In this process of pruning and purging, I am finding out more and more of who I am and to whom I belong to. I am finding myself learning to depend on the Holy Spirit more. During this process, I am fading out and there is much less of me and way more of Him.
Regardless of the pain certain situations and circumstances have caused me, I choose to wait on God and His perfect timing. I choose to have all things in every area of my life flow according to the already written intricate details of His blueprint. After all, who am I to even try and show through any thought, speech, or action that any of my ways and thoughts are higher than Gods? Gods ways and thoughts are higher than mine and that which He sends forth will never return to Him void (Isaiah 55).
It is one thing to know what an end result to something is and it is a completely different feeling when you have to walk out the steps to get there. One thing is for sure, that every situation and circumstance that I have been through has shaped and formed me into who I truly am in Christ. The process has sharpened my God-given spiritual gifts and it has prepared me well for the assignments and Heavens given mandate upon my life.
Walking out the Process:
Walking out the process can be really painful and full of surprises for sure but it is needed and necessary. The best way I can explain the time of transitioning out of the wilderness is that one must go through an “onion peel layer process.” He does the cleansing from one season to the next and one layer at a time in different areas of our lives. Each time He goes deeper and deeper into exposing the issues in our hearts and minds. If we respond correctly and embrace the process, we receive healing, deliverance, and freedom.
Once you have received the clarity of what God is doing in your current season, the next part is to know how to get through it. Remember that “HOW” you go through one season will determine your course for the next season. The attitude that you chose to carry during your process matters. It is important to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and endure your process with joy for the joy set before you just like He did. He endured the process of the works of the cross with joy for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12).
Jesus endured such intense opposition while He chose to stick with His purpose. He knew the end result but literally had to walk it all out. He knew what would come out of it as an end result and knew that it was worth it all! Have you had to face opposition from those around you as you move forward step by step in all that you have been called to? As you have obeyed God and moved forward in your assignment(s), have you had to face the negativity from those around you and others speaking against it? Has any of these things caused you to feel unmotivated, discouraged, doubtful, and just wanting to give up at times because you just couldn’t bear it?
“36 Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane,
and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.”
37 He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John,
and he became anguished and distressed. 38 He told them,
“My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death.
Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face
to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible
, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me.
Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
-Matthew 26:36-39 (NLT)
Jesus understands you. Even in His deep anguish and distress, Jesus knew He needed to go to God. He stopped in the “Garden of Getsemane” to pray because He was so intensely weak, weary, in distress and crushed to the point of death. Can you imagine the condition of Jesus physically and spiritually at that point? Yet, He chose to go to God with it in the garden. At that time, what He was going through was so deeply intense and difficult Jesus prayed and asked the Heavenly Father that if it was possible to take that cup of suffering away to do it. Then an Angel comes and strengthens Him. After this, Jesus prayed more fervently. Can you imagine that Jesus was in such agony of spirit that His sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood? (Allow the Holy Spirit to help you process that for a minute). He was already crushed with so much grief that it was to the point of death and now He was sweating not just drops of blood, but great drops of blood. Guess what? Even though He was at a physical condition so intense, He still agreed to be in alignment with Gods will for His life.
“He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit
that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.”
-Luke 22:44 (NLT)
If He can do it, so can YOU.
You can do it even more so, you know why? It’s because the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has given us full access to God’s grace, His authority, His power, and we are seated in the Heavenly Places. It’s because of the works of the cross, you have the Spirit of God living in you. What an end result, to a mind-blowing purpose that changed and impacted the world!
You have a purpose, a destiny, and many assignments that have been given to you from the Kingdom of Heaven. You are a world changer. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. You shall move forward not by your own might and power but rather by His Spirit that lives in you. You can do this. You have a unique assignment and what you are called to carry is a piece of mosiac to the greater mosiac. It is all designed to work together because the Body of Christ, though it may have many members, is one body. You have a unique fingerprint! Take the vision you are called to carry and run with it. Center it on only one thing and that is to do it for His glory, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. You got this!
Never forget what God has ever done for you and continue to move on forward in the race that has already been marked out for you.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses
to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down,
especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance
the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus,
the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him,
he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place
of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people;
then you won’t become weary and give up. 4 After all, you have
not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.
5 And have you forgotten the encouraging words
God spoke to you as his children? He said,
“My child,don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and don’t give up when he corrects you.
6 For the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”
-Hebrews 12:1-6 (NLT)
All the praise, honor, and glory be alone unto our living God! Thank you, Jesus!
