FAITHWEAR MINISTRY SCROLL — Updated on January 23, 2026

Before anything began, God already knew the beginning and the end, for “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13). Nothing rises or falls outside His sight, because “known to God from eternity are all His works” (Acts 15:18). Before your eyes ever opened to this world, He knew you, and He had already called you home. He declared, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jeremiah 1:5). Your life did not begin at birth; it began in His knowing.

Sometimes our wrestling with Him makes the journey feel longer than it should. Sometimes the detours feel like delays. But nothing is hidden from the Lord, for “no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). Nothing in your life has ever surprised Him. Nothing has ever slipped past His awareness. Everything has an order, and everything unfolds in its appointed time, because “to everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). What feels slow to you is not slow to Him. What feels delayed to you is not delayed in His design.

God planted all things, and He alone tends what He plants. He is the gardener — the One who watches over every seed, prunes every branch, and brings increase in His time. Jesus said, “My Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1), and Paul testified, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Nothing He plants is left unattended, and nothing He tends fails to bear fruit in its season. He is faithful to His own work.

So what am I saying here? Have eyes willing to see Him in His truth. “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law” (Psalm 119:18). Submit your heart to Him without filtering, without blocking, without turning away. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). Be willing to see anything and everything He wants you to see. Ask Him for the right things, and the Holy Spirit — in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ — will enable you to see, because you have asked. “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). Every provision He has anointed for your life will come to you, for “the Lord will fulfill His purpose for me” (Psalm 138:8).

In my own walk with the Lord, as I continued to know Him and seek His face, I noticed that trials began to walk beside me. These trials did not come to destroy me but to take my heart to the only place it could be shaped — surrender. In those moments, Scriptures rose within me, calling me to yield, and I answered, “If this adversity is from You, O God, then I will walk in it. I will surrender to Your word.” “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6). Many encounters unfolded this way, and slowly, as I chose His righteousness over myself, over my flesh, the old nature began to die. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). Submission and surrender brought me into alignment with His will and shaped me into His image, for “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image” (2 Corinthians 3:18). By this work, you become a new creature — no longer living to satisfy your cravings, your ideas, your understanding, or anything that belongs to the flesh. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

And this is why formation matters. The Scriptures show us that not every calling unfolds the same way. Saul was the answer to the cry of the people — chosen not because he was righteous, but because the moment demanded a king. He was lifted quickly, appointed suddenly, crowned before he was carved. He received a new heart, yet he never saw himself. He walked with authority, but without identity. He was anointed, but he was never formed.

David, however, was shaped long before he was seen. His kingship was forged in hidden places — in fields, in caves, in battles with lions and bears, in the ache of rejection, in the discipline of waiting. David was not simply anointed; he was prepared. He learned surrender before he learned rulership. He learned obedience before he carried authority. He learned worship before he carried a crown.

This is how you discern the difference between someone who is merely appointed and someone who is truly anointed. Appointment can come suddenly, but formation comes through trials, suffering, and the long obedience of faith. Saul was lifted without being shaped. David was shaped long before he was lifted. And God was present in both stories — but only one man allowed the presence to form him.

So when trials walk beside you, do not despise them. They are not signs of rejection; they are signs of preparation. They are the wilderness where identity is forged, where obedience is learned, and where the heart is made ready for the calling God spoke over you before you were born.

Your suffering is not without cause. Your trials are not without reason. If your life feels like hardship upon hardship, remember the pathway of King David before he ever wore a crown, and remember the life of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. David was shaped in rejection, in danger, in loneliness, and in hiddenness. And Jesus — the Son of God — was rejected by His own brothers who did not believe Him at first, and rejected by His own people who could not see who He truly was. Their rejection led to His crucifixion, which fulfilled the very purpose for which He came.

So beloved, despise not your suffering. Do not curse the wilderness. In all things, call upon Him and surrender your troubles into His hands. He will give you wings to rise above the very wilderness that once threatened to break you. What feels like breaking is often birthing. What feels like loss is often preparation. And what feels like delay is often the shaping of a heart God intends to use.

And as you learn surrender, understanding begins to rise. Clarity begins to rise. Your identity in Christ begins to rise — all under the posture of a heart bowed low before Him, a heart that thirsts for His truth. “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God” (Psalm 42:1). Without submission, how can you become who you are meant to be? If you reject surrender, you resist the very shaping that forms you. Free will plays a crucial part in our walk with Him, for love cannot be forced. “Choose this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). So learn submission, because this is the heart of worship. “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God — this is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1). Learn obedience, because obedience is the map that leads you into His ways. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). And as these take root in you, the navigation of your journey becomes clearer, the path straighter, the detours fewer, and the calling easier to walk, for “He will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:6).

And as you ask the right things, as the Holy Spirit guides you, something in you will rise. Talents that have slept for years will awaken. Gifts buried under life, pain, or silence will begin to surface. “Stir up the gift of God which is in you” (2 Timothy 1:6). This is when you know God has chosen you long before you ever knew it. He placed a calling in your life and is now unraveling it from deep sleep — to serve Him, to worship Him, and to edify the body of Christ through the very gifts He planted in you. “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them” (Romans 12:6). All of this is for His glory, and for the fullness of who you are in Him.

All of this is done in the name of the One who died on the cross, Jesus Christ. “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). If you receive Him, He will come to you and make His home in your heart, just as He promised: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). When your eyes and heart are aligned with Him, things will become clear as you continue to seek His truth and surrender to His ways. “You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

I know this because I have lived it. I read the Scriptures in awe of Him. I read to understand His truth — not the world’s truth, not my own truth, but His alone. “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17). And as I continue down this road, the Lord has allowed me to see the world through His eyes and to understand His heart — not fully, but enough to see through His love, His grace, His faithfulness, and all that He is. “From His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16).

Benediction

May the rest of God settle upon you — the rest that comes not from striving, but from surrender. “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:9–10). May this rest anchor your heart, steady your steps, and remind you that the One who called you is faithful to complete what He began.

And may joy rise in you even in the midst of trials, just as the apostles rejoiced when they were counted worthy to suffer for His name. “Then they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name” (Acts 5:41). May your heart find courage in this truth: nothing you walk through is wasted, and nothing you endure is unseen. Every step, every tear, every surrender is gathered by the One who loves you.

May the Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you, guide you, and keep you.
May the Holy Spirit illuminate your path.
May the Father’s love surround you as you walk in your calling.

And may your life — in obedience, in surrender, in worship — bring glory to the One who knew you before you were formed and who calls you still. Amen.