Are You Equipped for the Thing You have Been Asking For?
We have a God who answers prayers and does so very well. We have a Father who hears when we speak and is very willing and able to give us what we desire of Him.
Matthew 6:31-32
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”Matthew 7:7-8
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”Ephesians 3:20
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,3 John 1:2
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
The above scriptures are great reminders of God’s ability to hear our call as well as His desire and ability to do what we ask.
However, permit me to say this: it’s not everything we ask of the Lord that we receive at once. There are factors to consider in expecting to “enter” into the experience of a promise or desire in God. Among them, we can see obedience, holy living, grace and favor, patience, preparation, faith, love, and so on.
Read: What is scarier than scary
In this article, I hope to quickly share with you on one point, taking my reference to an action carried out by God in Exodus 13:17 when His people came out of Egypt (the land of bondage and need) to go to Canaan (the land of the promise and answered prayers per se).
Leading out of challenges
Then it came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt” (Exodus 13:17-18). So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.
In this text, we see how God takes people out of a challenge and carries them through a much longer period before bringing them into the promised destination. God not only told us His decision, but He also adds the reason why He did what He did: “…perhaps the people (will) change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt”
You will agree with me that the first thing an average man does when he faces a challenge is to consider his more comfortable options. And one of the most likely options to pick would be his familiar environment, his past. When people are in trouble, the safest place their mind tells them to go to is home. Unless their home is also threatened, that’s the most likely place to go back to, why, because it’s familiar and familiar means safe. Better what you know than going with the unknown, they’ll say.
However, with every new height or level you aspire to reach, there will be certain pressures associated with it; many challenges that go along with them. If you go for it without proper preparation, without being built and ready to withstand these challenges, you’ll be crushed by it. When unprepared men are confronted with trouble: the mighty will fall, the rich will lose all, and the faint of heart will quit.
Remember, “...perhaps when (not “if”) the people see war, they change their minds, and return to Egypt“.
God will equip you for the results you desire
Sometimes, a delay in your journey, like in the case of the Israelites who God made to travel through a longer route, maybe God’s way of telling you to equip yourself for the results you desire. Don’t you know that with great achievements or results come greater responsibilities and pressures? You’ll not have the problem of paparazzi or social media criticism or trolling if you aren’t famous. You won’t have to worry about school fees or sick kids or a challenging teen if you aren’t married or aren’t a parent. With every new level is a newer and greater challenge.
These challenges are not impossible, don’t get me wrong. They aren’t meant to crush people to are within the borders of building your experience. However, they will crush the weak, and whoever isn’t ready to handle them.
These pressures are cut out for only those with the capacity to bear them and produce the results. So if I get the results without the capacity to bear the accompanying challenges, it’s only a matter of time before I’ll get flushed out. This is the reason behind many rising and falling you see around today.
HOW DO YOU HANDLE THIS?
Like I said earlier, these are not behind handling, just preparing for. The key is to build your inner capacities. Here are some of the capacities to build on as you await your rising and prepare for your next level:
- Build your inner character and develop your attitude towards others, not for today but for the future and the experience you desire to have tomorrow.
- Strengthen your convictions and your stability. Strong convictions will give you a powerful foothold to withstand any crises. Days of testing will come whether when you are there or on your way there. It’s your conviction that will determine whether you’ll be consistent or will pack out.
- Build discipline. Know what is required and stick to the routine. Be flexible but don’t be driven by everything or everyone. Be a disciplined person. Be in control, learn it, and enforce it. Be disciplined with time, principles, and good morals.
- Stick to a good mentality of the future in the present. See yourself there and let that influence your actions today. Keep the big picture before you all the time.
- Build your spiritual muscles today for tomorrow’s experience – you want to be a person of prayer tomorrow, start giving time to prayer today. Little by little, you’ll become a man of prayer tomorrow. Likewise studying the Word, meditation, learning, serving others, humility, etc.
If you commit yourself to be equipped with these, they’ll help you understand and follow the leading of the Lord, make His path and arrive at your destiny unfazed by the challenges confronting you.
James Osayande George lives by the mandate to reveal the liberating truth of God’s word in simplicity and accuracy through a cutting edge teaching ministry.
Having been saved at the young age of thirteen (13) years old through a Divine encounter, he has since dedicated himself to know and serve the Lord with his life.
Best known for his calm voice, James George has ministered in full-time ministry since 2014 within which period he served as one-time resident pastor of Glad Tidings Life Triumphant Church, Kaduna State, Nigeria under his spiritual father and mentor, Pastor Moses Enabulele.
A student of the prestigious Kenneth Hagin’s Rhema Bible Training Center, Nigeria, James George is the author and co-author of numerous published and unpublished manuscripts and poems for blogs and magazines, as well as books including Walking through the Word Devotional (a classic all year round devotional book). Your Journey and God is his first published book. He runs a blog at www.thischariot.wordpress.com
He is the pioneer of G. M. M. Network, a body of believers dedicated to church growth, spiritual development, youth, and women empowerment, as well as outreach to the less privileged. He currently resides in and does his ministry from Lagos State, Nigeria
