Thursday, 27 July 2023
“The LORD your GOD is bringing you into a fertile land—a land that has rivers and springs, and underground streams gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land that produces wheat and barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and honey. There you will never go hungry or ever be in need. Its rocks have iron in them, and from its hills you can mine copper. You will have all you want to eat, and you will give thanks to the LORD your GOD for the fertile land that he has given you.” – Deuteronomy 8:7-10 GNT
Whenever GOD speaks to anyone about His promises, He often talks about the blessing and how He will be there with them every step of the way. Rarely does He detail what the journey to the promise will look like. I suppose He knows that most people would decline the offer to embark on anything and would choose rather to live their normal predictable drama free lives. Very few people would choose to go through the trials and tribulations some of the biblical characters went through, even if they know what awaits them on the other side. But if we all chose to remain as we are, life would become boring and we would be in a world made up of people with no story to tell, nothing achieved, no growth or change, and mediocrity would be the standard measure of life and we would not know it. Who would even make it into the Bible, ’cause that’s the one book that’s made up of incredible people whose true stories are of epic proportions, and is the blueprint of what life is truly about.
Whenever we receive a prophecy, which is a word from GOD, we scream and shout with excitement because it’s something we did not expect but needed at that time, but rarely do we prepare ourselves for the onslaught of the enemy that ensues. It’s like an alarm bell goes off in the pits of hell alerting every entity of what is about to unfold and we can only stand back in shock and watch as the world around us goes up in flames.
What we do not realize, however, is that all those battles that come up are not only divine but are exactly what we need to conquer in order to be worthy of the promise. GOD calls us as we are, and He even makes the promises knowing full well that the fulfillment requires a very different version of us. Hence the training and character building that needs to take place. Because we don’t understand what is going on, we call these seasons the “worst” of our lives, not realizing what a glorious person they are building within us. It’s when we survive the wilderness that we become kinder and more compassionate and patient with others because we understand what pain feels like. We become more empathetic towards the next person because we have first-hand experience of what life can be and what it can do to someone.
What we don’t always understand is that Jesus Christ is the one being revealed. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of GOD, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 NIV. We say we want to be like Him but rarely do we want to go through what He Himself went through while on earth. We need to bless these seemingly painful and often unbearable experiences of our lives. They are the actual blessing, as they are creating a better version of us. Had Job’s friends known how divine and heavenly orchestrated his experience was, they would not have mocked him the way they did. Same thing with us, In our season of the wilderness, trials, training, and pruning, there will be those who have a lot to say about our situations, and even have strong opinions as to why we are where we are. But just like Job’s friends, they are part of what GOD is using to elevate us in order for us to be a blessing to others. “You intended to harm me, but GOD intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20 NIV.
We need to bless these seemingly painful and often unbearable experiences of our lives. They are the actual blessing, as they are creating a better version of us
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