After I posted last week’s article on waiting, my wife and I had a great discussion and she told me something she heard from Christine Caine at the recent Hillsong Conference in Los Angeles. I asked her to explain it by being my guest writer for this week’s article.
Those of us who are older remember something called “photographic film” to take pictures. We would put a 35mm Kodak or Fuji roll in our camera, take the pictures, take the roll out when it was filled with images, and drop it off at a drugstore to get it developed in a few days. Our pictures were NOT instant like they are today.
It is hard for people to understand that there is a value to time and process.
Christine shared about David. In 1 Samuel 16, Samuel anoints God’s chosen king, David, with oil. David is 15 years old. It isn’t until 2 Samuel 5:4 that David becomes King. He is 30.
A valuable process takes place between God’s anointing and God’s appointing. Don’t fast track! If the dark room door opens too soon, the spotlight will kill your future. The dark room is the place where God’s image in developed in you.
The light IN you must always be more than the light ON you!
Old-time photographic film is processed in a dark room where there are 6 trays. As the film is moved from tray to tray, the image becomes clearer and clearer. We are careful to not open that door too soon for fear the image of God will be ruined.
What if God has anointed you, but you aren’t invited into that role or position yet? Do not pine. Don’t waste time wishing. Be faithful where you are. If God has assigned you, He WILL find you.
When you are faithful where you are supposed to be and are unapplauded, will you still be faithful? If you can’t be faithful when you DON’T have it, you won’t be faithful when you DO have it!
The gift that is ON you will destroy you if the character that is IN you cannot sustain you.
Some are looking for the NEXT thing rather than the NEW thing. When Samuel was going to anoint the king after Saul, he saw Eliab, the firstborn of Jesse and thought, “This must be the next king…he looks like a king!” Why? Since King Saul was a man of stature, the NEXT king must be a man of stature. But God wanted to do a NEW thing. He didn’t want a man of stature, He wanted a man who would be a shepherd.
Sometimes we are looking for the NEXT Billy Graham or the next Francis Chan. But sometimes God wants to do something completely different, something NEW!
The heart is the doorway to destiny, not the gifting. Those with more gifting don’t last if their hearts are not right. Heart is the seed of passion and enables you to come back when you have been beaten down.
In the dark room of preparation, God looks at the heart. God looks for us where we are supposed to be when God is ready. And when He is ready, He will send people to get you.
The dark room doesn’t start until you are anointed. Look for the anointed one, not the gifted one. Oil will flow when poured on the anointed one.
It took 15 years and 20 chapters from when David was anointed as king and to finally being appointed as king. 15 years and 20 chapters to become what he already was.
God has marked you and plucked you out. It is better to be marked by God than marketed by man!
Don’t abort your destiny by flinging that door open too soon and letting the spotlight hit you before it’s time. He’s not forgotten you… In His time, He will appoint you! He hasn’t called you to forsake you.
Can you trust Him in that dark room even if He is burning and hurting you?
Questions to Think About:
Do you feel God’s anointing but too anxious for the appointing?
Are you able to be faithful to God when no one else knows or sees?
© Gary Lau and Deanne Lau 2013
All rights reserved. This article may not be distributed, forwarded or duplicated without prior permission from the author.
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