Your Turning Point
When God Interrupts Your Wilderness and Calls You Into Your Destiny
An Apostolic and Prophetic Teaching
By Peter Nash
There are moments in our walk with God when something begins to stir so deeply within our spirit that we cannot simply dismiss it as another passing thought. There are moments when we sense the Holy Spirit drawing our attention to something that heaven wants us to recognize.
As I was reflecting upon the Lord, a thought came strongly into my spirit, and I want to share it with you today.
YOUR TURNING POINT IS UPON YOU!
I believe there are people reading this teaching who have been praying for years, believing for breakthroughs, standing upon promises, and wondering whether the things God placed within their hearts will ever come to pass.
Some have been waiting for restoration in their families. Others have been believing for spiritual breakthrough, healing, reconciliation, or a new season of ministry. Some have carried a burden for their children, their marriages, their communities, or their churches.
And perhaps you have reached a place where you are asking, “Lord, how much longer?”
I want to speak prophetically into that question.
What if the very season you thought had disqualified you has actually been preparing you?
What if the wilderness you believed was the end of your usefulness has been the classroom where God has been forming your character?
What if the years you thought were lost have not been lost in the sight of heaven?
And what if the Lord is calling you today to lift your eyes from the circumstances surrounding you and recognize that He is still working out His eternal purposes?
I am not suggesting that every unanswered prayer will suddenly be fulfilled today. God alone knows the appointed times and seasons. But I am declaring that today can become a turning point in your surrender, your faith, your obedience, and your willingness to respond to His voice.
And when God calls, we must be ready to answer.
MOSES: FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, ONE ENCOUNTER WITH GOD
I want you to come with me into Exodus chapter 3.
Here we encounter a man whose life appeared to have settled into an ordinary, predictable routine.
His name was Moses.
He had once lived in the palaces of Egypt. He had been raised with the privileges of Pharaoh’s household and educated in the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22).
But everything changed when he attempted to intervene in the oppression of his Hebrew brothers.
Moses killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave, and when Pharaoh learned what had happened, Moses fled into the wilderness (Exodus 2:11–15).
For the next forty years, Moses lived in Midian.
Forty years!
Think about that for a moment.
Forty years away from the palace. Forty years away from Egypt. Forty years removed from the people whose suffering had once stirred something within his heart.
He had become a shepherd, caring for the sheep of his father-in-law, Jethro.
I wonder how many times Moses reflected upon the circumstances that had brought him there.
Did he ever think about the opportunities he had lost? Did he wonder whether his life would ever amount to anything beyond tending sheep?
Scripture does not tell us everything Moses was thinking during those years. But it tells us something extraordinary about what happened when those forty years had passed.
Acts 7:30 identifies that period, and Exodus 7:7 tells us Moses was eighty years old when he stood before Pharaoh.
At eighty years of age, Moses was not finished. God was commissioning him for one of the greatest assignments recorded in Scripture.
I want someone to hear that!
Your age does not place an expiration date upon the purposes of God.
Your past does not have the final authority to define your future.
And the number of years you have spent in obscurity does not determine whether God can use you.
Moses had spent forty years in the wilderness, but the wilderness had not erased the covenant God had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Heaven had not forgotten Israel.
And God had not lost sight of Moses.
WHEN GOD SAW THAT MOSES TURNED ASIDE
Exodus 3:2–4 tells us that the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire from within a bush.
The bush was burning, but it was not consumed.
Moses noticed something that did not fit the ordinary pattern of his experience.
A bush was burning without being destroyed!
And he decided to turn aside and examine what he was seeing.
Then comes a statement that has captured my attention with extraordinary force.
Exodus 3:4 says:
“And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses.” (KJV)
Do you see that?
When the Lord saw that Moses had turned aside, God called him by name!
There is something profound here about spiritual attentiveness.
God had already seen Israel’s suffering. God had already heard their cries. His purposes were not dependent upon Moses noticing a burning bush.
But the narrative deliberately draws our attention to Moses’ response.
He turned aside.
He stopped what he was doing.
He paid attention to what God was revealing.
And in that moment, the ordinary routine of tending sheep became the setting for an extraordinary encounter.
I wonder how many people today are so consumed with their problems, disappointments, schedules, and frustrations that they no longer recognize when the Lord is drawing their attention.
We become accustomed to the wilderness.
We become accustomed to disappointment.
We become accustomed to expecting tomorrow to look exactly like yesterday.
And sometimes the greatest challenge is not that God has stopped speaking, but that our hearts have become so occupied with everything else that we are not listening.
I want to challenge you today.
Turn aside!
Turn aside from the constant noise.
Turn aside from the voices of discouragement.
Turn aside from the accusations of your past.
Turn aside from the belief that nothing can ever change.
Make room to hear the voice of the Lord!
There are moments when spiritual attentiveness becomes the doorway to a new level of obedience.
YOUR WILDERNESS MAY HAVE BEEN PREPARATION
I have discovered something over many years of ministry.
God is often doing His deepest work in us long before He does His most visible work through us.
We love the public victories, but we do not always appreciate the hidden preparation.
We want the authority of Moses without the wilderness of Moses.
We want the throne of David without the caves of David.
We want the influence of Joseph without the suffering Joseph endured.
But God is not merely interested in giving us an assignment.
He is interested in forming the character necessary to carry that assignment faithfully.
Moses had once attempted to intervene through his own strength. Now he would be sent by the authority of the living God.
And what was God’s answer when Moses questioned his ability?
Exodus 3:12:
“Certainly I will be with thee.” (KJV)
Notice that God did not begin by assuring Moses that he possessed all the necessary qualifications.
He promised His presence.
The greatest qualification for any divine assignment is not our natural ability, personality, education, or experience.
It is the presence of God and our obedience to His Word.
And I want to say something particularly to those who feel they have become too old, too weak, too wounded, or too insignificant to be useful.
Do not mistake your limitations for limitations upon God.
He is not dependent upon the strength you once possessed.
His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
The issue is not whether you can accomplish His purposes independently.
The issue is whether you will trust Him enough to obey.
JOSEPH: FROM THE PRISON TO THE PALACE
Now consider Joseph.
God gave Joseph dreams concerning his future, but the road toward their fulfillment was anything but comfortable.
He was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and imprisoned.
There must have been moments when his circumstances appeared to contradict everything he had once believed about his future.
Yet Genesis 39 repeatedly emphasizes that the Lord was with Joseph.
That is important!
God’s presence did not mean Joseph would never suffer.
God’s presence meant suffering would not ultimately prevent the fulfillment of His purposes.
Then, in Genesis 41, Pharaoh had dreams that none of his advisers could interpret.
And suddenly Joseph was remembered.
He was brought out of prison and stood before Pharaoh.
One moment he had been a prisoner. Soon afterward, Pharaoh appointed him to authority over Egypt.
But Joseph’s promotion was never merely about Joseph.
God was positioning him to preserve lives during a coming famine.
Years later, Joseph could tell his brothers that what they had intended for evil, God had used for good (Genesis 50:20).
This is the dimension of destiny that we must never overlook.
God’s purpose for your life is not simply to bring you out of something. It is also to accomplish something through you for the benefit of others.
Your testimony may become someone’s encouragement.
Your experience may become wisdom that strengthens another believer.
Your restoration may equip you to minister compassionately to those who are broken.
The place where the enemy intended destruction may become the place from which you testify of God’s faithfulness.
DAVID: ANOINTED BEFORE HE WAS APPOINTED
Consider David.
In 1 Samuel 16, Samuel anointed David while he was still a young shepherd.
But being anointed did not mean David immediately occupied the throne.
There were battles, betrayals, dangers, rejection, and seasons of hiding.
David knew what it meant to carry a promise while living in circumstances that appeared to contradict it.
Yet he refused to seize the throne through rebellion against Saul.
Twice, when opportunities arose to kill Saul, David would not take matters into his own hands (1 Samuel 24 and 26).
That is something the Church desperately needs to understand.
A genuine calling from God never gives us permission to abandon the character of Christ in order to fulfill it.
We cannot justify manipulation, dishonesty, bitterness, or ungodly control by claiming that we are protecting our destiny.
God’s purposes must be pursued through God’s ways.
David learned to wait upon the Lord, and eventually he became king.
The anointing was real before the appointment was visible.
And I believe there are people reading this who need to hear that distinction.
Do not abandon faithfulness simply because recognition has not yet come.
Keep serving. Keep obeying. Keep walking in integrity.
Your relationship with God is far more important than any position you could ever occupy.
ESTHER: PERHAPS YOU HAVE COME FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS
There is another example that I believe speaks powerfully to the hour in which we are living.
Esther.
A young Jewish woman found herself in a position of influence within the Persian empire.
Then a crisis arose that threatened the destruction of her people.
Mordecai challenged Esther with the possibility that she had come into her royal position for precisely such a time (Esther 4:14).
Notice that Esther faced a decision.
She could remain silent and protect her own comfort, or she could risk her position by intervening on behalf of others.
She called for fasting and ultimately approached the king despite the danger.
Her turning point required courage.
Her influence came with responsibility.
And her destiny was connected to the deliverance of others.
I want to ask you something.
What if God has placed you within your family, community, church, or sphere of influence for a purpose greater than your personal comfort?
What if there are people who need someone willing to stand in the gap?
Someone willing to pray.
Someone willing to speak truth with love.
Someone willing to defend the vulnerable.
Someone willing to proclaim Christ when others remain silent.
We must stop measuring destiny only in terms of personal advancement.
Sometimes your turning point comes when you realize that your life is not merely about you.
WE ARE CALLED TO PARTICIPATE IN CHRIST’S MINISTRY OF DELIVERANCE
Now I want to bring this teaching into the heart of the New Covenant.
Moses was called to lead Israel out of physical bondage in Egypt.
But through Jesus Christ, God has accomplished a deliverance far greater than the Exodus.
Colossians 1:13–14 teaches that the Father has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption and forgiveness.
Jesus Christ is the ultimate Deliverer.
He came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
He came to release those held in bondage to the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14–15).
He came to reconcile sinners to the Father through His death and resurrection.
And then He entrusted His Church with the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18–20).
Think about the significance of that!
We are not called merely to attend religious meetings, maintain traditions, and preserve institutions.
We are called to represent Jesus Christ in a world desperately needing His saving grace.
We are called to proclaim the gospel.
We are called to make disciples.
We are called to pray for the sick, care for the hurting, strengthen the weak, and proclaim freedom through Jesus Christ.
Not because we possess deliverance independently of Him.
Not because we can save anyone through our own authority.
But because the risen Christ has commissioned His people to participate in His work.
We are not the source of deliverance. We are servants of the Deliverer.
And I want to declare today that your life has kingdom significance.
Perhaps your assignment begins with your own household.
Perhaps God is calling you to intercede for a son or daughter who has wandered from Him.
Perhaps He is calling you to forgive someone you have resisted forgiving.
Perhaps He is preparing you to become a voice of truth and encouragement within your church.
Perhaps He is calling you into a ministry you never imagined.
Whatever the assignment, the foundation remains the same.
Jesus Christ must be Lord over all.
GIDEON: GOD’S CALL IN THE MIDST OF FEAR
Consider Gideon in Judges chapter 6.
Israel was suffering under Midianite oppression, and Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
When the angel of the Lord appeared, Gideon was hardly displaying the confidence we normally associate with a mighty deliverer.
He questioned his circumstances.
He questioned God’s apparent absence.
He questioned his own qualifications.
Yet the Lord commissioned him to deliver Israel.
The lesson is not that Gideon possessed extraordinary courage within himself.
The lesson is that God was able to work through someone who recognized his weakness.
How many believers are waiting until they feel completely fearless before they obey God?
How many are waiting until they believe they have enough resources, confidence, or approval?
I want to remind you that faith is not the absence of every fearful emotion.
Faith is learning to obey the Lord even when we recognize how desperately we need Him.
God did not call Gideon to accomplish deliverance independently.
He called Gideon to trust the One who had sent him.
And that same principle applies to us.
You do not need to become sufficient in yourself.
You need to become fully dependent upon Christ.
THE TURNING POINT DOES NOT ALWAYS LOOK LIKE YOU EXPECT
Let me take you into John chapter 5.
There was a man near the pool of Bethesda who had suffered from an infirmity for thirty-eight years.
Thirty-eight years!
Jesus approached him and asked whether he wanted to be made well.
The man explained his circumstances and his inability to reach the pool ahead of others.
But Jesus was not limited by the man’s circumstances.
He commanded him to rise, take up his bed, and walk.
And the man was healed.
After thirty-eight years, his condition changed through an encounter with Jesus.
Now, I want to handle this passage responsibly.
It does not teach that every believer who has suffered for many years will necessarily receive an immediate physical healing today.
But it absolutely reveals the authority and compassion of Jesus Christ.
It reminds us that no human limitation is beyond His power.
And it challenges the assumption that because something has remained unchanged for years, it must always remain unchanged.
Do not allow the length of your struggle to become the measure of God’s ability.
Keep your faith anchored in His character.
Keep bringing your needs before Him.
And remain open to the ways He may work, whether through miraculous intervention, gradual restoration, wise counsel, faithful endurance, or an unexpected open door.
SOMETIMES YOUR TURNING POINT BEGINS WITH REPENTANCE
There is another biblical turning point that I cannot overlook.
Saul of Tarsus.
In Acts chapter 9, Saul was not searching for a Christian ministry opportunity.
He was actively persecuting the Church.
Yet on the road to Damascus, the risen Jesus confronted him.
That encounter changed the direction of his life.
The persecutor would become a witness to the very Christ he had opposed.
But notice something important.
Saul’s turning point began with surrender.
It was not simply a promotion into greater influence.
It involved a complete transformation of allegiance.
The man who had opposed Jesus now belonged to Jesus.
And his future ministry would involve suffering, sacrifice, obedience, and perseverance.
This is where I want to speak directly to the modern Church.
We often want a turning point in our circumstances without allowing God to bring a turning point in our character.
We want breakthrough without surrender.
We want authority without humility.
We want anointing without consecration.
We want the promises of God while resisting the lordship of Jesus Christ.
But true destiny can never be separated from obedience to the One who calls us.
Sometimes the greatest turning point is not a new position, a new opportunity, or a visible miracle.
Sometimes it is the moment when we finally say:
“Lord, I surrender everything. My future, my desires, my fears, my disappointments, and even my understanding of what my destiny should look like.”
That surrender may become the beginning of a transformation greater than anything we had imagined.
YOUR DESTINY IS NOT LIMITED BY YOUR PAST
I want to return to Moses.
Think about the man standing before the burning bush.
He had a history.
He had failures.
He had spent four decades away from Egypt.
He was no longer the young man who had once lived in Pharaoh’s household.
Yet God called him by name.
“Moses, Moses.”
I love that!
God did not address him according to the accusations of his past.
He called him into the assignment that lay before him.
But before the commission came the command to remove his sandals, because he was standing on holy ground.
There is a divine order here.
Before Moses confronted Pharaoh, he encountered the holiness of God.
Before he exercised authority as God’s servant, he had to recognize the authority of the One who was sending him.
That order must never be reversed.
Our calling does not make us greater than others.
Our anointing does not excuse our behaviour.
Our spiritual authority is never permission to control, intimidate, or manipulate people.
We must first bow before the Lord whose name we proclaim.
The greater the assignment, the deeper our need for humility.
And perhaps that is one of the most important preparations of the wilderness.
God teaches us that we cannot accomplish His work without His presence.
THE TIME TO RESPOND IS NOW
I feel a deep urgency as I write these words.
Not an urgency to manufacture a breakthrough.
Not an urgency to force open a door that God has not opened.
But an urgency to awaken believers from spiritual resignation.
There is a difference between patiently waiting upon the Lord and surrendering ourselves to unbelief.
There is a difference between trusting God’s timing and deciding that nothing will ever change.
Some of you have stopped expecting God to work because disappointment has become familiar.
You still pray, but somewhere deep within your heart, expectation has weakened.
You still believe the Scriptures, but you no longer see how the promises of God could have any relevance to your present circumstances.
And I want to challenge that resignation today!
Remember Moses.
Remember Joseph.
Remember David.
Remember Esther.
Remember Gideon.
Remember Saul on the road to Damascus.
Their circumstances were different. Their assignments were different. Their journeys were different.
But in every case, God’s purposes were greater than the limitations that surrounded them.
And above them all stands Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
Our confidence is not in an appointed date we have invented.
Our confidence is in the faithfulness of the living God.
A PROPHETIC DECLARATION: YOUR TURNING POINT IS UPON YOU
And now I want to speak directly to those who have remained faithful through long seasons of waiting.
I believe the Holy Spirit is calling many to recognize that the wilderness is not their identity.
The disappointment is not their identity.
The rejection is not their identity.
The opposition is not their identity.
Your identity is found in Jesus Christ!
You belong to Him.
You have been redeemed by His blood.
You have been brought into His kingdom.
And you have been called to live as His representative in the earth.
I declare over you today that the enemy does not possess the authority to cancel what God has purposed.
I declare that discouragement does not have to silence your faith.
I declare that the failures of yesterday do not have to govern the obedience of tomorrow.
I declare that the Lord is able to restore hope where disappointment has taken root.
And I pray that, where God is opening a new season of opportunity, you will have the spiritual discernment to recognize it and the courage to obey.
Your turning point may begin with one act of obedience.
One conversation.
One decision to forgive.
One step of faith.
One renewed commitment to prayer.
One surrender of control.
One willingness to go where the Lord is sending you.
Remember, when Moses turned aside, he did not immediately understand everything that lay ahead.
He had not yet confronted Pharaoh.
He had not yet witnessed the plagues.
He had not yet stood before the Red Sea.
He had not yet seen Israel leave Egypt.
But he had encountered the living God.
And that encounter changed the direction of his life.
Do not despise the beginning of what God is doing.
Your first step may appear small, but obedience is never insignificant in the kingdom of God.
FINAL APOSTOLIC CHALLENGE: WILL YOU TURN ASIDE?
I want to close by asking you a question.
What is your burning bush?
What is God drawing your attention toward?
Is there something in Scripture He has been repeatedly bringing before you?
Is there a burden for someone that will not leave your heart?
Is there an area of disobedience He has been calling you to surrender?
Is there a door of faithful service that you have been afraid to walk through?
Or perhaps your turning point is simply rediscovering the presence of the Lord after years of spiritual weariness.
Whatever it is, do not become so occupied with your wilderness that you fail to recognize the One who meets you there.
The most important part of Exodus chapter 3 was not the bush.
It was not even the fire.
It was the revelation of the living God who declared Himself to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The God who had remembered His covenant.
The God who had heard the cries of His people.
The God who had come to deliver them.
And the God who said to Moses, “I will be with you.”
That is the heart of this message.
Your turning point is not ultimately about what you will accomplish. It is about what God will accomplish as you surrender yourself to Him.
And if you are eighty years old, like Moses, do not assume your useful years are behind you.
If you are in a prison of circumstances, like Joseph, do not assume God has forgotten you.
If you are hidden in a wilderness, like David, remain faithful.
If you are facing a defining decision, like Esther, have courage.
If you are afraid, like Gideon, trust the presence of the Lord.
And if your life needs a complete change of direction, remember Saul of Tarsus.
Our God is still able to transform lives!
MY PRAYER OVER YOU TODAY
Father, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, I lift before You every person reading this teaching.
You know the years they have waited.
You know the prayers they have prayed.
You know the tears they have shed in secret.
You know the promises they have held close to their hearts.
You know the battles that have exhausted them and the disappointments that have tested their faith.
And today, Father, I ask You to breathe fresh life into weary hearts.
Where there has been discouragement, restore hope.
Where there has been fear, establish courage.
Where there has been confusion, bring clarity through Your Word and Spirit.
Where there has been spiritual complacency, awaken hunger for Your presence.
And where You are calling Your children into new assignments, give them ears to hear and hearts that are ready to obey.
I pray for families to be restored, for prodigals to return to Christ, for broken relationships to be reconciled, and for those who are suffering to experience Your mercy and sustaining grace.
Raise up faithful men and women who will carry the gospel with humility, compassion, holiness, and courage.
Raise up servants who are more concerned about Your presence than their position.
Raise up believers who will not be governed by fear but will stand upon the truth of Your Word.
And above all, Lord Jesus, be glorified in everything that is accomplished.
I declare that our hope is not in human strength, human ability, or human recognition.
Our hope is in the Lord God Almighty, who remains faithful from generation to generation.
And to every person reading these words, I leave you with this final apostolic and prophetic challenge:
Do not spend the remainder of your life staring at the ashes of yesterday when God may be calling you to recognize the fire of His presence today.
Moses turned aside.
God called him by name.
And a new chapter in the history of Israel’s deliverance began.
YOUR TURNING POINT IS UPON YOU.
TURN ASIDE. HEAR HIS VOICE. SURRENDER YOUR HEART. OBEY HIS WORD.
YOUR WILDERNESS DOES NOT HAVE TO BE YOUR FINAL DESTINATION.
AND YOUR GREATEST ASSIGNMENT MAY STILL BE AHEAD OF YOU!
In the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Peter Nash
Fresh Oil & Fire Ministries
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