Trust The Process

Today I'm not here to preach a long sermon, "hopefully". I just want to talk about this scripture for a few seconds- 1 Peter 5:6- "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." -KJV. Another translation says "and at the right time, He will lift you up in honor".

Are you currently under God's mighty hand? If you are, then you would agree with me that it's not exactly a pleasant place to be. Examples of God's mighty hand could be- Staying at a job you hate because God has not said it's time to leave. Staying in a place filled with experiences you'd like to forget, when you have the option of leaving and never coming back, but God says nope! I put you here for a reason, stay... Staying in a relationship that's difficult because you've prayed and God is saying not yet... stay! Or being friends with someone that annoys the living daylight out of you, but God is saying just love them... arghh! Simply put, God's mighty hand is indeed MIGHTY! I won't even lie...

And I wish God will just show us the full picture of how he is going to carry out this wonderful plan for our lives, how he is going to give us this victory and lift us up in honor, but he doesn't and that can be frustrating. But then again, if he shows you everything all at once you may not survive it and he wouldn't be God. So he dishes them out to you little by little and you just have to trust and remain under his mighty hand.

Honestly there are things that go on sometimes in my own life that I find myself asking, do I really need to be going through this? I can just walk away from this place and my problems would be over. I'm like okay let's put aside the option of leaving Nigeria but hey! If I have to be here, do I now have to be in Lagos exactly??? I have a peaceful life waiting for me in Enugu or I could relocate to Abuja and start afresh, brand new life! I know a few people there that would be happy to receive me and oh! What about Abeokuta where I did my NYSC? It isn't so far from Lagos and it's a very affordable small town to live in. Yes! These thoughts have crossed my mind a few times before, I'm only human... and it's not really because I don't trust God's promises, ofcourse I do 100% but it's just that I wonder sometimes, do I really need to go through these painful process of unpredictable horrors and total nightmare to get to God's promises? Do I need to stay in a place where I'm constantly reminded of my problems and mistakes? Shebi it's to wait on God abi? Ehn... I can just go somewhere that it'll be less painful to wait. ALL na waiting...

But guess what... that is exactly what God's mighty hand is about, and "all" is not waiting. There is "waiting" and there is "waiting well". Waiting well is when you're actively listening to God's voice and obeying his instructions, not only would it accomplish a perfect work in you, it will make God's promises come to pass at the appropriate time it was designed to happen. You don't want to be like the Children of Israel that spent 40 years in the wilderness making an 11 days trip, because they did not wait well. If you trust His promises then you must trust the process, if he's asking you to pass through this wilderness to get to your destination, instead of running to a comfortable location you are familiar with, you just have to humble yourself and pass this wilderness experience. Because the truth is even if you run, God's purpose will still find you, He will always win in the end, so why bother? Many are the plans in a man's heart but it's God's purpose that prevails.

Trust the process... many times you would feel discouraged, many times you would wonder if you actually heard from God, many times you would feel a numbness inside but it's not really sadness or disbelief. It's just a feeling of "disengagement" where you can't even describe what you are feeling or the exact thing that is making you feel that way. It looks like depression but it's not, you're just...N.U.M.B. from the constant flogging. It's all part of the process, do whatever you need to do to encourage yourself, read the word, worship God in your pain, listen to messages etc. David encouraged himself in the Lord- 1 Samuel 30:6.

But most importantly make a decision on a list of things you would not compromise on or walk away from no matter what trouble you face, that's very key. For instance you can pre-decide that all hell may break loose on you but you MUST show up in church and serve the Lord at all times or you pre-decide that though you can't control other people's actions but you can control your reaction, by maintaining your joy. Pastor Steven Furtick calls it the power of "Pre-Decison". You decide ahead of time what you are going to do in any given situation, pre-decide your response to the temptation, there's so much power in that. It's not an option to stop short, aim at completion and you would finish.