good old fashion, HOLY GHOST SHAKING of the foundations of our building where the true power of God will be so real on our grounds that people will not be able to make it to their pews before they will fall prostrate before the Lord asking for cleansing and forgiveness. If America perishes, she will not have to look any further than her CHURCH to blame. WE ARE THE REASON THE SOCIETY IS NOT INTERESTED IN GOD! Instead of giving them God, we have given them our "denominational standards," our "dress codes," our "five tenants of faith," and other foolishness that leaves them sick to their stomach. WHY ARE THEY SICK? Because only ONE THING and ONE THING ALONE WILL SATISFY THEIR THIRST - JESUS! He is the living water whereby if men will drink they will NEVER THIRST AGAIN. Our so-called Christian concerts won't do that. Our basketball teams, softball teams, youth parties and bowling get-togethers won't do that. Only JESUS can do that.

The church thinks its strength is in its numbers but that is just a demonic deception. Some think it's in our modern-high-tech facilities that just make us even more arrogant and proud. Some think they are strong because the church finances are great and they have hundreds of thousands of dollars pouring in every day which just gives us more money to sink into MORE buildings and MORE projects that don't mean a hill of beans to heaven but just serves to puff us up and make us arrogant and prideful. Some think it's in our "doctrine," that only separates us instead of uniting us. There is a reason Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:1-2 that "knowledge puffs us up." We love to boast we are the only church on the corner preaching the truth when THE TRUTH and HIS POWER and GLORY are not even welcomed in our midst. Some think it's in our style of preaching that sets us a part from other ministers which again just feeds our ego and pride. Some think it's in the fact we've never had a failure in our life and we're not like everyone else who has stumbled and fallen. Again, that just feeds our pride and is actually setting us up for the fall we are so proud we have avoided to this point. No, those are not our strengths.

Friend our strength is in the power and passion of our hearts that need to be so broken before the Lord that whenever we move in His Spirit we weep and travail before Him in Holy Ghost unction and authority. If we won't get before the Lord and become broken before Him ourselves He will carry us to a place where we will have no choice very soon! And the place where this usually has to take place is in the Valley of Baca. And the church is headed for a Baca experience on a corporate level in America very very very soon. Mark it down. Dark days are ahead. Storm warnings are being posted in advance. Trouble is coming. The glory will rest upon us when it comes but before the glory comes we will be broken people, weeping before the Lord, lovesick for NOTHING BUT HIM and HIS WORD, HIS GLORY, HIS LIGHT, HIS HEART, HIS WAYS. Lovesick for Jesus instead of the nauseating lovesickness many have for money, riches, fame, vainglory and promotion here on earth. And those whose strength is in the Lord are blessed. And those who weep are blessed. And BLESSED is the man who goes to the valley of Baca.

Passing Through Baca They Make It A Well; The Rain Fills The Pools.

David uses interesting terminology here in describing those who pass through Baca. He said they "make it a well," and the "rain fills the pools." When we reach a place of brokenness before the Lord our tears will literally make a well in our lives. The word make it a well - literally means "a spring - a source of satisfaction and contentment." The word "rain," gets it connotation from the Hebrew word mowreh which means "early rain."

The words "well" and "rain" are key here because when we are broken before the Lord two things go into place. In contrast, when we continue in pride and arrogance the rains are stopped and the wells dry up. Look at these prophetic utterances concerning rain:

Isaiah 43:2 - When you pass through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when you walks through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

Isaiah 44:3 - For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:

Hosea 6:3 - Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

Hosea 10:12 - Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

Joel 2:23 - Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

Amos 4:7 - And also I have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

Zech. 10:1 - Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

Jeremiah 10:13 - When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.

Jeremiah 14:4 - Because the ground is chapped, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.

The prophets Hosea, Joel, Amos, Jeremiah and Isaiah all prophesied of the former and latter rains. The valley of weeping making a well of tears. Those who weep and seek God will be refreshed by rain and pools of spiritual water. David likened the tears shed in Baca as a type of the "early rains." The correlation is simple. IF WE DON'T SHED THE TEARS WHICH IS IN TYPE A PICTURE OF THE EARLY RAINS WE ARE NOT GOING TO EXPERIENCE THE LATTER RAIN!" It takes the Baca experience to bring the latter rain from heaven. Hosea cried "SOW TO YOURSELVES IN RIGHTEOUSNESS and reap in mercy!" He said to "break up" the fallow ground. When you pass through Baca, believe me everything that can be shaken will be shaken. Everything needing breaking up will be broken up. Everything needing to be examined in your life will be examined. It's not a short-term "process," or "formula," that causes instant sainthood for us like we seem to think. God is looking for BROKENNESS in this hour. He's looking for candidates to pass through Baca and allow Him to crush their hearts and strip away the stench of the world from them because He's got HARVEST on His mind! He WANTS to send the latter rain (which is the rain for THIS GENERATION! The former rain took place at the turn of the century in Los Angeles, California on Azusa Street). Jeremiah said when there is no rain, the plowmen are ashamed and they cover their heads. I can't help but wander today how we as the church can brag about so much when the society as a whole around is so little affected by what we do or say. We need to be ashamed! We need to cover our heads! We need to get to Baca and CRY OUT to God for the RAIN! We need to pray for LABORERS to go into the harvest fields and do what is necessary to see souls brought into the kingdom of God.

This type of move from heaven will NOT come through our claims of "revival." It will only be generated when the church as a whole becomes BROKEN before God.

Jeremiah 14:22 - Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.

We as the church will not produce the rain. Only God can do that. And it will take us waiting before Him. Baca is a place of waiting.

I have no doubt true revival is coming to America but the price we will have to pay for that revival may scare us. It took the instant deaths of 3,000 people to get our attention on September 11th. What will it take the next time? The death of 30,000?

Hebrews 6:7 - For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receives blessing from God:

James 5:7 - Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

James says the husbandman "waits" for the precious fruit of the earth and has long patience for it. The Lord's patience is greater than ours. We cannot even begin to fathom how deep His patience and love go for the human race. But the days of vengeance are ahead. There will be a point when His patience reaches a point He will finally move in judgment and not continue to reach out to the Earth in love and grace as He is doing right now. The catalyst for this will be the RAIN OF THE HARVEST. One final move of God is coming to Planet Earth before judgment. We may not be able to avert judgment, but we can delay it long enough to get the harvest in - IF WE ALLOW our hearts to become broken before God and weep in the valley of Baca.

The Word has a lot to say about weeping and moving the heart of God:

Ps 35:14 - I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother. I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother.

Ps 39:12-13 - "

Ps 126:6 - He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

We need to weep like Jeremiah did over the backslidden condition of society and the church:

Jer 3:21-23 -

God warns us the days ahead will be filled with weeping and mourning, not joy and happiness like so many are prophesying will come:

Amos 8:10-11 - Zech 12:11-12 -

Weeping and rending our hearts is the way back to God once we have fallen from following Him:

Joel 2:12-13 - Ezra 3:13 - Ezra 10:1 - Neh 8:9 -

It is in Baca where we learn to go from strength to strength. You see, our strength has never been our education. Our strength has never been our finances. Our strength has never been our big buildings and huge structures. Our strength has never been the fact we think we know everything about everything. OUR STRENGTH IS IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST and His direction, His unction, His leadership in our homes, our churches and our lives.

People who come to Baca may weep to the point they weep no more, but they are being prepared for the coming days when the only strength we will have to lean on will be the Lord Himself. The church is about to enter waters she has not entered in any time of her past history. We will not have our education or our money to depend on for what is coming. Nothing can prepare the church for what is ahead. The only source of hope we have is our trust in Jesus. It will not be our trust in man's ability to preach, man's ability to teach, man's ability to sing, man's ability to move multitudes by oratorical ability. Our only trust is having a deep-rooted passion for the SON OF GOD, our Heavenly Bridegroom, that our heart pants for as the deer pants for the water.

People who come through Baca learn this first hand. They go from STRENGTH TO STRENGTH. Brokenness is the key to supernatural release in the Spirit realm. And the place we are broken is in the Valley of Baca.

God's Word Will Not Return Void

Isaiah 55:10 - For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: [11] So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it

In the valley the Lord restores our soul. In the valley we receive the FULL revelation of His word which Isaiah likened as rain coming down from heaven. It's similar in language to David's description of what happens to our tears in the Valley of Baca - a wasteland, a garbage dump. And when the word of the Lord comes to us in the Valley of Baca, mark it down - it WILL NOT return to Him void.

Passing Through.......

As I close this journal I want to speak about the part of the phrase in the Psalm that says they who go to the Valley of Baca are "passing through." Some of you reading this right now find yourself in a place of waste. Your life has taken a turn that has caused you to wind up in a garbage dump. Your days and nights are filled with bitter weeping and tears. You cry so much over the hurt you're feeling that as David said, "the rain (of your tears) fill the pools."

Despite the hurt you feel at this moment hear this - "YOUR JUST PASSING THROUGH." Baca is not a permanent place in the walk of life. Unfortunately, some of us stay here longer than we have to because we don't run to our Heavenly Father but run away from Him. Some of us die here only because we take our eyes off our Heavenly Bridegroom and believe the lie of the enemy that says we are doomed to remain in this state forever. Many depart from the faith here because of the hurts and disappointments in their lives. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE ONE OF THOSE!

What do I do when I reach Baca you may ask? First of all, know that no "formulas" will get you out of Baca because quite frankly in Baca formulas don't work. But if you can remember these next few thoughts then maybe your stay here will be brief and you will "pass through," and go to the "next" strength the Lord has for you.

One, know that nothing that happens to you is by chance. God is in control of your life. He wants to get praise out of your life and there are times when arrogance and pride must be dealt with. Baca is the place where we lose our pride and arrogance and become broken before Him.

Two, know that God's silence does not mean God's departure. God doesn't talk too much to you here in Baca. There are days when your prayers become like 100-pound weights. You don't even have the strength to utter a prayer because of the pain. But take heart child of God - your days here are numbered and you are just "passing through." God has not left - even though He may be silent.

Three, if you're here in Baca because of something YOU have done or you're here as a result of the reaping from choices that brought destruction - know that His Son's BLOOD is able to cleanse you, cover you, deliver you, justify you and sanctify you - just as much as it was when you first came to know Jesus as your Messiah and Saviour. When you come to Baca you will feel so condemned, embarrassed, isolated and lonely at times reeling from the shame of your sin. It's in those moments however that you find YOURSELF and as the prodigal son did - RUN HOME TO GOD. Baca is very similar to the pig pits - it's where we "bottom" out and have no where else to go. It's at that moment when we bottom out that we then possibly choose our eternal destination - heaven or hell. If we run home to our Father when we leave Baca then heaven will be our home. Sadly, many opt to go the other way and never return thinking the Father has disowned them forever. That is not true. You're just passing through Baca, you're not destined to live there forever.

Four, confess your faults to your Father and others and pray for one another that you may be healed. Confessing our faults brings release and forgiveness. Arrogance and pride puts us in further bondage. Only those who refuse to admit they are in need usually wind up in deception thinking they are not even in Baca when in fact they are. Sounds funny to state it like that but you'd be surprised how many times in our lives the greatest person we deceive is not our spouse, our pastor, our friends, our parents, our children - IT'S US! And the worse state a person can ever reach is when he has deceived himself. In Baca, it's a good thing to admit you're here and you need help. The Lord gives GRACE to the HUMBLE, but He RESISTS the proud.

Finally, remember above all things that even if why you are here is your fault the Lord still loves you and He has never stopped loving you. If you will truly put what has happened into His hand, He can take the wrong, make it into a right, and make it into such a right that the wrong will not even be a "wrong" anymore! From then your battle will come from within not without. Between the accusing spirit of the enemy and the accusing spirits of backslidden saints you will find yourself fighting another battle on a different plane. But take heart. If you're come through a Baca experience you are going from strength to strength.

I close with a Psalm from David that says it best. God's anger lasts but for a moment. Our weeping may last for "the night," which means a "season." We all will have these times in our lives - NO ONE IS EXEMPT from it. But take heart child of God - joy is coming in the morning! When you get to Baca do what David did - "cry for mercy." God's face may seem hidden and you may feel dismayed now but you're passing through the place of weeping going from strength to strength. Praise God.

Ps 30:5-9 -

Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for everyone reading this journal right now who has been to the Valley of Baca. Some of there now, some have just come from there and others are headed there shortly. Give grace and strength to those who will receive it Lord. Give courage to those who are battling fear and unbelief there in Baca. Give mercy to those who cry out to You. Forgive us Lord of our sins, wash us in Your Son's blood. Wash and cleanse us from pride and arrogance in these last days so we may have the heart of Jesus for others like us who have come out of the Valley of Baca. Keep us from a religious spirit that condemns others but allow us to have an encouraging spirit that uplifts, edifies and encourages. Lord we praise you in Jesus name. We love you in the name of the Jesus. We thank you for every trial, tribulation, disappointment, failure and loss we have experienced for in those things Lord we have learned to trust in You more and go from strength to strength. Bless