“1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred…” (Matt. 4:1-2).

I once had an associate Pastor who was working with NNPC but was taking care of his friend who claimed to have a call but was waiting on the Lord in his wilderness training. This Associate of mine would pay his rent and give the family food. The called would travel to some mountains in Ondo state in the name of seeking the face of the Lord, leaving the family behind and my brother picking up the bills. When he comes back from the Mountains maybe a month or three weeks, he would retire indoors, not coming out for anything.

Within this period that I knew of this matter he made two babies, all to be taken care of by my brother. Yet he was waiting on the Lord in his wilderness experience.

Until one day I said to my brother, look! You are just simply encouraging laziness in this man’s life by making all these provisions and that this man truly doesn’t know what he was up to.

Guess what, as soon as my brother made him to know he is tired of this support system for him, he left town with his family to Ondo state that the Lord is directing him there to start a work. Work? We never heard he started anything.

Friends, God doesn’t operate this way. Like I stated before I do not have any problem being in the wilderness, but let there be God’s finger in whatever you are doing.

The above text in Matthew tells us about our Lord Jesus Christ’s wilderness experience. Notice that He was led there by the Spirit Himself. And outside of that, it was a specific period of time, 40 days and 40 nights. Jesus had to finish and come out into the ministry that God has called Him into.

You can’t be in the waiting for an unknown period of time just claiming to be in the wilderness for training. May your training end so we see the fruits of that training in the Body of Christ.

By the way, a training period doesn’t necessarily mean you be in hiding from people or even not keeping a job.

Jesus started ministry at the age of 12 years old right from when He was asking questions in the Temple. That is when he started recruiting His disciples; the oldest amongst them was Peter who was about 18 years of age.

But He continued His carpentry work after Joseph died when He was 15 years of age. He had to continue with the work as the first born son who is supposed to take care of the family and the mother. This is why He told John, “Behold your mother.” In other words take care of your mother the way I was doing now that I am leaving.

But he got into full time public ministry when He was at the age of 30 years as the prescribed age to serve in the Tabernacle.

Meaning even all the time He was doing the carpentry work, He was in the wilderness in training. It shows that wilderness training doesn’t mean you resigning from your job to hide somewhere to be climbing mountains looking for power that is not lost but resident within you.

It means within the period of the wilderness you already know who you are, what your call is and what you are going in for.

Jesus already was in ministry before His public ministry. Resigning your job for wilderness training is not always the right way to go.

Sometimes the job you are in now prepares you for the ministry.

I served as the Staff secretary for eight years preparing minutes for the teachers while I was a classroom teacher and finally served as a Vice Principal in a secondary school.

In this entire journey I was aware I have a call to the ministry. Now the way I write my notes today is largely from my training as a staff secretary, and within those periods was my wilderness training.

You will never resign to go and hibernate somewhere first before taking up the call into full time ministry. When you are leaving your job you are engaging the ministry, not to go somewhere else first for five years in the name of wilderness training. That is not scriptural in anyway.

You are not who you are by reason of the wilderness training. Who you are is who you are already by the Spirit.

Moses was shepherding when he got the call. He didn’t go anywhere else first before moving on. David was shepherding when he got the call.

No one went into hiding for years to suffer first because of the call in the name of wilderness training.

Wake up thy son of God and do what you are created for. Enough of your wilderness experience.

I have come to announce to you that it’s over and your planning for wilderness reclusiveness for five years I say to you there is no need.

Where you are now in that job before your final leaving is your training period.

To be continued…