Separation To A New Opportunity

The Word of God is the Voice of Prophecy, the Sword of the Spirit, the Authority we were given by God.

Genesis 12:1-5
Now the Lord had said to Abram:“Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 

4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.

Abram was living with his wife Sarai with their father Terah in Ur of the Chaldeans and later decided to go to the land of Canaan but on reaching Haran, they settled. Now these people were moon worshippers. God called Abram out of Haran to a promised land promised by God.

God did not come to Abram with such a comforting message. As humans, we love being around our families, and they mean a lot to us. They are always there for us whenever we need them, so it was not so encouraging for Abram to pack and leave his family. 

Separation is inevitable, if we are going to walk into our calling, purpose and will of God over our lives. God may want to separate us from friends in our lives that do not add value in our lives. We must be separated from our environments, from what we are used and accustomed to. We must pack and get ready to move towards the will of God. 

We must be separated from people of negative thinking, who discourage us from serving. It does not matter where we are from, God can use us if we are willing to. We must separate from people who hinder us from serving in order for us to execute our destined purpose.

When God has purposed to use you, a lot of things will come your way to distract you; but you have to make a decision to separate from people, things and family of a negative value in our lives. God wants us to be of the right mind, attitude and be holy and set apart. 

Some blessings will never come until you take a step of faith and separate yourself from the usual. God separated people in the Old Testament, in which He was separating the ordinary from the divine e.g. Jacob and Abraham as the divine. The ordinary/ common cannot go with the divine. 

Because of the strife between Jacob and Esau, Jacob had to run away and be separated. Sometimes the trouble and strife in our lives may not be due to our faith, but because of the friends we are connected to. We need friends who will tell us about the Kingdom of God, not about the concerns of the world. 

We need to move away from our desperation, fear and ordinary situation. There had to be a strife for Jacob to move away. There are times that God stirs up our situations, for us to get uncomfortable and move away from the usual, from the ordinary and right into His will. 

Joseph was a unique and different one among the ordinary. You do not need to explain yourself to the ordinary; be unique and different, as you serve a unique, different and powerful God. Instead of speaking to people, speak to God. You may be in the same environment as the ordinary, but you can be different, and talk a different language. We belong to a God who honors those who are faithful to Him, and to our responsibilities e.g families. We are different. Separate yourself. 

Jacob was different, and this is why he was also able to differentiate and identify the uniqueness of his son Joseph. He even made a special coat for Joseph. 

Bless those you you are with, those who do you harm, but keep in mind that you are different. Continue to love them for one day God will make those people who hate you to come and beg you for help. 

It is good to separate yourself so that when the time comes for God to bless you, you will be ready for Him. When God is preparing to do something good and new in your life, He will separate you from people who may derail His purpose over your life. Do not pursue people when God removes them; they will pursue us, as we are different. 

Separate yourself from ordinary and mediocre thinking. 

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Think with the mind of God. See things with the eyes of God, like the 2 spies (Caleb and Joshua) did, when the other 10 saw with the eyes of men (Numbers 13:26-33). We need to be separated from mediocre thinking and mediocre sight. 

Gold is different because of the process it undergoes to make it precious. It is first blasted with explosives, to separate it from the source. Then, it is reacted to acids, so that the unwanted substances may be eaten away, before being subjected in a furnace 1000 degrees Celsius hot, to burn away more unwanted substances. After all this, the final product - gold - is precious, and worthy. When God wants to use you, you undergo a process of separation, which is painful obviously. The separation may include separation from our traditions. 

God wants to deal with us until we are precious and holy. God is not tribal, and wants us to serve everyone equally, so one of the separations we undergo may be from our traditions. He wants us to be and remain His children first, before we are tribal and ethnic. We were His children first before we acquired our tribal affiliations/ roots. 

You cannot develop and mature if you remain in your cocoon. Children need to be born to develop and mature. We have lived in the wombs of our traditions, families etc., for long. Separation is inevitable. We must break from the shell, like chick does. The mother hen does not break the shell, it's the chick that breaks it. Break from your shell. 

Moses went through 3 transitions (processes of separation in his life):

• Separation from his mother, then later from his brothers, sisters and home, to be raised in the house of Pharaoh (Exodus 2:1-10). 
• After 40 years, he was separated from the house of Pharaoh. We must be separated from the pride of life, from the comfort of the palace. He was taken to the wilderness, where he was trained to be precious and humble, by God (Exodus 2:11-22).
• After another 40 years in the wilderness, he was separated again from the wilderness and house of Jethro, to go and serve the living God, lest he got entangled in the spirit of the wilderness (Exodus 3 - 4:29). 

People may talk about us, reject and push us, but they do not know that they are moving us closer to our destinies, and God's purpose for our lives. 

We should not be so accustomed to the ordinary that we fail to hear the voice of God. Where we are going to there are people, and there could be occupants to the land or position God is giving us. Still, God has already done His part and given you that land or position. We just need to take a step of faith and launch out into the unknown waters, like Peter. He asked Jesus to tell him to come, if it was Him, and when Jesus did, he launched out into the dark waters (Matthew 14:22-23). 

God gave the children of Israel land, but it was occupied by the Jebusites, Amalekites, Perizzites, Canaanites etc., and was fortified. They had to take the land by faith, following God's leading. 

Take a step of faith, for He has done what you were praying for already. Launch out to the deep dark waters. Allow God to cause a separation in your life. 

~ Pastor Joseph Kagunda. 

(20/01/13 Sunday Service Sermon, Africa Transformation Mission. Pramukh Plaza, 6th Floor).

Pastor Joseph Kagunda is an anointed servant of God and a dear friend to the Africa Transformation Mission Visionary, Apostle Dr. David Karanja. He currently lives in China and on this date he came to share with us the powerful message from God of separation and taking a step of faith. Amen