Becoming a man of your destiny does not happen on the platter of convenience. I don’t know if there is anyone in the Bible that God called out for a destiny walk with Him that can say they had it on a platter of convenience. Most of the times, God would not tell us to do things that are convenient. If you are the type that is always looking for the convenient and easy things with God, I believe you must have been disappointed a couple of times by now. If you chronicled all that God has ever walked with in the Bible, beginning from Genesis to Revelation, I doubt if there was anyone among them that can say it was all rosy and convenient for them.

 

When God called Abraham out of his home country to a foreign land he was going to show him, telling him to leave everything behind, I don’t think that was convenient for Abraham. When God asked Noah to build an ark for him and bring in the animals in their pairs, it was not also something that was convenient for Noah. I read somewhere recently that there are over 11.6 million species of animals in the world. Now imagine a man having to select from all of them their male and female. That is a difficult task. And we can continue to give examples on and on like that. Towards becoming the man of our destiny, God would not require from us to do things that are convenient.

 

There are three major Scriptures I want us to consider before we get to the point where we stopped last week plus other important ones in between those three. The first Scripture is found in Luke 3:15-17. The Bible says:

 

“Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, ¹⁶ John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”

 

The Passion Translation (TPT) of the same chapter goes like this. There is something I want to point out to us there and so, permit me to read it to us. It says:

 

“During those days, everyone was gripped with messianic expectations, believing the Messiah could come at any moment, and many began to wonder if John might be the Christ. ¹⁶ But John made it clear by telling them, “There is one coming who is mightier than I. He is supreme. In fact, I’m not worthy of even being his slave. I can only baptize you in this river, but he will baptize you into the Spirit of holiness and into his raging fire.”

 

Majority of the time when we read this Scripture, we only place emphasis on the Holy Spirit part alone and not the other part which is fire. Now, what exactly does fire do? Fire in the negative sense of it, is a destructive element that turns everything that crosses it path into ashes. I remember sometimes last year August; we had a major fire incident in my house. And it was just by the grace of God that we were able to salvage a few things from the havoc that it wrecked. Now, apart from its destructive tendencies that it possesses, what beautiful thing can we say fire is capable of? Fire is a refiner! Fire is a purifier. Malachi 3:1-4 shows us. It says:

 

“Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

² “But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.
³ He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the Lord
An offering in righteousness.

⁴ “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
Will be pleasant to the Lord,
As in the days of old,
As in former years.

 

The word “refiner” according to the dictionary is: “a person, device, or substance that removes impurities, sediment, or other unwanted matter from something.” Meaning that if man is perfect in its current state for destiny, there would not be need for God to seat as a refiner and purifier. For example, when crude oil is refined, it would produce PMS, Diesel, Kerosene, Gas and so on. There is so much to your life than it is currently being displayed if only you would submit yourself to going through the process of your destiny. When Gold is refined, every impurity that is associated with it is removed. The word “purifier” also means something very close. It is: “a device or substance that frees something of extraneous, contaminating, or debasing matter.”

 

Towards becoming the man of your destiny, God is going to seat on you as both the refiner and the purifier. The truth is this, the process of God doing this may not be rosy. It won’t be convenient at all. But when He is sure done with you, you would become a vessel that can carry the destiny He has given to you. Let me show us this Scripture in Isaiah 48:10-11, the Bible says:

 

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
¹¹ For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;
For how should My name be profaned?
And I will not give My glory to another.

 

The second Scripture we are looking at is in John 12:23-24. The Bible says:

 

“But Jesus answered them, saying, “the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified…” Meaning in another sense, Jesus was telling His disciples that the hour has come for Him to fulfill His destiny, the very reason why I am sent into this world. But towards fulfilling that destiny, something must happen; and He showed His disciples in verse 24. It says: ²⁴ most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” Dying to self is an integral part of becoming the man of your destiny and many of us still struggle to let go and let God have His way.

 

What does it mean to die to self? To die to self simply means to understand that God created you for a purpose and a destiny and towards you being able to fulfill that purpose and destiny, there is need to take yourself out of the equation and allow God to lead you totally. Paul said in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ…” At the point you die to self is at the point when this crucifixion takes place. The reason why many of us still struggle with our God-given destiny is because we haven’t died to self yet. We see more of us and less of God in the whole equation. Paul said: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” So, Jesus concluded by saying unless a grain of wheat falls down to ground an die, it abides alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain.

 

The third Scripture we are looking at is in John 15:1-2. The Bible says:

 

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes…” I thought God was supposed to focus on the branches that are not bearing fruit and find out why and prunes them so that they can bear fruit. But no, it is those ones that are bearing fruits that He concentrates on. The reason why God’s searchlight is always on you is because you carry a great destiny and He would not go to sleep until you fulfil that destiny. It says: “and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

 

HOW DO YOU BECOME THE MAN OF YOUR DESTINY?

 

#2. Through the Fear of God

The fear of God in this context, is not the type that makes a man to run away from the presence of God. The Bible made it clear that God has not given us such fear. The fear of God here is the one that talks about holy and total reverence for God. YOU CANNOT BECOME THE MAN OF YOUR DESTINY IF YOU DON’T FEAR GOD. David for example, on two different occasions, had the privilege of killing King Saul, but the fear of the Lord was what restrained him. Let us examined these accounts so that it can help our understanding.

 

1 Samuel 24:4-7

 

“Then the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’” And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. ⁵ Now it happened afterward that David’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe. ⁶ And he said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.” ⁷ So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way.”

 

1 Samuel 26:5-11

 

So, David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Now Saul lay within the camp, with the people encamped all around him. ⁶ Then David answered, and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, saying, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.” ⁷ So David and Abishai came to the people by night; and there Saul lay sleeping within the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the people lay all around him. ⁸ Then Abishai said to David, “God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore, please, let me strike him at once with the spear, right to the earth; and I will not have to strike him a second time!” ⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless?” ¹⁰ David said furthermore, “As the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish. ¹¹ The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. But please, take now the spear and the jug of water that are by his head, and let us go.”

 

No wonder at the end of the day, David became a king that God could depend on simply because he fears God and through the fear of God, he became the man of his destiny. Because if David had killed Saul, God would not have hold him guiltless.

 

You have a destiny. Whether or not you will fulfill it is completely up to you, to the man or woman you are becoming. I want us to close with this Scripture in 1 Peter 1:6-7 [AMP]. It says: “In this you rejoice greatly, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, ⁷ so that the genuineness of your faith, which is much more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested and purified by fire, may be found to result in [your] praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

 

May the Lord help and strengthen us in Jesus’ name!

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!

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