THE PURPOSE OF THE PROCESS

#destinymoments

The process that gets you ready for your destiny can often be very confusing and if you do not get the right perspective of it, you might end up misinterpreting the message of the process that is necessary to get you to your purpose. One of the most relevant series of sermons that is readily available on this subject is by a preacher called Tony Evans who has done a series of sermons called ‘Detours to Destiny’. I listened to these sermons for a full year about 2 years ago because they spoke so much to what I was going through then and helped me understand how to manoeuvre through my own process to my discovering my destiny.  So with each post on the process, I will put a link below to one of his sermons on the topic.

The purpose of the process to destiny is to build your character that will sustain you in your destiny because often times when God gets a hold of us, and because of the sin nature within us, we are often not in a state that will uphold the purpose that He has for us. So then at that point God then starts to work in us through challenging circumstances that ultimately result in the character of Christ being built in us, if we respond correctly. When you look at the Bible, no one who God used mightily went without going through the process.

Let’s start with Abraham, God called him out to leave his family and go to a place unknown to him yet and told him he would be the father of many nations. He was 75 years old at this point, but the promise of Isaac being born only came to pass 25 years later when he was 100 years old (Gen 12:4 and Gen 21:5). And God said of this waiting time that it was ‘at the appointed time’ (Gen 18:14).

For the first generation of Israelites that came out of Egypt, they spent 40 years in the desert before they entered the promised land of Canaan. But it’s important to note that God never initially intended for them to spend that long in the desert, this happened because of their disbelief in the ability of God to give them the promised land (Numbers 13:133; 14:1-38).

For David, he was commissioned as King by Samuel at the age of between 10 and 15 years, according to estimates made by theologians because the Bible doesn’t give the exact account and he was only anointed as King at age 30 (2 Samuel 5:4). If you read the account of David between the time when Samuel first met him and the time he became king, he went through a lot of things but all that was to prepare him to be king.

For Esther, though nothing about her age is said, the Book records that she was an orphan and kept by her uncle who raised her like his own. I believe that in itself, being orphaned in a land that’s not your own was her process that God used to get her ready to be queen, because orphaned girls would usually not be your prime pick for queen material right…?

For Joseph, Tony Evans on detours to destiny speaks extensively on him, he was 17 when he received the dreams and 30 when they came to pass. (Genesis 37:2 and Genesis 41:46)

For Paul, it is said he spent 3 years in the desert after his experience on the road to Damascus (Galatians 1:18)

Lastly but definitely not the least Jesus himself was 30 when he entered his destiny. Even though he was the Son of God from the time he was born, he only began his ministry at age 30.

I believe God in the Bible puts ages and dates for our sake so we can recognise the process and what it took, between when each of them got the Word from God and when that Word actually came to pass. No one gets into their full purpose in God without having to go through the process. I say this so you can count the cost of it so you know what to look out for in your journey. Often times we fail to recognise the process for what it really is and what’s its working within us and end up giving up on the way and, like the first generation of Israelites, fail to reach our ultimate goal here on earth. But in recognising the seasons of the process it arms you with knowledge and wisdom as you run your own race and “get a hold of that which God has gotten a hold of you for”.

Look out for part of two of the process series on “Timings of the process” next week.

Please use the link below to the first of Tony Evans series on detours to destiny “The purpose of destiny”