Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Welcome to the 4th season of a life changing story.
Every time I watch a movie my mind trickles back of what exactly inspired the authors, the individual concerts and more so the scenes behind what is seen. Every time I analyze each process the conclusion has always been the same that the bigger part of every successful story or play is the scene behind it. In connection to this life changers is a one-year program of fresh graduates with a calling towards ministry. They crucify more of their life desires including the most intimate one of dating for the sake of a clear focus and mind to serve the lord of which I am a victim.
As a young graduate, the hope and determination towards a more successful journey of life is always 99.9% for the sake of a term error. Most of us graduates with a plan of things to achieve within the next 5years or a decade; marriage being one of them if not called to celibacy. We tend to plan everything in its accurate point in our calendar, and as the people of the cross we align it to Psalms 90:12 making it a prayer item. The reason for these aspirations is the term hope. But now I have realized most of us do not put into consideration the process towards the realization of this hope. Let’s reflect a bit in Jeremiah 18:2-4
2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
Sometimes the plan might fail or not be realized at the specific time as thought earlier. Therefore, the process remains the same of making the pot but with a different look. Does God have the same look concerning the process of realization? As a life changer I must confess that it has not always been easy, sometimes you look around and have a thought of where I would be: maybe have a permanent job, some savings with the bank or even be at a place of merry. But what makes us hold on is the process of God molding us to be more like Him. Isaiah 48:10, Psalms 66:10-12.
See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
10 For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. 11 You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. 12 You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.
God views our testing as the refining of our character. Back to the potter house, it’s a good look of how our character sometimes deviates from what God is exactly molding us to. But because of Gods original purpose it’s our obedience on His hands that allows our better form as vessels to be realized. God allows trials and difficulties to come to us so that we may grow spiritually through them. Our life experiences would make more sense if we could only look into the future and see the result of our transformation. We often don’t understand God’s plan until a number of years later when we are enjoying the fruits of the trial that involves a greater anointing of the Spirit and a certain maturity of our character.
God has a plan for each and every one of us. He has a picture of the finished product of your life that He is making you become. In such a season and a time He Has placed me in ACMI because he is the one who prepares ahead of time opportunities for His servants to exercise their servanthood. Sometimes the things God has prepared in advance for us to do can be hindered by a lack of godly character. God has to work on us before He can work through us. The purpose in all of this is not just so that we can perform works. Whatever we accomplish in our lives will be linked to our character and the person we have become—shaping our character is essential to the Father so that we become more like Jesus.
God’s work must be done by those whose character has been shaped by trials in the furnace of suffering and difficulty. The greater the destiny of the called one, the greater the training and the longer the process! Our responses and attitude determine how long the trial will last and what kind of trial God has fashioned for us. Some of us have to go around the mountain again (Retaking the life changers course for another year) If we don’t learn the lesson the first time the test comes around, He will perhaps bring the same test differently. Just like at the end of each academic year a test must be done to determine the progress of the candidate, likewise God places us in places of trial at the end of each training as per His standards since He’s not like men.
James 1:2-4. Don’t run from tests and hardships, brothers and sisters. As difficult as they are, you will ultimately find joy in them; if you embrace them, your faith will blossom under pressure and teach you true patience as you endure. And true patience brought on by endurance will equip you to complete the long journey and cross the finish line—mature, complete, and wanting nothing (The Voice version).
A number of times we have failed and compromised because it becomes easier to default to sin and disobedience when going through the fire of testing. We fail to recognize the time of our testing as a way of approval to Gods workmanship. But James is prescribing to us a better pill to our time of testing that we need to change the perspective on which we outlook to every testing and trial with a look of joy. Because unless we have this eye of joy we will continually fail the same test out of our murmuring and complains just like the Israelites way back to the wilderness. How long will we go round and round the mountain? Mature in a hurry.
Special gratitude to Rev. Paul and Pst. Irene, Senior pastors Christian Church International Thika.
Yours in Christ,
Githinji David.
