can God isolate you in order to transform you perhaps the better question is does isolation lead to transformation well I think to answer these questions we have to look in the Bible the first case we'll look at is Moses Moses was a man who experienced many Supernatural things in his life he had an encounter with God through the burning bush he was right at the front of the extraordinary parting of the Red Sea in Exodus 19 Moses went up to Mount Si to meet with God Moses witnessed Mount Si being enveloped in Smoke because the
Lord came down upon it in fire in Exodus 33 Moses would go into a tent and a pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses and here's how much of a special relationship Moses had with God the Bible says in Exodus 33:1 so the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend and he would return to the camp but his servant Joshua the son of nun a young man did not depart from the Tabernacle but with such a special relationship did
God ever isolate Moses was Moses ever alone with no one else but God around he certainly was Exodus 34:28 says so he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights he neither ate bread nor drank water and he wrote on the tablets the word words of the Covenant The Ten Commandments Moses was alone with God for 40 days and 40 nights the Bible doesn't reveal everything about what went on between Moses and God but after this period of isolation Moses was not the same because the Bible tells us in Exodus 34: 29-30 that
when Moses came down from Mount Si with the two tablets of the Covenant law in his hands he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord when Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses his face was radiant and they were afraid to come near him such was the transformation in Moses that it was visible his face was shining so here is the first case that we can clearly see how God can use isolation to transform a person you are isolated from others so you can be alone with God
and through that encounter you are inwardly transformed and outwardly changed the second case is Joseph Joseph encountered a different kind of isolation although he had a family he was set apart from his family although he had Brothers he was isolated and separated from his home from his father all because of the hate he received from his brothers because of Piper's wife Joseph lost his freedom and was imprisoned but all of the isolation and separation that Joseph experienced was leading him to a destination that God only knew sometimes isolation is painful sometimes isolation is in fact
God's preparation in the case of Joseph God allowed him to be separated from his way of life his people his family and loved ones God allowed it so that one day Joseph would save their lives now the third case I want to highlight is the unnamed woman with an issue of blood in Mark 5 for 12 years she endured this terrible illness she suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had she exhausted every possible Avenue that she could and yet instead of getting better she grew worse but
here's where her story takes a dramatic turn picture this woman an outcast of society isolated from everyone she suffered with this issue of blood for years and years this woman had run out of resources she had run out of friends and run out of favors she had nowhere else to go but then one day Jesus Christ is passing by and the Amplified translation of Mark 5: 27-29 says she had heard reports about Jesus and she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his outer robe for she thought if I just touch his clothing
I will get well immediately her flow of blood was dried up and she felt in her body and knew without any doubt that she was healed of her suffering could it be that God allowed this woman to be isolated and cut off from society so that he could demonstrate his healing power could it be that God allowed this woman to be seen as an outcast by all of the community only so that God can show that he can restore anyone no matter how bad the situation looks now consider what you may be going through it
may be painful it may be lonely but what if God has allowed this season of isolation in your life because he knows people are watching you and when he turns your situation around your testimony can be seen and not just heard the fourth case of isolation is our Lord Jesus Christ Jesus was alone in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights no food no disciples Jesus was alone and he was even tested and tempted by the devil Satan tempted Jesus three times and each time Jesus referred to the word of God the devil knocked
three times and each time he was answered with the word of God the devil offered riches he said if it's money you want worship me if it's power you want worship me Jesus was offered the kingdoms of This World by Satan but Jesus was content he was full of God's word he he was satisfied with God's word three times Jesus responded by saying it is written and he referred to the word of God this season of isolation for Jesus I believe was a spiritual battle his fleshly body was denied all that it wanted in order
for him to focus on God his body was at its weakest and the devil tempted him but his Spirit was strong enough to resist after this period of isolation Jesus's Ministry began now let me pose this question to you we will not ever experience the same kind of isolation and testing that Jesus did but perhaps we will experience a season where we find ourselves isolated and tempted tempted to sin tempted to walk away from God tempted to give in to Unholy desires this is spiritual warfare this is a season of isolation that will either strengthen
your faith or take you backwards in the Book of James we're told to count it as Joy when we Face trial and adversity however for many of us we see adversity as a negative how can something that seems so hard in the moment be something we find joy in well it is because God uses that adversity to shape and mold us God grows us into what he wants us to be by the hard things we Face the path that you face may be hard but the calling God has for you is higher with the Journey
of a thorny path comes a man or woman of God with a high calling the Bible is full of people who had challenging paths but High callings the most notable of those people would be Jesus from the very beginning of his ministry he faced challenges Jesus went into the Wilderness to seek God and fast for 40 days while fasting Satan showed up and tried to tempt Jesus into sinning while traveling with his disciples people constantly judged and persecuted Jesus many times the religious leaders of the day the Pharisees and Sadducees tried to make him look
bad his own family and Hometown rejected him on multiple occasions people tried to Stone Jesus they even tried to throw him off a cliff then of course everyone turned their back on him crowds of people screamed crucify him in his greatest moment of need when on trial to be killed by crucifixion his disciples turned their back on Jesus and ran most notably though he never sinned he became sin as Isaiah 53 says he was despised and rejected by men a man of Soros and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised and we esteemed him him not surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken Smitten by God and Afflicted but he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities Jesus was crushed for the sins of the world the Judgment that we deserve Jesus Took on our behalf if that is not a tough road I don't know what is yet with the Hard Road came an even higher calling his tough road made way for Sinners to walk in a relationship with God 2 Corinthians 5:21
says God made him who had no sin to be sin for us God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God due to the tough road that Jesus walked those who by grace through faith trust in Jesus can now be called the righteousness of God while Jesus walked the most challenging Road the following Saints walked a road marked with trial and adversity as well Paul did not have an easy life as a matter of fact he left an easy life to become
a follower of Jesus from the moment Paul decided to follow Jesus he faced trial after trial Paul talks about his life as a follower of Jesus in 2 Corinthians five times he he received 40 Lashes less one three times I was beaten with rods once I was stoned three times he was Shipwrecked a night and a day he was a drift at Sea Paul was on frequent Journeys in danger from Rivers Danger from robbers Danger from his own people Danger from Gentiles danger in the city danger in the wilderness danger at Sea Danger from false
Brothers in Toil and hardship through many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst Paul often without food in cold and exposure I imagine he went through more in a week than many will face in a lifetime however his tough road led to the immediate advancement of the Gospel due to the ministry of Paul thousands were saved and the gospel spread quickly Joseph in the Old Testament is another example of a hard path leading to an even higher calling as a young boy he was his father's favorite son the other 10 brothers were jealous of Joseph
because of this jealousy they threw him in a pit and sold him as a slave Joseph's father Jacob thought he was dead little did he know hundreds of miles away Joseph was slaving away for the Pharaoh while not ideal Joseph did work his way up the ladder in Egypt however this was abruptly put to an end when Joseph was unjustly accused of rape he was thrown in prison and left to rot despite this tough road God used Joseph immensely after many years of sitting in prison the pharaoh of Egypt learned that Joseph could interpret dreams
this led to Joseph telling pharo through dream interpretation that there would be seven years of crop abundance and then seven years of famine Joseph was then put in a position of authority in Egypt second in command to Pharaoh Joseph was able to save the people of Egypt from this famine by using his authority to save crops he even saved his now 11 brothers and father Jacob from this famine his hard path led to a higher calling so you may feel as if you are walking a hard path right now maybe like Jesus you feel abandoned
by those nearest to you maybe like Paul your life went from ease to utter chaos maybe like Joseph you have been unjust accused your life has been marked with trial and adversity however God is going to use this hard path to shape you into the man or woman of God he has called you to every late night you spent crying and early morning you felt hopeless God will use to shape you this shaping he will use to give you an even higher calling everything you have gone through will be for something of significant importance in
the the kingdom of God your path may be harder but your calling will be higher Jesus prayed he prayed often he went to quiet places isolated places so that he could pray as people who believe in the gospel we need to learn from this because there must be some importance to prayer if Jesus did it there must be some Effectiveness to pray prayer if Jesus did it now I believe prayer is a Pillar of Strength because when you are going through hard times the Bible especially tells us to pray James 5:13 says is anyone among
you in trouble let them pray is anyone unhappy let them sing songs of praise did you get that is anyone among you in trouble let them pray other translations say if anyone is suffering if anyone is in great hardship and distress let them pray why why prayer why not find a pastor and get them to pray for you why not send a prayer request online because prayer is when you as an individual go before God and humble yourself you lower yourself in recognition of God's power you go to the foot of God's throne and pray
that he may have mercy on you that he may give you Grace and it's here it's in your weakness that God's strength is made perfect a prayerless Christian is powerless show me a Christian who prays and I'll show you a Christian who's strong in this life we cannot get away from prayer and a few points that you should be mindful of when it comes to of prayer are through prayer The Impossible becomes possible prayer isn't optional for us as Believers it's a necessity we need to pray we need to commune with God we need to
seek the Lord through fervent and honest prayer prayer is you not only obeying God's word which tells us to pray always and to pray without ceasing but it's us going into alignment with The Life of Christ when he was walking on this Earth there is power in prayer so to the believer who finds thems in a difficult situation pray to the believer who finds themsel in the middle of an attack from the devil start praying to the believer who finds thems feeling disappointed and frustrated pray God will come through in your darkest hour so let
this verse be etched in in your heart James 5:13 is anyone among you in trouble let them pray you see the thing about prayer is that it doesn't have to be formal or scripted you don't need to be the most eloquent speaker or articulate person in the world prayer doesn't have to be in front of an audience or the entire church it's simply about daily engagement and communication with God and as a Believer grows in their relationship with the Lord Prayer becomes more than just a quiet time of communion it becomes an intimate connection to
the one who supplies your every need it becomes a sacred time to speak to the one who provides wisdom and guidance the one who moves mountains and brings comfort in times of need even though God knows our every need before we make it known he has still commanded us to pray to pray without ceasing in fact he wants us to have that open communication with him and to rely on him no matter our circumstances in the New Testament there is a key message that comes up over and over again and do you know what this
message concerns it's about prayer in Romans 12 we're told to be constant in prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5 we're told to pray without ceasing in Ephesians 6 we're told to pray at all times in the book of Colossians chapter 4 We're told to continue steadfastly in prayer in James chapter 5 the Bible says the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working now these are just a few scriptures I haven't even touched on all Jesus's teachings about prayer that are given in the four gospels and so people of god let's fight
to pray when life is good remember to pray when life is challenging remember to pray come rign or sunshine just pray regardless of the Season you're in you have to fight to pray and you're actually strengthened by those prayers one of the reasons why we have to be so strong in prayer is because as children of God we have enemies we have the devil and his demons to contend with and then we have the world and the flesh as enemies but I want you to understand that all of these enemies that we face as believers
they have one thing in common they cannot win against the power of God they cannot overcome the blood of Jesus the enemies we Face they cannot destroy a person who fears God they cannot overwhelm someone who's always found to be in the posture of prayer now Psalm 34:7 reads the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and he delivers them saints God is with us but we must not be blinded to the dangers of prayerlessness prayerlessness opens the door to the enemy prayerlessness results in a person becoming spiritually dull and desensitized to
the things of God now we all know that praying is not easy praying should not be casual it is spiritual warfare that's why the Bible says for the weapons of our Warfare are not carnal But Mighty through God for pulling down strongholds prayer is a weapon that we can all use as children of God and so I encourage you dear friends do not neglect this weapon of prayer if God is with us who can stand against us who can stand against Jesus no one no man no demon no devil so fear God and pray daily
pray without ceasing be constant in prayer God acts in response to prayer so in conclusion I want to remind you to persevere in prayer keep pushing in prayer the battles we face as children of God are won and lost by prayer or a lack of it we need to rely on prayer and not on anything else the spiritual war against the devil is an ongoing one for us as children of the Lord so we need to remain under the blood of Jesus and in prayer if we are to overcome
