That Wilderness Will End In Celebration, by Pastor Samuel Obafaiye
What is wilderness?
In natural terms, wilderness can be defined as uninhabited region or neglected area. Generally speaking, a wilderness region is not a pleasant place to be. Most wildernesses will either be a desert of region occupied by vast ice. So that the climate will be very unfriendly; the ground uncultivable; human interaction very scanty or even absent.
In spiritual or symbolic terms, wilderness experience is not a pleasant state either. It can be a time of loneliness, discomfort, drought, a time of disfavour, a time when one is not as successful as before, a time of discouragement, or simply put, a tough time.
Though a wilderness experience can be a blessing in disguise, as:
It can lead to intimacy with God – Jacob at Luz (Bethel).
It can make us to develop and manifest supernatural power – Samson in his last moment.
It induces personal reflection and right direction in life – the prodigal son when feeding pigs.
It teaches us self-denial and sacrifice – Jesus disciples – foxes have holes (Luke 9:57-58).
There are quite a lot of people that experience times of wilderness in the Bible. For those of them that trusted in God, their wilderness experience eventually end in celebration.
The birth of John the Baptist was special. But after his naming ceremony, his destiny went into obscurity in the wilderness. Whether it was his parent’s decision, I’m not sure. Without any form of academic knowledge or prophetic school, it was to be very hard for him to become anything at all in Israel.
However, right there in the wilderness, God announced John to the whole region. God had set aside a day for him – called the day of his showing. That day came to pass in his life. People were coming in multitudes to be baptised of John in the dirty river Jordan.
Luke 1:80
And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.
May your day of showing happen in your lifetime.
– There is someone here; you have enjoyed a special beginning in something (life, career, studies, marriage). But you are going through a rough patch right now.
When you look at yourself, there is certainly no correlation between your past state and present state.
God says, He will now turn the tides in your favour again.
Almost similar to John is Jesus case also. Only that the beginning of Jesus was more lowly than that of John. While the parent of John were Levite and priest that people had to care for, Jesus parent were carpenters, one of the poorest trades of their time.
For John’s parents lots of gifts would have come for the baby from the community.
For Jesus, the angels had to tell the Shepherds to go and visit Him (Luke 2:15-18).
It took sometime before the wise men came around, that was why Herod killed up to two years old babies.
So that Jesus life started from a wilderness state. I’m not sure how long the proceeds from the gold that the wise gave lasted. It appears to me that it didn’t last long, for everyone to know Jesus as a carpenter’s son. The father never changed his trade.
Not only that, Jesus instructed John the Apostle on the cross to look after His earthy mother after his death. That suggests to me two things:
– Joseph – his father must have died by then, otherwise why couldn’t he look after his wife.
– Jesus siblings did not have the resources to cater for their mother.
This to me was a wilderness state.
John 19:26-27
When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
When Jesus became of age, after His baptism, the Spirit of God led Him into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. He was all alone with wild animals and under the elements. It must have been very tough.
But as soon as those 40 days were over and having passed the accompanied tests, His day of showing eventually came. His fame spread, His impact and influence was far reaching.
Luke 4:14
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
– There is someone listening to me now, you are going through a kind of wilderness. You have been asking what have I done? You have fasted and prayed, it seems that state is becoming tougher.
God says, ‘It’s not about what you have done, it’s about what must necessarily happen before your day of showing begins’.
God that permitted it will lead you out victoriously in Jesus name.
Note that Jesus did not sin before He was led by the Holy Ghost into the wilderness. He was actually full of the Holy Ghost before the experience.
Chapter 4:1
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
The bible makes us to know that Moses ran away from Pharaoh and found himself in the wilderness. He used to live in the palace but became a fugitive. God however arranged it so that he found favour with a foreigner who became his father in-law.
It was in that wilderness that he got married and lived for the next forty years.
It was also in that wilderness that he saw a vision that led to his ‘day of showing’ as the deliverer of the Israelites for the next forty years.
– I have a message for someone listening to me, God says you should open your eyes and be very attentive. He will show you a vision in this season that will transform your destiny for a lifetime.
– To another fellow, God says the wilderness you are going through is only a school. He says your learning phase is about to be over. You are about to graduate into a season of perpetual success.
– To another person, God says you were chased into the wilderness you are going through. He says I will not only end the wilderness, I will also make you a lord over that thing that chased you into it.
David was another person that spent years in the wilderness. He was used by God to deliver the Israelites from bondage by killing Goliath. King Saul became jealous and envious of him and sought to kill him.
In the process of escaping for his life, he found himself running around in the wilderness. He was there for 13 years before God eventually made his ‘day of showing’ as a king to begin.
– Someone’s action, error, mistake or doing has landed you in a mess. I’m not sure how long it has lasted, but you shall come out of it in Jesus name.
Elijah was chased by Jezebel into the wilderness. He thought it was over for him. God supernaturally encouraged and empowered him, so that he went back to face his fears. God later gave him an unbelievable departure from life.
– I am asked to inform someone listening to me right now that you have not come to the end of the road. He actually said, the ‘road’ shall not end for you. What I hear is that from this point, you can only go up.
Abraham was supplanted into accepting to live in a wilderness by his nephew. Someone he kindly took along to be a partaker of his blessings became a thorn in his side. However, as soon as Lot departed from him, God renewed His promises to Abraham again.
He became mightily blessed even in the wilderness. Lot that cheated on him lost everything he had.
– There is someone listening to me, you have been tricked by a close relative into the wilderness you are now. Those people that did it will come to beg you for assistance soon.
God says, what they did is to make you suffer greatly, but He will shock them by how your life will turn out to be.
Prayers
Genesis 8:5
And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
Almighty Father, let my life stay above any ‘flood’ of life. Let me tower above any ‘wilderness’ of life.
The sermon, That Wilderness Will End In Celebration, by Pastor Samuel Obafaiye, was delivered on October 2, 2016.