“Because I did not know our purpose for being THERE, my expectations were wrong and, I unknowingly frustrated God’s purpose for our lives.”
These words can be found penned at the top of one of the pages of my journals. It was written at the turn of a new year some 4 years after we had been in the USA. My family had migrated to the USA in 2013 as the result of a prophetic word spoken about 10 years earlier. We came to the USA for ministry and with the expectation that ministry would birth forth and blossom quickly. We never bargained for a wilderness.
The journey through the wilderness lasted a few years, during which time I battled with and often found myself under the influence of spirits of discontent, dissatisfaction, and discouragement. My attitude and outlook during those years left much to be desired.
You see, the problem for me was that the Lord had directed us to another ministry during this wilderness time, until He would separate us for the work that He had sent us here to do, like He did with Saul and Barnabas (Acts 13:2-3 ). However, I found myself like the children of Israel, lusting after what WAS (our ministry back home, PFEM). I kept comparing what WAS with what “IS” and kept looking back.
What I did not realize at the time was that whereas PFEM was my place of growth in salvation and training for ministry, this new place was my place of testing, my wilderness. This was where God would humble me and prove me to know what was in my heart. This would be the place that God would use to stir and challenge our faith, teaching us how to survive in what might seem as uninhabited and barren places.
I really felt like I was in a bad place. I felt that somehow we had missed God, but as the Holy Spirit ministered to me, He showed me that it was not a bad place and we had not missed Him. He brought me to study the following two verses.
Exodus 13:17-18 (KJV) – 17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:18 But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 8:2-3 (KJV) – 2 And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
And this is what He shared with me.
1. The wilderness is not a bad thing or a bad place. The wilderness represents God’s love for and mercy towards us.
2. The wilderness is our place of transition before we enter and posses the Promised Land.
3. The wilderness is the place where God will develop our faith to be able to take possession of that Promised Land.
4. There is no need to be discouraged because the wilderness is not our destination, rather a part of the journey, a part of the process to get us to the Promised Land.
Friends, when we left Antigua, we felt like we were ready to possess the Promise. But God said, if we went directly the wars we would see/encounter would discourage us and cause us to repent (change our minds) from the “Yes” that we had said to this assignment. So, instead, He provided for us an alternate route that would take us through the wilderness, spending time THERE. How much more I could have learned? How much further we could have been? If I had only understood our purpose for being THERE.
I share this experience with you all today because I don’t want you to frustrate the purposes of God as a result of the navigational route that He has chosen for your journey. I don’t want You to waste Your time looking back at what was and miss what God has prepared for you now. Please remember that He is faithful and will perform what He has promised, but He may need to take you on a journey through the wilderness so that you can be sufficiently prepared for what He has promised.
Dear Holy Spirit, please help me not to resist Your wisdom in taking me through the wilderness. Help me not to resist Your training in developing my faith. May I rise in my faith believing truly that You are not a Man that You should lie, nor a son of man, that You should repent or change Your mind. May I be fully persuaded that if You said it, You will do it and if You spoke it, You will make it good. Father, I cast off the weight of every spirit of discontent and discouragement right now and receive the oil of joy and garment of praise. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!