The path to the promise

Have you ever felt like God has given you an action-word that requires you to move and do whatever the action is, and then at the same time, you get a pause-word, requiring you to stay put? What do you do when there are two words from God staring at you, one calling for action and another asking you to pause?

When God gives us a pause-word, it’s because He wants to work in us before He sends us off to do whatever He has assigned to us. You will appreciate that whatever action-word was given was never intended for you to carry out with your own power, but it was meant to be accomplished with the power of God. In this season, we need to allow the transformational power of God to do a good job in us.

God, the Moulder

There is a Ghanaian delicacy popularly known as “Fufu”. It is the favourite food of mostly the Asante people in Ghana. As every Asante will admit, the journey to getting Fufu in your bowl is not an easy one. Fufu is made primarily from cassava and plantain. The food staples are cut up and boiled until soft before processed. The processing involves using a mortar and pestle to pound both foods separately until they are combined into a dough. The pounding involves one person sitting with the mortar, putting the food in the mortar and turning it carefully whilst concurrently, another person holds the pestle and pound the food.

You might probably be asking, “Why go through all this stress just to prepare food?” The joy that Fufu brings to every fan is unspeakable. My grandmother Akua Badu, bless her soul, enjoyed eating Fufu almost every day. Even though modernisation has produced a powdered Fufu version, people still prefer the original way of making Fufu.

Just as the cassava has to be pounded and moulded, God is also pounding you with His love and gently moulding you with each passing day. God’s moulding totally transforms us with renewed mindsets and perspectives. The moulding may seem frustrating and dragging, but if you will be patient with Him, He knows what you will be like when He’s finished with you. God loves you so much, and His every turn will bring you a bit closer to the promise.

God, the Potter

In Jeremiah, God asked the prophet to go to the potter’s house to observe how the potter moulds clay. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and saw that he was working at the wheel. But the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled by the potter’s hand; so he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot that seemed good to him. Jeremiah 18:3-4 AMP.

The potter has to mould the clay repeatedly on the wheel until he gets the desired shape he wants. Similarly, we are also being moulded over and over again by God until He gets His desired version of us. When the potter starts to mould the clay, he has a vision of what the product will be, and so every move and swirl on the potter’s wheel is bringing it closer to the vision he originally had. Likewise, whatever God is depositing in you in this season, whatever experiences you may be going through, they are all working together for His final reveal.

If you rush through the process and seek quick fixes, you will end up with unprocessed bits in you, and you cannot function effectively in your purpose. Abraham and Sarah will attest to this when Sarah suggested they have a child through Haggai. You can read further about what happened to their family in Genesis 16. Don’t be in a hurry to get out of the Potter’s hands and get on with your stuff, but allow Him to take you through His process of perfection, so you can enter into your purpose with all the perfection and wholeness you require to function.

What I love about the Potter is the reworking of the clay. God is constantly shaping and changing us and as we evolve in Him. When we develop any blemish along the way, He puts us back on the wheel and starts working on us. He keeps working until He is satisfied we are ready to be displayed to bring Him glory. You don’t want to be an unfinished product, but instead, you want to have a patient and humble spirit that allows and trust the Potter to work His miracle in your life.

God, the Gardener

In John chapter 15, Jesus tells us that He is the true vine and we are the branches. He prunes every branch that bears fruit to bear much more fruit. I bet that will not be a pleasant experience for the branch, but the gardener knows and understands the branch best’s needs.

As a gardener, God tenderly cares for you, and He does everything in you to make sure you are very fruitful. So when you are content and think you are bearing enough or functioning at your best, God is saying, I have so much for you, and so I need to take some things off you so you can reach for more. The gardener knows the plant’s capacity and capability, so he can decide the level of fruit the plant should bear. If you feel that God is taking stuff off you, He may just be taking you through the pruning season. He knows exactly what has to be taken off to make you more fruitful.

God will never let you settle for a lesser version of yourself. God knows you better than you know yourself. He is constantly pushing you beyond yourself because He knows the grace He has given you to do the assigned task. Allow Him to trim and prune you; the other side is abundant.

Pause season

With the hustle and bustle of life and technology screaming at us, it’s so easy to get on with stuff and rush through this pause season, but today I want you to take a minute and let the Father do His work in you. Every day comes with a new and amazing version of you; God is moulding, reworking and pruning.

The path to the promise of God to you is not an easy one, it will involve a lot of uneasiness and staggering through uncharted waters, but if you stay the course, you will finally get to your destination where you can put your action-word to use. Whatever God will deposit in you now will yield blessings in your promise land, you can never imagine.

May you be filled with the Fullness of God and the Power of His Love!