There is an intense longing for success in every heart. It’s a given. By “success,” I mean the desire to achieve great things so others might acknowledge our accomplishments. Men often express their hope of leaving a lasting impact on human history and gaining fame for their legacies. This pursuit takes various forms: setting personal goals, comparing ourselves to others, and being driven by the unpredictable nature of the world systems.

These false perceptions in the world are further complicated by our understanding of time and its impact on our desires. Many people feel an urgency as they grow older, fearing a loss of motivation and energy to pursue their dreams. Society generally deems it unacceptable to reach the age of 40 without owning a home, car, stable income, savings, or family.

Fuelled by extreme materialism, all these thoughts and pressures create a soul-numbing combination that hinders the proper development of a sound character necessary for a fulfilling life.

This is the context in which many people approach God the Father. Many encounter the Father in the space between their needs and wants, where the dominant desire of their hearts is for things like healing, work, family, food, house, prosperity, education, and so on. While the Father’s love almost always addresses these desires in due time, He moves beyond the things we want to challenge our perception of where the actual value of life lies.

These individuals (and many) desire a linear relationship with the Father. They want to oscillate between prayer and its outcomes. They pray with the expectation of immediate answers. They delight in prayer because they hope for favourable responses within their predetermined timeframe. 

Indeed, these two aspects coexist in our walk with Him. He is the One who initiates prayer and answers our hearts’ desires. The scripture says, “All eyes look unto Him, and He gives them food in due season” (Psalm 104:27-30). He delights in prayer and in answering it.

However, based on enduring testimonies of God’s children and personal experiences, we mostly find and feel the Father in the space between prayers and answers. It is where God’s character is most revealed, and His ways are explicitly communicated. The journey from expressing our desires in prayers to receiving testimonies in answer to those prayers is where we encounter the most profound revelations of His Person and the manifestation of His Presence, which transform us. In those moments, time stands still under the weight of expectation, or space contracts to accommodate the intensity of hope. In those moments, the Father repeatedly attempts to befriend us on a deeper level and improve our perspective of the present and eternity.

Every time I read the passage of scripture in Deuteronomy 8:2 that says, “Remember how the LORD your God led you in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands,” I am reminded that He is the Lord of “the process”. During their wilderness experience, the Children of Israel indeed came to know who God is. In Egypt, they only saw Him as the deliverer who set them free with a mighty hand and performed great signs. In the wilderness, they witnessed Him as the way-maker, provider, sustainer, healer, and someone with emotions.

The process of their journey revealed these aspects to the Israelites, and they composed songs, poems, and letters to document their experiences. Could Father have instantly transported them to the promised land? There is no debate about that. However, He chose to lead them through the process because, as stated in verse 3 of the same passage, He wanted to teach them that life is not sustained by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 

Now, the essence of the above paragraph lies in the process. The weighty matter arises from questions about the certainty of God’s answers. Will I be healed? Will I receive this breakthrough? Will I ever get married or have children of my own? Will this persecution ever end? Will I achieve success in life? These thoughts and emotions often underlie the quality of our walk with the Father. The more desperate we feel about our situation, our spiritual activity becomes more intense. 

Amidst all these concerns, the Father seeks to breathe through the heat of our desires. He interrupts our lives, introduces stumbling blocks, and initiates deep conversations within our hearts about what truly matters in life’s pursuits.

Here is what I want to say: Remember the place of “the process”. Your breakthrough does not bring as much pleasure to the Father as the person you have become while waiting for your testimony. It is the process that shapes and qualifies your Character. And it is your Character that eventually determines how much of the Father you represent and convey to the world. 

The test of your character reveals “what was in your heart,” and it is through the process of the wilderness or sometimes fiery trials that the required character is built. As Bill Johnson says, “character is the place where power wants to rest on, then it can be carried without destroying.”

Most of us are only aware of the 3.5 years of Jesus’ ministry. Little is said about the 30 years preceding His public works and declarations. During those years, He worked, made friends, faced life’s challenges, witnessed terrible events, lost His earthly Father, took on the role of the man of the house as the first-born son, and observed the oppression of His people by the Romans. Throughout this time, His Heavenly Father was shaping Him, and eventually, He would say of Him, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Not only that, but the Father was pleased to give Him His Holy Spirit “without measure.” That is profound! The passage’s context further demonstrates the Father’s confidence in His Son: “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for He gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand” (John 3:34-35). 

Because of who Jesus had become, the Father entrusted Him with all things. That is a display of extreme confidence, considering that Jesus went through the process, even giving Himself as a ransom and dying as a result. Jesus had gone through the process, which enabled Him to remain silent even when He was led like a Lamb to the slaughter for a crime He did not commit. He prayed to His Father, saying, “…forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Character through the process!

The Father has no reservations about giving you things, but He desires your attention first. An accurate revelation of the Father is the most significant achievement for any human being, and it is humanity’s highest and most fulfilling need. That is why Jesus came—to reveal the nature of the Father—and we must continually read and understand Jesus in that context. Everything converges in Jesus because He perfectly represents the Father to humanity. He demonstrated the depth of that connection with the finality of this statement: “Yet not my will, but yours be done.”

I encourage you to embrace your wilderness experience rather than seek to expedite its end by any means possible. This advice may be challenging, as I know your current circumstances may be. However, I urge you to intentionally seek the Father amid the crisis or trial you face, seek fellowship and friendship, and seek conversation in the middle of the storm; you will be amazed by how easily you can be distracted away from your troubles in the presence of His greatness. 

Nothing but Him matters when you’re in the wilderness. Money can’t buy, power can’t secure, and influence can guarantee. The children of Israel came out with much wealth from Egypt, but they couldn’t buy food, shelter, or clothing in the wilderness with that wealth. Only God could take care of them.

This is the place of “the process” in the hearts of men. It is where Father God gets His pleasure and enjoys His walk and fellowship with us. And like that great Apostle said – “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4). On the other side of the process, which is the answer to your prayers, you will realise that nothing else matters than your fellowship with Father.

Peace!