Oftentimes I have seen people pleading to be made by other people. We look into the hands of men like us to make us. We trust in our networks for some forms of assistance or the other. I have seen people who get disappointed, bitter and frustrated with one relative or another. We envy and fight friends who cannot help or assist us to reach some desired goals or the other. It is because many of us do not understand the meaning of the path of destiny. So we feel let down. The path of destiny is a thorny, lonely path. It is a place of buffeting, bruises and discomfort. It is a place of prickling in the flesh...until your greatness come forth!
The pathway of destiny is a place where the shriveling of the first, outer, and scaly layer of the human mind gives way to his soul. It is the process to the top. It is the pathway of transformation whereby the outer epithelial layer of the human mind changes like a man undergoes a skin-surgery. This removal of the inhibition to greatness is a supernatural work that God allow in any of His creation who yields to Him. It happens even in animals such as snakes where there is a shriveling off their scaly-skins. It happens in Eagles whereby their feathers are shed off. This is the period when the eagle look so ugly and weak. This loss of the feather is necessary if the eagle must soar onto higher grounds.
When this happens in man, people can no longer recognize the man and the woman that they used to know...this is because a metamorpho has taken place. A transformation that may be unpleasant in the moment. A scary experience or the other always come along with the process of birthing destiny. This is usually part of the plan. That is why most of the times, those who have a call of God upon their lives are separated during the course of birthing their destinies, ministries. This is because their making must of a necessity be unadulterated. As a result it is of a necessity that they be removed and separated from their brethren for a season.
"What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet” (Psalm 8:4-6). We were made just a little lower than the angels. We are the crown of God’s creation. The reason we die like mere men is because we fail to realize who we really are.
Sadly, on the path to destinies, just when our transformation was to begin; many of us abort the process because we do not understand what God is trying to do. So, we try to fix the problem that required a serious surgery, with the administration of an Aspirin. As we try to help God, we sin and sink further. We try to do spiritual things in the arm of the flesh. What usually happens is that, we get struck down like Uzzah who touched the ark of covenant of God and was killed by God on the spot! (2 Samuel 6:1-7 and 1 Chronicles 13:9-12). Reason is we cannot solve spiritual puzzles with natural minds.
Scripture said that a natural man cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit. "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit."(1 Corinthians 2:14). This is why nobody can help you in the birthing of your destiny. And the earlier you realize this, the easier and quicker your journey will become.
For the same purpose, we read of how Moses saw the path of his destiny and decided to pursue it. "By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible."- Hebrews 11:27. We read of how Joseph was separated from his brethren. "And for the precious things of the earth and fullness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren."-Deuteronomy 33:16.
Just as in the beginning when the first man- Adam- was put to sleep, and separated from the sense of right and identification with other creatures at the point the first woman-Eve was to be formed; We read that Jesus was separated from his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-42). Many times, we casually read these things but we fail to ponder over them. We do not appreciate what actually happened. We only read of Jesus' struggles in the place of prayer at Gethsemane, but we can only imagine His travails. We don’t really grasp what happened before His destiny could come to the fore. From the point where the sweats that came out of his body was like a rushing of blood, up to the point of his beatings by the Roman soldiers, we can only imagine without really understanding the essence of what happened in all.
We cannot fully know what was going on inside Jesus’ minds. Yes, we read of His struggles but we cannot identify with it totally. Nobody can compare with him in his death. That was a transformation, a transition that did not just happened through a death-process but much more through yieldedness!
Although, we read that some two thieves were crucified with Jesus, yet we cannot fully understand or grasp if those thieves were actually crucified "with" Him? In the literal sense; they were crucified with Him. However, the three men died on three different crosses. So what does it mean to die on Jesus’ cross, in Jesus' shoes? On the account of being killed for good works? Or for being killed as the Son of God that He really was? How can you explain what it means to be tried, charged and sentenced for being you? When we compare what it means to die on Jesus' cross with what it means to die on the other two crosses? We will see a huge complexity and mystery.
Little wonder Isaiah wrote: "It pleased God to bruise Him" (Isaiah 53:10). I mean, when we consider "HOW" Jesus died in comparison with the other two men who were crucified with Him. We can see a huge difference. Why because there were testimonies and events that marked the ascension of His soul from the cross to the other world. For example, a Roman soldier who was standing in front of His cross testified that Jesus was the Son of God because of the uniqueness of His death. "So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!” -Mark 15:39. "So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”-Matthew 27:54
This kind of testimony on the Sonship of Jesus is germane because it marked the order of birthing destinies! Jesus' death was different from other two men who were equally crucified because Jesus poured out His soul-His will. He was willing to die. Little wonder we were told to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice as well. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship" -Romans 12:1
The reason is because the will to be slain marked Jesus different! He understood worship. So, he bowed down His head, and gave up (yielded) His Spirit. It was the will to die for the sins of the world. His yieldedness was His submission to the ultimate Will of the heavenly Father. It was not a will to be let go. No. It was an unpleasant decision. But something happened inside Jesus that hour His will was given up for the ultimate Will of the Father. The power of that resolve was what saw Him through the Roman torture, and the pains of the cross.
This experience can be understood if we trace it back to the Gethsemane. The trails of His blood and sweats that can be seen on the floors as they left the garden of Gethsemane. As they led Him out of the garden to Chief Priest and to Pilate's court.
What we saw was a walking dead, but much more he was the God of the living and the dead. The reality of His divinity became pronounced because he has been renewed and rebirthed in prayers at the Gethsemane's garden. It was at that place of prayer that he was able to birth his destiny. The path of destiny is unfolded in communion with God. It is not in the miracles that Jesus performed. The mysteries of His destiny came alive in the place of His communion with the heavenly Father. Although, He did mighty works but he was not glorified until he had prayed, transformed, died and ressurected from the dead.
The fullness of His “divineness” (or His divinity) was a hidden experience until Gethsemane. The glimpse of the “divineness” (or the divinity, the Christ) who was shut, and trapped in the human body so called Jesus was seen and recognized by a thief. Alas! He pleaded for mercy to equally ascend! May this revelation that made a thief's ascesion possible at the die minute be revealed to us all. Why because it was enough to save the condemned criminal! He was able to enter into paradise because he saw something which the other thief did not see! So, what was it that one of the two thieves saw in Jesus; which the centurion also saw? (Mark 15:39).
What was it that strangers saw and testified to but was not seen by those closest to Jesus? - It was the Sonship of the Lord Jesus.
Although, this revelation of His Sonship was revealed to Peter earlier but he did not grasp the actual depth of it. That was why he denied Jesus when the path of destiny was to be unfolded. Everything about Jesus’ destiny was mere prophecy from the day of John the Baptiser up to this point. When Jesus prayed that: "…and now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."-John 17:5; we cannot fully grasp the meaning of these words, without studying His death on the cross.
This is why there was no contemporary or ally standing with him in His death. All His disciples fled. They fled despite their previous promises to stand by Him. The reason for their escape was because the destiny of Jesus was too mysterious and huge that it cannot be supported by his supporters club. Jesus had to pass through the Hades through death, into the place of destiny. It was a tight place, which no two people can occupy not to mention twelve disciples. That transition was a process. It was his birthing into destiny. It was a divine cross over that gave him the license to sit on the right hand of the Father in heaven. Little wonder we read what he told Mary Magdalene: "Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"-John 20:17.
Why this ascension? Have we ever asked? What did he ascended for? This ascension was symbolic and synonymous with his destiny and divinity! Crossing into the other world and returning with power is a process that turns ordinary into extraordinary. This is why it is always a lonely path. This birthing is synonymous with birthing a newborn into this world. Every child comes alone. They pass through the Uterus yet at different intervals of time. Every twins exit the womb individually! No two babies share the same exit at the same time period. That is why the process of birthing destiny is unique.
The moral here is: nobody can share the struggles of your destiny with you, no matter how much they love you. Just how the Apostle Paul experienced and narrated in his account that: "At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them."- 2 Timothy 4:16....for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia."- 2 Timothy 4:10.
We read: "So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak."-Genesis 32:24. No one can fully comprehend what happened in Jacob during this wrestling. We only heard that his name was changed but so was his heart! Once his heart was corrected, we saw the prophecies coming to fulfillment at the speed of light in his life! The reason is that the path of destiny is a mystery that unravels with time and death involved. It is a transformation journey on which no two people can embark upon. It is a path of death, rebirth, and resurrection. And for some this process may be complex and repeated some few times during their life journeys. So we can understand and agree with the man who said: “do not abort your afflictions.”
The reason why very few come through afflictions and are made is because we do not understand the ultimate purpose of afflictions. We misinterpret our struggles as some sort of sufferings that God inflict upon us by allowing the wicked to triumph over the righteous. But for as many that come through, they are made because they always emerge glorious. He that overcomes shall be crowned! Scripture said: He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.-Revelation 21:7.
The most High God himself revealed to us that there is an inheritance awaiting every overcomer. You are going to inherit all things! Isn’t that exciting? He did not say that you will inherit some things but all things. "To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne"-Revelation 3:21. This should encourage all who are passing through some terrible things or the other at this season of their life.
You are about emerging as great man and woman. It is because the path of destiny is a path which no mother can help her child. No father can help his son. No husband can help his wife. But it had to be thread alone. That is why many give up because man is a social being. We are gregarious by nature. And when destiny is about being birthed, this human, frail nature has to give way.
This is why some destinies get aborted, because, we fail to allow this transformation happen in us. We are afraid of being forsaken. We are afraid of being lonely. We are afraid of being misunderstood and misjudged. We try to visualize the process and path of destiny with naked eyes and interpret it with human mind.
As a result, remain the same, and die like mere men. That is why the psalmist said ye are gods but you will die like mere men. I said, “You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High.“Nevertheless you will die like men and fall like any one of the princes.”(Psalm 82). The truth is we were born great! But why do we die without ascending like Jesus? Why do we die without reaching our full potentials? It was because we fail to allow the path of destiny unfolds. Maybe, because it is unpleasant, scary and outside of our comfort zones… It was Adrian Hines who said that: "Your true self is outside of your comfort zone."
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