Isaiah 48:10 ( Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.)
Each person who passes through the baptism of water must also pass through the baptism of fire. Jesus is the only one who baptises with fire, while pastors baptise with water.
This baptism is not ordinary, and all Christians must pass through it as the children of Israel passed through the wilderness after the baptism of the Red Sea.
This is a journey which no other person could go with you, the journey of faith to be tested and well refined by God.
The moment the Israelites passed the Red Sea they started the journey of no turning back. Likewise, a believer must face Calvary and turn his back to the world, only you with God for he is the only one you’ll need on a journey to reality and freedom.
The unbelief of the Israelites turned the journey that was supposed to last for forty days into forty years, each day standing for a year.
This is the journey where your authentication shall be revealed, this is the journey where your carry over load of the Egypt shall be shed, this is a journey when all things hidden in your heart shall be exposed, where the love you had for God shall be tried.
Those who went after the mundane things of the world had it at the back of their mind to seek God with the goodies attached, riches are what exposed their motives, and they lost the presence of God in the process.
Whether you’re gold or silver or dross, or wood shall be exposed, the fire of purification shall expose you.
Refinery furnace shall reveal the face of wolves hiding inside sheep skin, the goat hiding among the sheep, the weeds in between the wheat.
Out of six hundred thousand that left Egypt, it’s only two that make it to the place of rest, their promised land, while others perish in the wilderness.
It’s not only those who start well that’ll end it well in this race, check yourself if you’re still maintaining the tracks, many have deviated but still think they are still in the race many have been distracted on the way diverting from the narrow road to hell but keep on dancing and jubilate on their way to destruction.
Many are called but through wilderness experience, few shall be chosen.
No one goes their for you, your parents or children wont go there with you, its personal experience, as your relationship with God is personal, each believer has their own wilderness experience, where they’ll think that God has abandoned them, but in reality, God is always present, its the veil of the flesh that prevent us from seeing him, until its permanently remove, we wont see how God is to us, but by keeping his word in our heart it will make us not sin against him.
In your wilderness experience, Jesus Christ is always with you like the angel of his presence to keep you safe from the hands of the enemy.
It’s not all who passed through this that came out unscathed, it revealed the intent and motives of the heart, it revealed the motive of your service to the lord if it’s genuine or fake.
Those who deviate when in servicing the lord had a plan to do so from the beginning should God fail, they had it at the back of their mind from the beginning of their encounter with him, its the wilderness experience that exposed them.
Those who go all the way with God without compromise had it that they won’t fail or deviate, and nothing will separate them from the love of God as determined since their inception in the kingdom.
Those who moulded two golden calves at the disappearance of Moses had a motive for doing so if Moses failed.
Why is it that it’s when he went to the mountain that two calves came out of the fire when they put their jewellery.
There are different ways of passing through the wilderness of afflictions, the exam of each Christians is different from others so you can’t copy answers from others, for each person has a different question paper.
Those who copies other will become a photocopy, they will be far from who God created them to be in life.
It’s through a wilderness journey you will enter your rest and possess your possession in God, it’s the key to your heritage please don’t take others’ key to enter your house.
God tested Abraham’s love towards him, his son was his wilderness experience, Job was tested to know if he truly feared God. Jesus christ need to pass through crucifixion to know how committed he is to his mission to humanity.
Without the cross there is no crown, servant quarters are the way to the palace, you can’t jump over, its that shortcut that will cut short your life and you won’t be named among the victorious who won the battle against flesh, Satan and the world.
Most Christians passed through this journey unknown to them, they think they are fighting the most wicked household enemy, but deliverance won’t undo what repentance will do.
That hunger doesn’t mean God has forsaken its the proof of divine provisions of God in times of need, that sickness is not going to kill you, it’s a proof that Jesus Christ is the great healer, who by his stripes we are healed.
God is testing your faith to see if you will patronise sorcerers for healing to know where your faith has been all along, just like a king in Israel who enquired from balzebuub for his sickness, which showed that his interest was in the god of Ekron all along.
Sometimes disappointment is a blessing in disguise, until you passover it, you won’t know that the will of God for you is good, to give you an expected ending.
Wilderness experience lasts till you understand the message God is passing through it, and till you learn what he wants you to know and unlearn what you have learnt in your ignorance.
No one passed through it and come out the same, its either you shine like gold or you’re consumed by the fire, if you’re gold, its only dirty and garbage it will consume out of your life and remove the hindrance that is blocking your progress, but if you are dross you will be consumed by it and lose your place in the kingdom of God just like Judas Iscariot.
Prayer: Father lord, when I’m passing through fire, be with me, and when I’m passing through water, don’t allow it to overflow me, see me through my life journey, don’t let me fall by the way side in Jesus name amen.
