… The gifted/chosen will face three sure tests, just as Jesus did, and like Jesus we must be well positioned to respond appropriately in the face of such tests on our journey:
1. TURN THE STONES TO BREAD:
Bread is a major symbol of food. It takes much work, skill and preparation to make good bread, and Satan tempts Jesus to conjure bread from the stones without any work, effort or preparation.
When God was giving us the bread of life, he kneaded him in the bowl of sufferings, Baked him in the oven of tribulation, and served our saviour hot to us, he didn’t snap his hands and break our bondage just because He is God and He can. But so is not the case for many of us.
Every gifted person comes to the realisation that we CAN exercise a certain degree of control over our gift. One day we realise that we have the power to turn the stones into bread. With no prayer, no preparation, no word from God, we can write, say, sing, preach, do, conjure bread that’s tastes good, satisfies and even apparently nourishes our audiences.
All abuse is bound to become addictive, so once, twice, and it’s our new normal. We are hooked on to the ease of snapping our hands and creating, forgetting that it is through the creative process that we grow and build skill, mastery and capacity!
I am hungry for influence, impact, relevance, significance, souls – I have been waiting on God, will I keep waiting till he shows up to minister to me, so I can effectively minister to others, or will I exercise my power, snap my fingers and turn the stones to bread! God is the source of all life, and anything that gives life comes from him! Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the Father!
The gifted must realise that our gifts can operate autonomously and if we do not consistently wait on God, our bread may taste and look right, but will be the kind that gives no life.
2. LET YOURSELF GO
Because of the love, grace and purpose of God, the natural consequences of many of the things we do seem not to catch up with us! Look at Sampson and his many sinful actions, yet his consequences never caught up with him till the final Delilah blow. Sampson had let himself go!
Satan told Jesus that there was a promise that he’d be caught if he let himself go, but Jesus knew better than to put God to test! Naturally there should be fear in jumping off a cliff, fear in speaking profanity with the mouth that speaks the oracles of God, fear in imagining profanities and perversions with the mind that is an engine for Christian creativity, fear in singing blasphemies with the voice that sings the high praises of God, but instead of heeding what are the natural consequences, we let ourselves go and when we find that we were caught, we keep jumping off the cliff of consecration and putting our God to test. The giftings and callings of God are without repentance, God is not going to take my gift away, but as I jump and jump and test him, assuredly without repentance one day I will fall flat and break something. It is written do not put the Lord your God to test: and we must heed this and all other written things! Satan is still tempting the gifted daily, let yourself go, ignore the potential consequences, God will catch you; He always does. Know that we are the one under test, we have no business testing God, only passing our test.
3. BOW & HAVE IT ALL
What if I were given a gift and a destiny to take control of the world for God in one field or another, and some powerful man offered me an instant means of fulfilling that destiny without
much stress, struggle, hustle or uncertainty, but at a small cost of submitting to him, would I take it?
Satan takes Jesus above the city and shows him the nations of the world, the very people Jesus is there to save, and offers him a path the fulfil his destiny. He says bow, and you can have it all! No cross, no long waiting, no fastings, no uncertainty; just bow and it’s all yours!
What a tempting shortcut to destiny!
Every gifted person hears this offer, often more than once! The world or some agent of the system thereof offers a compromise that will “take you to your destiny” at the price of your very soul. Will you take it?
You, unique you, were chosen because God cares not just about what gets done, but how it gets done and even by whom it gets done. If Jesus had bowed to Satan, he would have been unfit to be the saviour of the world, for God sought a lamb without blemish – and if we bow to this world we become unfit to be his chosen ones, for our vocation is not of this world.
There will always be shorter-cuts, easier ways and apparent loopholes in the world that will seem to take us to our destinies faster and easier, but God seeks us to do not only his will, but in His way and time as well. Don’t bow to anyone but God! It is written, that you shall serve God only!
After Jesus had given all the right responses, he rebuked the enemy and the enemy fled from him. This gifted one faced other tests from the Scribes and Pharisees, at Gethsemane, on the cross, but on the same grounds of the written and spoken word, he completed his journey and declared “my peace I leave with you, peace not as the world gives. In this world you will face tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world”.
The journey is much sweeter when we walk with the man who had blazed the path we now follow. Let’s walk with Him!
~ NKT
p.s Nii Kwei Turkson, is a dear friend and brother in the faith with a passion for proclaiming the gospel through arts. He is the Leader of Teleios Inc. , a platform for gifted young people to preach Christ through their artistic talents. He is a writer and lover of Christ at heart. ❤️