UNDERSTANDING THE DISCOMFORT OF DESTINY.

Estimated reading time: 13 minutes

We all want to step into our destiny, but do we even know the discomfort of destiny? Do you know what is required of you to step into the path that God ordained for you? Your destiny requires a version of you that you are yet to step into. Sometimes that version could differ from who you have always been. And it could require reinvention. Could it be the reason God is redirecting you is that He wants to align you to the path He has for you? Think about it for a second. Could you be experiencing birth pangs because of what God is preparing for you? You cannot step into your destiny without a fight. The Bible tells us that the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force.

Your God-ordained destiny is a part of God’s plan. And the enemy always fights God’s plan. That is why you are experiencing warfare in your pursuit of breakthrough and destiny. Have you been experiencing the discomfort of destiny? Maybe you have been experiencing unexplainable warfare and you are wondering why. Well, today I have the answer for you. You are experiencing warfare because of your destiny. And just like Joseph, you will go through some things before you can step into your destiny.

As we talk about the discomfort of destiny, let’s look at the story of Joseph.

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This is the story of Jacob. The story continues with Joseph, seventeen years old helping out his brothers in herding the flocks. These were his half brothers actually, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. And Joseph brought his father bad reports on them. Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he was the child of his old age. And he made him an elaborately embroidered coat. When his brothers realized their father loved him more than them, they grew to hate him—they wouldn’t even speak to him. Joseph had a dream.

When he told to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said, “Listen to this dream I had. We were all out in the field gathering bundles of wheat. All of a sudden my bundle stood straight up and your bundles circled around it and bowed down to mine.” His brothers said, “So! You’re going to rule us? You’re going to boss us around?” And they hated him more than ever because of his dreams and the way he talked. He had another dream and told this one also to his brothers: “I dreamed another dream—the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to me!” When he told it to his father and brothers, his father reprimanded him: “What’s with all this dreaming?

Are I and your mother and your brothers all supposed to bow down to you?” Now his brothers were really jealous, but his father brooded over the whole business. His brothers had gone off to Shechem where they were pasturing their father’s flocks. Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers are with flocks in Shechem. Come, I want to send you to them.” Joseph said, “I’m ready.” He said, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing and bring me back a report.”

He sent him off from the valley of Hebron to Shechem. They spotted him off in the distance. By the time he got to them, they had cooked up a plot to kill him. The brothers were saying, “Here comes that dreamer. Let’s kill him and throw him into one of these old cisterns; we can say that a vicious animal ate him up. We’ll see what his dreams amount to.”

Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let’s not kill him—he is, after all, our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed. By that time the Midianite traders were passing by. His brothers pulled Joseph out of the cistern and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites who took Joseph with them down to Egypt. They took Joseph’s coat, butchered a goat, and dipped the coat in the blood. They took the fancy coat back to their father and said, “We found this. Look it over—do you think this is your son’s coat?” In Egypt, the Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, and manager of his household affairs.
Genesis 37

Joseph had a destiny that caused his family to treat him differently. His father pondered on some things he told him because he could not comprehend what he was saying. I am sure he must have wondered how he and everyone else would bow to his 2nd to the last son. How?
Anyway, this caused his brothers to be jealous of him. And this led them to sell him into slavery. Can you relate to Joseph? Maybe for you, it’s nothing as dramatic as Joseph’s. You however find yourself feeling lonely despite being surrounded by people. It could be that people don’t understand you. Well, today I want to help you understand what you are going through. And to further understand the discomfort of destiny, let’s use scripture to elaborate.

Some signs show us the discomfort of destiny.

Being misunderstood is one discomfort of destiny.

Destiny will have you misunderstood. When there is a call in your life, you will feel different. In fact, you think that something is wrong with you. But that’s not the case. This is just the discomfort of destiny. Joseph was misunderstood. His brothers did not get him. They even secluded him. And he was used to spending time with his father.

Moses was misunderstood. He tried to save the Israelites by killing the Egyptian yet the Israelites rejected him. They thought he was trying to rule over them when that was not the case. He was only trying to help them. Have your own people misunderstood you? Maybe growing up, you felt different and could never fit in and you just did not know why. Well, today I want to tell you it is because of your destiny and the call in your life. You are different because there is a purpose for you that is greater than you could ever imagine. It is okay to be different and be misunderstood. You have been called to demystify some things. And the enemy is fighting you. You might not know it yet, but with time you will understand it.

Had Joseph been comfortable, he would never have been sold to Egypt. And that meant that he and his family would have starved to death. God knew that there was a drought coming. And so, in His divine plan, He allowed Joseph to go through pain and rejection to save the Israelites. Of course, God would have used another way had Joseph not gone through what he went through. So again, let me ask you, could it be that God is allowing people to misunderstand you because He wants you to leave your place of comfort to get to your destiny? Would Joseph had left his father who loved him if the circumstances had been comfortable?

Attracting warfare is another sign of the discomfort of destiny.

The enemy will always fight you to prevent you from stepping into your destiny. The goal from the beginning was always dominion.
The enemy wants to get as many people as he can on his team. The enemy wants to influence the world and dominate every sphere of life. That is why when he knows that you have a calling that will help set people free from their bondage, he will fight you tooth and nail to ensure you don’t achieve it. And to show you just what I mean, let me give you e examples.

The king of Egypt had a talk with the two Hebrew midwives; one was named shepherd and the other Puah. He said, “When you deliver the Hebrew woman, look at the sex of the baby. If it’s a boy, kill him; if it’s a girl, let her live.” So Pharaoh issued a general order to all his people: “Every boy that is born, drown him in the Nile. But let the girls live.” Exodus 1:15-16

Just before Moses was born, Pharaoh made a decree to have all the male children killed. And his reasoning was that they would rebel against them. And he did not want that to happen. Let me ask you this: why would the enemy allow people to experience freedom? The devil thrives when people are in bondage. That is how he can exert his power and influence. There is no way he can thrive when people are free.

A new king came to power in Egypt who didn’t know Joseph. He spoke to his people in alarm, “There are way too many of these Israelites for us to handle. We’ve got to do something: Let’s devise a plan to contain them, lest, if there’s a war they should join our enemies, or just walk off and leave us.” Exodus1:8-10 MSG

The enemy knew it was time for the Israelites to be delivered, so he fought it. And he did so by having all the male children killed. We do not fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. So although it was Pharaoh giving the orders. There was a force driving him to do so, and that was the enemy. Everything you do stems from a power above you. You are on God’s side or on the enemy’s side. And your actions will determine the driving force behind them. Here, Pharaoh was against God.
The same thing happened during the birth of Jesus. They killed male children 2 years and under. And Herod did that to prevent the Messiah from being born. Yet again, the plan of God prevailed.

Have you been experiencing unexplainable warfare? Maybe things have just been eluding you. Or maybe things that happen automatically for others don’t happen in the same way for you. Could it be because the enemy is fighting the call on your life? And one way to understand the call and destiny of your life is to look at the areas you struggle with the most. If you are having a hard time finding a job, maybe you are called to be a kingdom financier. Why would the enemy allow you to advance God’s kingdom? By the way, helping advance God’s kingdom does not have to be through spreading the Gospel, though that is the main purpose. Helping the needy, feeding the hungry, and easing pain in other people’s lives are some ways of advancing God’s kingdom.

God’s redirection

Sometimes it could be God redirecting you by closing all the doors so that you can focus on what he wants you to focus on. And if you don’t believe me, look at the story of Jonah.

But Jonah got up and went in the other direction to Tarshish, running away from God. He went down to the port of Joppa and found a ship headed for Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on board, joining those going to Tarshish—as far away from God as he could get. But God sent a huge storm at sea, the waves towering. The ship was about to break into pieces. The sailors were terrified. They called out in desperation to their gods. They threw everything they were carrying overboard to lighten the ship. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship to take a nap. He was sound asleep. The captain came to him and said, “What’s this? Sleeping! Get up! Pray to your god!

Maybe your god will see we’re in trouble and rescue us.” Then the sailors said to one another, “Let’s get to the bottom of this. Let’s draw straws to identify the culprit on this ship who’s responsible for this disaster.” So they drew straws. Jonah got the short straw. Then they grilled him: “Confess. Why this disaster? What is your work? Where do you come from? What country? What family?” He told them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship God, the God of heaven who made sea and land.” At that, the men were frightened, really frightened, and said, “What on earth have you done!” As Jonah talked, the sailors realized that he was running away from God.

Jonah said, “Throw me overboard, into the sea. Then the storm will stop. It’s all my fault. I’m the cause of the storm. Get rid of me and you’ll get rid of the storm.” Then they prayed to God, “O God! Don’t let us drown because of this man’s life, and don’t blame us for his death. You are God. Do what you think is best.” They took Jonah and threw him overboard. Immediately, the sea quieted down.

The redirection could come as discontentment. Check out the blog on when God is redirecting you to learn more about God’s redirection. Have you been sensing God’s redirection through storms? Sometimes your yes is what will calm the storm. The storm is one discomfort of destiny. Before you step into your destiny, there will be confusion along the way. But when you don’t lose hope, you will get to the path that God ordained for you after all.

How to position yourself when you are experiencing the discomfort of destiny.

Stay rooted in Christ.

Jesus is the one who will keep you anchored when you are experiencing the discomfort of destiny. He knows very well how lonely and difficult it can get because He went through it as well. So stay rooted in Him. Jesus promises to hold your hand and be with you every step of the way. Do not lean on your own understanding or your own strength. He wants to hold your hand. God’s got your back.

Pray and worship.

Sometimes worshipping in the storm is the key to experiencing peace amid your storm. As you focus on God, the storm becomes strangely dim because you are in the presence of God who is Sovereign and Almighty. It is true that right now, nothing makes sense. You are confused because you feel lost and confused. Hold on. Pray through the confusion and trust that God will settle the waters. Worship He who knows the end from the beginning. It will all make sense. Don’t give up. You are on the brink of your breakthrough and the manifestation of your destiny. Things will not always be like this.

Fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

When all you need is strength to go on, lean on the Holy Spirit. Ask Him for help. He is more than willing to help you. The Holy Spirit knows where you are going. So when you fellowship with Him, He will show you where you need to be and how you need to navigate the season you are in. God is preparing you for your destiny. He is aligning you with His plan.

Find a like-minded community.

God will send a person or people your way who will understand you. Be expectant of that and ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern when they come your way. The reason for this is so that you don’t give up on your destiny. After all, there are people whose deliverance is tied to your breakthrough and you step into your destiny.

• HOW TO DISCERN THE SEASON YOU ARE IN.
• 4 Unique Characteristics of God’s Redirection
• HOW TO EXPERIENCE JESUS IN THE STORM
• The Easter Series: When You are Birthing Your Purpose. 
• Stop Struggling in Your Wilderness Season Now.

Conclusion.

I pray this blog helps you understand why you are going through what you are going through. Remember, God knows you can handle it because He already equipped you for it. Although right now you are experiencing the discomfort of destiny, you will soon experience the fruit that comes with persistence and perseverance. Joseph later became the 2nd in command. The very dream God had given him came to pass. God wants you to experience the fullness of all that He prepared for you before the foundation of the world. God does not want you to live an unfulfilled life. There is so much for you waiting on the other side. Keep going.