God is interested in your destiny. God is interested in where He is taking you to and He is also committed towards you ending up in that place when you follow His trajectory. To those who don’t want to follow the trajectory of God, God may not be as committed to them the way He would be committed to you simply because His desire for you is that you end up where He is taking you. He won’t allow evil or anything untoward to befall you when you are journeying towards your destiny with Him. In Genesis 12:1-3, the Bible says:

 

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. ² I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great’ and you shall be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curse you; and in you shall all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

 

From here, we discover that Abraham started a walk with God in destiny. From here going forward, his life became something that was being supervised by God Himself because when God is taking a man on a journey, He supervises such man so that the man can walk in alignment with that destiny. When it got to a time, the Bible showed us in chapter 17:1-2 that Abraham should walk before Him and be perfect. It says: “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. ² And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”

 

But much more than all this that we have said, God is also interested in the man or the woman you are becoming towards that destiny. There is a man you must become in order for you to feature well in the destiny of God for your life. The word of the Lord came to Saul in 1 Samuel 10:6 that he would become another man towards the fulfilment of his destiny. It says: “then the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.” Becoming the man of our destiny has always been the bane of many of us fulfilling the destiny of God for our lives. The reason is because the requirement that is needed towards our becoming, many of us don’t like to go through those requirements. You are not qualified to be called a trained medical doctor until you have undergone all the needed trainings and requirements that would qualify you to be called one.

 

HOW DO YOU BECOME THE MAN OF YOUR DESTINY?

 

#1. Through Trials

 

Biblically speaking, trials talk about a test of faith, patience, or stamina through subjection to suffering or temptation. I want us to consider the book of James 1 and we are going to read a few verses there, beginning from verses 1-4. The Bible says: “James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings. ² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” The life of a believer is not immune against trials. If you notice carefully the word apostle James used here, it says “when” which means, trials would always come one way or the other to a believer because it is in those trials lies OUR BECOMING.

 

Types of Trials

For believers, trials come to us in two ways. One is TRIALS THROUGH TESTS and the second one is TRIALS THROUGH TEMPTATIONS. Towards becoming the man of your destiny, GOD IS GOING TO TEST YOU, and SATAN IS GOING TO TEMPT YOU. These two phases of our becoming, we cannot miss for any reason. Each time God tests you and you pass, you move an inch higher towards the man of your destiny. Each time you fail the test of God, you simply repeat the class. It means God cannot yet trust you. Each time the devil tempts you and you fall for it, it means you are yet to become the man of your destiny.

 

Trials Through Test [Abraham]

If Abraham had failed the test of God, he would not have become the father of many nations that we all call him today. And what was his test? To sacrifice his son Isaac. I want us to read the book of Genesis 22 and consider a few verses there. Beginning from verses 1-5, the Bible says:

 

“Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ² Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” ³ So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. ⁵ And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

 

There are a few things in these verses that I don’t want us to miss for anything.

 

#1. Abraham needed to journey for three days before he could even start seeing where God was telling him to go carry out the sacrifice. I mean, three days was a long time for anyone to change his mind and decline on the instructions of God, considering the fact that something that he loved and cherished so much was involved. God didn’t tell him to use any of the mountains very close to them, but he had to travel that far so that in the process, he had the opportunity to change his mind. But Abraham didn’t do that.

 

#2. How many of us have God instructed to do something for Him or start doing something for Him and we simply stopped after some time simply because it was not convenient. This is how we fail the tests of God many times and have remained on the same spot for a long time. Those instructions are our tests moments. Many times, we pray to God to elevate us, to increase us and it looks as if the answer is not coming simply because each time God tests us towards the level we are praying to Him for, we simply fail the tests.

 

“Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So, he said, “Here I am.” ¹² And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now, I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.””

 

It was at this point that God was fully persuaded that Abraham would do anything for Him. Now, God had been walking with him from Genesis 12, but it is at this time God was fully persuaded that Abraham had fully grown into the man of his destiny. It was at this time God was persuaded that nations actually can be entrusted to Abraham. If we read from verses 15-19, the Bible says:

 

“Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, ¹⁶ and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— ¹⁷ blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. ¹⁸ In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.”

 

Trials Through Temptation [Joseph]

 

Now, trials through temptation comes through the production factory of Satan. But each time we endure it, God uses it as an avenue for our becoming. Let us consider the book of James 1:12-15, the Bible says: “Blessed is the man who endures temptation…” the first thing you would notice here is that the Bible didn’t say we should run away from temptation. It says we should rather endure it. If you are going to become a man/woman of your destiny, temptations are part of the things that is required for your becoming. It reads further: “…for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him….” Every temptation is a window of opportunity towards any one’s becoming what God wants him/her to be. It says further: ¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. ¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

 

Example of Joseph

 

Joseph was a man who was not only tested towards becoming the man of his destiny, but also tempted, but I want us to focus on his temptation in this aspect of the teaching because we have seen what it means to be tested with the life of Abraham. Joseph went from being hated by his brothers into being thrown into the PIT (the pit experience was a test [GENESIS 37:23-24]) because God brought that experience his way to test his heart to see whether he would forgive his brothers in the long run when he sees them again. And that was when Joseph re-united with them, see what he said:

 

“When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” ¹⁶ So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died, he commanded, saying, ¹⁷ ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.”’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. ¹⁸ Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” ¹⁹ Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? ²⁰ But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. ²¹ Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”

Genesis 50:15-21

 

Joseph forgave his brothers, even though they did evil to him. It was a test of heart. As a matter of fact, the Bible recorded that he gave them one of the choicest lands in Egypt at the time, the land of Goshen to dwell and he did them good all the days of their lives, until another Pharaoh arose who didn’t know Joseph and started persecuting them.

From the Pit into POTIPHAR’S HOUSE (the Potiphar’s house experience was a temptation). Now, certain temptations would come a man’s way towards becoming the man of his destiny. Jesus himself was tempted by Satan before he began His earthly ministry. In Genesis 39:6b-9, the Bible says:

 

“Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. ⁷ And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” ⁸ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. ⁹ There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

 

If Joseph had missed it at this point, he may have to repeat the class, because his destiny would have been delayed if not totally truncated. And from the Potiphar’s house, he ended up in the PRISON (the prison experience was a test), and from the prison into becoming the PRIME MINISTER (becoming the Prime Minister was his destiny) in Egypt. So, when we are talking about trials, as a child of God and as a believer, trials are nothing to run away from because it is in trials that we become the man/woman of our destiny.

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

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