There is an old song that goes, ‘Nobody loves me… I’m going to the garden to eat worms…’
My friend has a compost barrel in her garden and inside under the lid is teaming with juicy, wriggling worms, hundreds of them—eeuuw!
Eating worms has become something of a metaphor for having a bad day. A message that says, ‘Need worms, quick!’ is code for, ‘I’m having a bad day—need sympathy and prayer!’ On a really bad day, it’s ‘Give me the barrel!’ But what if you are not only having a 1-barrel-of-worms day, but a whole 10-barrel month, or even a 100-barrel year?
I am working on a chapter in my new book on ‘The Testing Season’—or should I say, the chapter is working on me? (It couldn’t get worse than the week a few years back when I was working on a chapter on pride!) At any rate, this whole business of experiencing testing, or wilderness seasons in the growth of our prophetic gifts is pretty relevant, and actually there is GOOD news too, so I thought I’d share some of it with you.
Signs that you may be experiencing a wilderness season in relation to your spiritual gift:
- Feeling that you have been shut down in your God-given abilities. You wonder where your gift has gone and what God is doing
- You may have voluntarily or involuntarily released ministry responsibility to do with your gift and feel displaced as a result
- You long for the honeymoon period when you first discovered your spiritual gift and think of it as ‘the good old days’
- You may have made mistakes and wonder whether you will ever recover
- You experience doubts about your ability and wonder if God really called you
- You find yourself going through character-testing circumstances and coming up short on the character side
- You wonder whether the prophecies once made about you will ever be fulfilled
- You feel as though you are being criticised, blocked or resisted
- You feel battle-worn and weary
- You feel displaced, separated or hidden in relation to your gift and ministry
- The opposite of God’s call and the destiny you believed for seems to be happening to you.
If you can identify with any of these things, there is some very good news for you—there is a REASON for this SEASON and it all has to do with you, God, and fruitfulness! We’ll have a look into this some more in the next few days.
Do you identify with any of the above points now, or have you in the past? I’d love to hear from you, and so would others—leave a comment for me.
In the meantime, I’m going to fast worms and try thanksgiving and praise instead…
The teaching section in this post is excerpted from the e-book, ‘Grow Your Prophetic and Prayer Gifts.’ If this post has ministered to you and you would like further help in the development of your prophetic gifts, click here to review the book.
See also Prophetic People in Testing Times: The Reason For The Season
© Helen Calder Enliven Publishing
This is totally awesome Helen. Excellent and thought provoking comments. Well done and keep em coming!!
Helen, you are an inspiration. I too am going to fast worms…lol. I love the way you write you make reading a pleasure and you are soooo interesting. This was a nice place to visit..Bless you
I have a gift. I believe its in prophecy, poss. In discernment of spirits to, etc… Maybe more. I have lots of visions and see spirits, colored spirits, angels, shapeshifting, ive even seen the kingdom im pretty sure. Ive seen tins of spirits and read up on them to. I was saved while i wad a ghost hunter. Now i constantly followed due to i see them and they know it. Also i see angelic beings, its endless. I see lineswhen i read the word also like paragraphs, or sentences everywhere and its all the Holy Spirit i know. Im having trouble finding the rite help. Email me please if u want to talk thank mark
Hi Mark, you are welcome to look through the articles on the topic of discernment here in the blog, I’m sure you will find some helpful and inspiring information to help you move forward in your gifts.
Helen – I can relate to some of the ‘wilderness’ signs – and like you I am learning that a ‘sacrifice of praise’ is much more effective than ‘worms’! God will often give me a little ‘gem’ of encouragement when I have spent time in praise and thanksgiving. Thanks for the timely reminder!
Jenny, you are so right. Romans 8:28 is a great little gem of encouragement that has come to my mind today.. ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.’
Ever tried the proverbial “square peg in a round hole” in regards to ministry fit? Many of these signs you have mentioned Helen, can be due to seasonal issues but also ‘ministry fit’ issues. I’ve been here many times – more than I’d like to tell. Sometimes I think I’d like to have just Pastor/Teacher mix without the tinge of Prophet. Surely it would be easier? But then I guess Pastor/Teachers have their own unique issues
I can SO identify with that, James… had a difficult time being in and then letting go of an admin role that wasn’t the right ministry fit for me. SO uncomfortable for a season.
With ministry fit problems, there can be several things at work… we may be in a self-appointed place of ministry, or may have been appointed but it is more someone’s good idea than a God-idea. What is most often the case, though, is that we ARE in a God-appointed place of ministry but are in a protracted season of transition. In any of these cases pain is a signal that we either need to change or that change is coming (usually not as soon as we would like!) Wilderness seasons in the Bible relate to preparation and transition. Ultimately they lead to fulfilment of our call, gifts and destiny.
Having said all that, Biblical wilderness season can also be self-inflicted… (Ps 68:6)
Hmmm, SO much food for thought, here, another good point for the book…