The Sunday News
Sunday Sermon with Apostle Chisale
GREETINGS beloved nation. Luke 1:80, “So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.” In the Bible, we come across many great men and women who were able to fulfil the plans and purposes of God in their lifetime.
This is mostly because they aligned themselves to the plans of God and allowed God to prepare them, so that they would be able to fulfil their destinies. God will always prepare us for what lies ahead and he will take his time to do that. He is never in a hurry until we are ready.
A certain minister once said that “all people God uses significantly, He also prepares extensively. Few are willing to endure the greatness of God’s preparation.” The problem we have with many believers, or with human nature is that we are impatient. We want things to happen fast, there and there, without going through the process.
We want to stand at a pulpit fast, we want to have our own ministry quickly and we want to get married there and there without necessary training and preparation. When God wants to use you, he will build your capacity. Capacity is the ability any human being can demonstrate to do something assigned to him or her. God always wants to give us capacities that will enable us to achieve great things for Him and for His glory.
In the book of Luke, we read about a great man by the name of John the Baptist. The scriptures go to great length to tell us about his birth. How he was born to a God fearing elderly couple, who had been praying for a child for many years, until such a time, an angel appears to Zechariah the priest to tell him that God has heard their prayers for a child.
On his day of circumcision on the eighth day, a prophesy is spoken about John by his father “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,” John’s destiny was to grow up and prepare the way for the coming Messiah and be the first prophet that has come in 400 years.
Salvation was coming into the world and John would point people to Jesus Christ. Then the Bible tells us in Luke 1:8 that, “So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.” Some version says “until the day he appeared publicly”. So, meaning he had to go through a process before the prophecy came to fulfilment. John had to grow up to accomplish the plans that God had for his life.
He had to become spiritually mature to live a life of faith. He had to become spiritually strong. This is a process of growth, where God builds your capacity. The Bible tells us that he was in the desert till the day of manifestation. The desert is a harsh environment,so meaning John was not living a soft life. When God is preparing you and building your capacity, it is not easy, it is a difficult and uncomfortable season in a believer’s life.
You see,when God speaks a word over your life or ministry, he will begin the journey of building your capacity. He will stretch you to your limits. So that was the case with John, he became spiritually strong in the desert until the time came for him to appear. Unfortunately, some believers want to jump this process or to shorten the process and appear in ministry before the set time. They do not want to follow the law of process.
Often, when a prophetic word is spoken over our lives, we want it to manifest at once without going through the season of preparation. God does not work that way. We read about Joseph in the book of Genesis 37-47. In Genesis 37, Joseph a favoured son of Jacob, dreams a dream, which speaks of him becoming a ruler and his brothers bowing down to him. Joseph was destined to rule in Egypt but he did not have the capacity to do that. It was soon after his dream that a life of hardship began.
God had to build in him the capacity to govern and to be an administrator. In Genesis 39, he is sold by his brothers and ends up in Potiphar’s house in Egypt, where he is made overseer over the house of Potiphar. He is then taken through the school of the Holy Spirit, where he is a slave and later becomes a prisoner. This was his classroom where God was building his capacity. His capacity to become administrator over Egypt was being built as he was put in charge over the prisoners. The Bible does not tell us exactly what this involved, but I am certain it involved many issues of administration of people and of resources in the prison.
There was no way Joseph would have become a ruler over Egypt without the necessary training. One thing about Joseph is that we do not hear him complaining or accusing God that, “why am I going through this hardship yet I have a destiny of being a great leader.”No, Joseph’s attitude was aligned to the will of God. He allowed himself to go through the process until such a time when his season of appearing came.
He was kept hidden in prison while God was preparing him, just as John the Baptist was kept hidden in the desert till his season of appearing came. One-time King David was hidden in the cave of Adullam and many other discomforting places as God was preparing him. God will keep you hidden in the wilderness until the time to appear comes. This doesn’t mean he won’t be with you during those times.
The Bible tells us in Genesis 39:2 that God was with Joseph during this time of trials. God will be there, but at times he will be silent. Silence on its own is God speaking. When God trains you, he will be silent for many reasons. This alone is a topic for another time. When capacity is being built it is a painful time, where you are stretched, pruned, tried and tested. God will deal with your character and he will test your faith in him.
King David was another great man that we read about in the Bible, who went through a lot of hardship as God was training him and preparing him to become a great king. In 1 Samuel 16 David is first anointed king by Samuel because God had rejected Saul the king. What follows is a difficult period in the life of David, where he was hunted by Saul who wanted to kill him.
In 1 Samuel 22 he had to hide in the cave of Adullam with four hundred who had followed him there. He became captain over them and these men were later known as mighty men under the leadership of David. So, why did David have to wait seven whole years before sitting on the throne as king yet he had already been anointed.
The reason he had to wait as long as seven years was part of God preparing him. David had to be fully trained and strategically fit for the position. He had to be approved of both God and men. David had the heart to be king, but he also had to acquire the character to be a king. Many people have been appointed by God, but they need a time to be trained to acquire the character.
You don’t just become what you have been appointed to be, you also have to prove that you are fit for the appointment, in order to be accepted of God and men. It is my prayer that as believers we allow ourselves to go through the process.
I pray that God may give you the sustaining grace during the seasons of preparation because indeed you will need to be sustained by the Holy Spirit during the times in ‘wilderness’ when God is building your capacity. I would like to invite you to receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour, by believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth that he is your Lord and saviour and you shall be saved. May God bless you all.
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