“…We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint…” (Romans 5:3-4)

It is better to be lost and found than to be found and then lost. The children of Israel were lost and down in bondage for over four hundred years before God visited them with favor and salvation. They were lost and found; they were set for the Promise Land. He that found the children of Israel will find you. If you have been found by the grace of God from the depth of sin, He wants to take you to an expected end–a Promise Land that was purchased for us by the blood that was shed on Calvary. God that found and brought the children of Israel out of bondage did not mean for them not to get to the Promised Land. To be free from bondage is incomplete until your arrival at the final destination. Many ways lead to the promise land, but the only way that will enable you to get there is the way of the wilderness.
WAY OF WILDERNESS
It is not your choice; it is the choice of the one who called you. To get to the promise land, you will have to go through the wilderness. Any other way will take you back to Egypt. The way of the wilderness is a way of no return. Exodus 13:17, “Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, ‘Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.’”
WHY WAY THE OF WILDERNESS?
The way of wilderness is for you not to return, but to keep you going. It is the way that God has put everything in place for you to travel within a reasonable amount of time. It is a way where you are going to be equipped on how you will live and enjoy where He is taking you to. Are you on the way to your promise land? On the way, you will bump heads with the enemy because the enemy does not want to see you prevail. However, if the way you have taken for yourself is smooth, with no ups and downs, no head-on collision with the enemy, it may become a way that seems right to you, but you may also be in the same direction as the enemy. You are no threat to the enemy because you are heading in the same place. The way of wilderness, is not a habitation, it is a passage.
CHALLENGES ON THE WAY OF WILDERNESS
The children of Israel, by virtue of disobedience, inability to wait on God, inability to let the past be in the past so the future could emerge in there life, and inability to focus on God for direction, lost track in the wilderness. The journey was to take them eleven days, but they journeyed for forty years. All that started the journey above the age of twenty did not get to the expected end except for Joshua and Caleb. The way of wilderness that we are in is not to kill us, it is to keep us and get us to where we are going. You may have been wondering why you have all these difficulties in your way. If you will only let God take control, then you will see all that you have considered as difficulties to be challenges that will make you grow. Nothing is accidental for us as a child of God. Deuteronomy 8:2, “And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you will keep His commandments or not.” Do you really trust God as the only God that will always remembers with favor and always visits with salvation?
KEEP FOCUS
In the way of wilderness, when you lose focus, you will begin to complain, you will begin to remember all your past that can easily contaminate your present. You will rebel against the people whom God has put in place in your life as a shepherd. You will not be able to see help where God has positioned help for you. Do not look back like Lot’s wife. Let all your wants rest for now. Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Focus on where you are going. Where you are now is your building process. Believe that God is with you and He shall see you through if you are focused on Him.

“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”(Numbers 23:19)

FAITH: A TREE

Jesus stated in the Parable of the Mustard Seed, “…The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree…” (Matthew 13:31-32) As small as the mustard seed could be, when it is sowed it will become a tree. In Jesus’ explanation of the Parable of the Sower, he stated that, “…The seed is the word of God…” (Luke 8:11) It is written in Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The point here is, if the seed is the word of God and the seed is what grows and becomes a tree then faith can be liken to a tree. A tree where different sizes of branches shoot out and each branch can be considered a tree because a tree and it is branches are the same. In other words, in faith there are branches such as: contentment, obedience, faithfulness, zealousness for God and more. For every giant that God used or that God is using, there is always the manifestation of one or more of the words that is used to describe the branches that grow out of a tree. Whenever anyone exceedingly demonstrates what the branch represents in their life as a character or principle, it will set them out to be considered as giant to be used by God. For Moses to be called by God as a leader to bring the children of Israel out of the bondage of over four hundred years, God must have seen in him a character of faithfulness as mentioned above. Once in the course of the journey to the Promised Land, God testified of Moses, “Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house.  I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?” (Numbers 12:7-8) This testimony of Moses by God was in response to the dissension of Aaron and Miriam. Aaron and Miriam spoke against Moses because of his Ethiopian woman whom he married. (Numbers 12:1) Also they wanted to know if the Lord had been speaking only to Moses. Evidently for God to have held Moses in such a high esteem, Moses must have taken a step earlier in his life that provoked God’s attention over his life. Every giant in the hand of God demonstrated at some point in life what it takes for God to notice them and set them up for a noticeable exploit to the glory of God.For Moses, contentment can be considered as a major or main character in him that lined him up for a noticeable assignment for God. Exodus 2:21, “Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.” Moses, having lived in one of the most celebrated locations, the palace of Pharaoh for forty years, ended up in Midian, a strange land. Moses refused to get carried away by the exuberant palace life and could not ignore his brethren’s suffering. In his act of support for one of his brethren, he became a murder and had to flee from the palace because of Pharaoh’s attempt to persecute him. Moses was content to live in the desert, with Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; a strange land. There was no evidence or demonstration of bitterness or complaint with his new family in the land. Moses’ contentment made him and he became Heaven connected for God’s assignment.
WHAT DOES CONTENTMENT HAS TO DO
To be content is to be a provoker of the move of God’s hand for favor, guidance, deliverance, preservation and many more of God’s blessings. Contempt can be considered as a branch of faith. 1Timothy 6:6-7, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” For Moses to have come out of a palace and into a strange land with a testimony of being content, had to have undoubtedly gain Heaven’s attention. Moses contentment speaks a great deal of his character. Faith is what pleases God; Moses demonstrated faith that pleased God. His action demonstrated that he brought nothing to this world and no material wealth could have kept him away from doing what was right when doing right demanded it. Moses had faith and God was pleased to use him for a great and noticeable assignment. Moses was content and he had a great uncommon gain.

Salvation is Supernatural

The salvation of God is always with you, when you believe. If you can believe it, you will see it, irrespective of your situation. God is not limited in his salvation. He permeates everything in life and in death. The truth can never fail: Make the truth of the word of God your virtues; and you will never fail. The word of God in you; makes you a minister. You are a minister of the New Testament, the testament of Jesus. To be a minister of the testament of Jesus is by becoming the incarnate of the testator. Ministers of the New Testament are to conform to the image of the testator. The words that make you a minister are spirit. So you’re a minister of the spirit. A minister of the spirit cannot be a preponderant of the flesh but of the spirit. The Lord is that spirit! Being a minister of the spirit; confers a holy priesthood upon you. The priests of God have spiritual access for spiritual assignments. Your spiritual assignment confers the priesthood status on you. Your first spiritual assignment after you have been saved is to witness Christ to others. This is your greatest spiritual assignment as a believer. Your priesthood responsibility begins by witnessing Christ to others. This responsibility cannot be over emphasize; as it has consequences on your fulfillment on earth, and rewards in eternity. Your commission as a Priest begins at salvation and you automatically assume responsibility. The gifts of some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; do not confer eternal rewards without the fruits! All are primarily priests; but some are assigned to the different offices for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. The gifts are for administration in the body, for effective priesthood. It is just like the different ministerial positions in the government of the nations, are delegated authorities for effective government and administration. Only some are ministers and governors; but all citizens are required to keep the law. The positions are like the gifts that you have to discover by yourself! The law is to win souls! All are required to mentor souls for eternity at whatever level you’re enabled. The souls you mentor for eternity becomes the hope of your rejoicing and crown in eternity. The crowns of your glory are the souls that go with you to eternity. There is a side attraction for accentuation: “Have you ever noticed that where evil is prevalent, the workers of iniquity are like stubborn goats! They are tenaciously wicked; for the crowns of principalities and devilish hierarchy, in the satanic world. Evil works are like daily bread for food; and like as it were the requirement of ‘holiness’ to be evil. If an evil parent must have their children killed for crowns of principalities; it is done or attempted without the remorse of consequences”. Do not entertain self deceit to disregard the reward of soul winning in eternity. If positions and ranks are valuable in this world, with all the imperfections in the world; the same will be craved in eternity. Any soul that is destitute of rewards shall be destitute in eternity: Because the rewards of crowns are valuable in eternity. If you do not have the reward of a crown; it will be like every one has a uniform and you do not have one. “You’re like a man without a wedding garment, getting married to the Lamb”. Do not think too far; if other consequences might follow or not! It makes you a stigma in eternity! You’re like a black sheep of the raptured!!!

Israel Adegboye

“I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.” (Exodus 23:27)

FEAR OF GOD
God spoke to the children in Exodus 23:27, “I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.” With the fear of God ahead on every journey of life, confidence will be in place to keep your feet from being caught. (Proverb 3:26) Deuteronomy 10:12 states, “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” When the fear of God goes before you, you will know to walk in all His ways.
Walking in the way of God is to love the Lord God. To love the Lord God is to serve Him. It can be accepted what the word is saying, you cannot love Him if you do not fear Him. Also, if you do not love God it is not possible to serve Him. To fear God is to love God; to love God is to serve God. By this it is evident that a believer will be in a position to please God. Jesus said in John 8:29, “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”
What is holding you down from having the father always with you? Is it the inability to fear Him? The more you grow in faith the more you know to fear Him and have His fear go before you in every step of life. We are made to understand in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” If without faith it is impossible to please Him, with faith it is absolutely possible to please Him. Faith is not what you have to look for in the store but it is what you have to seek for and it will come. Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  You might have heard the word sometime ago but yet faith does not have its place for you to fear Him enough. What the word is saying is about hearing, hearing, hearing and hearing. It is not for a time or two but it is of consistence and continuity. When there is no failure in hearing, faith will pass you on to fearing Him and having His fear go before you.
FEAR DESCRIPTION
The fear of God is described in Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”  This verse is saying with the fear of God going before us on the journey of life, the wisdom that is not of this world; wisdom from above will be leading us all the way into our victory. Also the understanding of His mighty act will be generating the boldness and character to deny every force of hindrance. The promise of His fear going before the children of Israel will make confusion the portion of their enemies on their ways. Also, the enemies will have their backs turned to them and hornets shall be the pursuant of their enemies. In the fear of God we have all that it takes to be able to compete and to complete on the journey of life. God wants us to have the fear in our going and He does not exclude any age or group from having His fear when He commanded, “Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the LORD your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 31:12)
HEAR AND LISTEN
Are you going to be hearing what it takes to learn to fear Him so that His fear will begin to go before you? What is it that could possibly deny you from hearing and not learn how to fear Him? Jesus, in one of His speeches to His disciples pointed out the solution to not being able to hear when He posed a question and responded with the answer, “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.” (John 8:43) The avoidance of hearing disability will lead to the abundance of having His fear reign and rule in our lives. The evidence of listening and hearing the word indeed is in the manifestation of His word in our life. God wants us to have all the blessings available but the fear of His holy name has to be in place. He promised in Jeremiah 32:40, “…I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.” The fear of God going before us will deliver it all of His blessing. Ask God to overtake you with His fear.

To fear God is to love God; to love God is to serve God.
When there is no failure in hearing, faith will pass you on to fearing Him and having His fear go before you.
‘Tunde

 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…”             (Revelation 12:11)

If there is any ground a believer needs to be standing on in challenging days that are here, it should be on an overcoming ground. The Bible helps us realize that there are two major overcoming powers that are in place for every believer that will take the position of an overcomer. Revelation 12:11, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…” Two overcoming powers that can be identified here are: Blood of the Lamb and word of testimony.
Blood of the Lamb:
Jesus is the Lamb of God that shed His blood on the Calvary for those who will receive and believe in Him. John the Baptist referred to Him, “…Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘after me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’” (John 1:29-30) Have you received Jesus and believe in Him as your Lord and Savior? Truly as lamb, He shed His blood on the Calvary and that is the reason why He stated, “…I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) If you will get yourself in the flow of His blood you will be set for overcoming.
Word of Testimony:
Testimony can be defined as an open declaration or profession. As a believer, what are your open declarations concerning the greatness and might of God? In most cases, whatever you declare is what will decorate you. The word stated that they overcame by the word of their testimony. As a believer, when your testimony to great and good things He has done and those that He is doing becomes consistent in the word of your mouth and your meditation, great and good things will become your decoration. Inhabited in every testimony is positive or negative confession. Through the pages of the Bible, there is evidence of what positive or negative testimonies delivered into the lives of the testifiers.
Evidence of Positive Testimony: King David by the word of his testimonies had a great and mighty deliverance when he overcame Goliath. In his attempt to go and fight Goliath, King Saul was discouraging when he said to David, “…You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.” (1 Samuel 17:33) David refused to be discouraged but gave account of what he was able to do as he responded to King Saul, “…Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.” (1 Samuel 17:34-35) David was not intimated by the confronting challenge that was posed by Goliath neither was he slowed down. Instead, David dwelt on what The Lord his God had enabled him to do in the past and he gave a testimony, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:37) David, by the word of his testimony, was able to overcome the giant challenge of Goliath that was before him. 
Evidence of Negative Testimony: The children of Israel experienced the great miracle when they were coming out of their bondage of over four hundred years and passing through the Red sea on a dry land. However, by the word of their testimonies they shut down their Promised Land. In responding to the spy’s negative report after investigation of the Promised Land, they had no better testimony but to confess, “…If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4 So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.” (Numbers 14: 2-3) God distinctively heard the children of Israel’s request of death in the wilderness and He responded by sending Moses, “Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you.” In truth, entire numbers from twenty years old, except Caleb and Joshua failed in getting down to the Promised Land because of negative testimony.
What are your testimonies? Which words are being produce in you and being released by your tongue as testimony? Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of tongue…” David saw challenges; he testified to the power of God and he overcame. The children of Israel saw challenges; confessed negative and could not have life. In facing your challenges ahead, think of the great testimonies in His word and the ones in your life; meditate, confess and you shall have life and overcome.
 

In most cases, whatever you declare is what will decorate you.
Inside the route of suffering there is also the route to blessing.
‘Tunde