Welcome to Pamoja Podcast, the place where stronger
lives are built, faith is strengthened, hearts
are encouraged, and Christ -centered homes are
shaped through ordinary conversations that become
extraordinary encounters with God's truth. One
conversation, one story, one revelation at a
time. I'm your host, Barry Mwamba. And history
has always fascinated us. Generation after generation,
we write books about remarkable men and women.
We build museums in their honor. We produce documentaries
about their lives. We study their leadership.
We admire their courage. We celebrate their achievements.
Names like Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years
in prison before becoming the first democratically
elected president of South Africa. Abraham Lincoln.
who endured repeated failures, personal heartbreak,
and political defeat before leading his nation
through one of its darkest chapters. Winston
Churchill, whose years in political isolation
prepared him for the hour Britain needed him
most. Corey Ten Boom, whose imprisonment became
a testimony of forgiveness that continues to
inspire millions around the world. History remembers
their victories. History celebrates their influence.
History honors their legacy. But history often
forgets the fire. It remembers the throne, but
rarely the prison. It remembers the crown, but
rarely the cave. It remembers the applause, but
rarely the tears. It remembers the promotion,
but rarely the preparation. Yet if you carefully
study the lives of those who left a lasting mark
on the world, you begin to notice something remarkable.
Great influence is rarely born in comfort. Character
is rarely formed in convenience. Enduring leadership
is almost always forged in adversity. The question
is, why? Is it merely coincidence? that so many
lives of significance pass through seasons of
suffering before reaching seasons of influence?
Or is there a deeper principle, one that existed
long before history books were written, long
before leadership seminars were created, long
before psychologists studied resilience, and
long before the world gave it a name? Open the
scriptures. and an extraordinary pattern begins
to emerge. A young man named Joseph dreamed of
leadership, but before the palace, there was
a pit. Before the pit could be forgotten, there
was slavery. Before slavery ended, there was
false accusation. Before freedom arrived, there
was prison, and only after the prison came the
throne. David was anointed king. Long before
he ever wore a crown, between the anointing and
the throne stood giants, jealousy, betrayal,
wilderness, and caves. Moses carried a deliverer's
calling, but 40 years passed in a desert before
he ever stood before Pharaoh. Esther carried
the destiny of a nation, but first she lived
as an orphan, an exile. A young woman whose future
seemed hidden from everyone except God. Daniel's
road to influence passed through Babylon. Paul's
road to the nations passed through years of hidden
preparation. Peter's leadership was forged through
failure, brokenness, and restoration. And above
all, Jesus Christ, before receiving the name
above every name, walked the road to Calvary.
Do you see it? Different people. Different generations.
Different cultures. Different assignments. Yet
the same pattern. The throne never came before
the forge. Because throughout scripture, God
reveals something that changes the way we understand
our own lives. He is not merely interested in
giving people assignments. He is first committed.
to preparing the people who will carry them.
Perhaps that is why some of the darkest seasons
in the lives of God's people became the very
places where he was shaping them for something
they could not yet see. The prison was not separate
from Joseph's assignment. The wilderness was
not separate from Moses' calling. The cave was
not separate from David's kingdom. The cross
was not the end of Christ's mission. It became
the doorway through which redemption entered
the world. What if the fire you have been praying
to escape is the very place where God is preparing
you for your future assignment? What if your
greatest season of confusion is not evidence
that God has abandoned his purpose? but evidence
that He has already begun preparing you for it.
Today, we begin a journey through one of the
most beautiful, encouraging, and life -changing
patterns found in all of scripture. A journey
that will forever change the way you look at
trials, waiting, disappointment, and even your
greatest battles. Because if the Bible teaches
us anything, It is this, God never wastes the
forge, because he never wastes the assignment.
There is one question that has echoed through
every generation, a question whispered through
tears, asked in hospital rooms, spoken in lonely
prison cells, cried out in seasons of disappointment,
and repeated by countless believers who sincerely
love God, Lord. Why am I going through this?
Why the delay? Why the rejection? Why the misunderstanding?
Why the betrayal? Why the waiting? Why the fire?
If you have called me, why does the road seem
so difficult? If you are with me, why does it
feel like I am walking through darkness? Those
questions are not new. Joseph asked them. David
lived them. Jeremiah cried them. Job wrestled
with them even John the Baptist sitting in prison
sent messengers to Jesus asking Are you the one
who was to come or should we expect someone else?
Faithful people have always wrestled with difficult
seasons, but perhaps We have been asking the
wrong question Perhaps a question is not Lord.
Why am I going through this? Perhaps a question
should be Lord, what are you preparing me for?
That one question changes everything, because
God does not see our lives the way we do. We
measure our lives by events. God measures our
lives by preparation. We celebrate arrival. God
values formation. We become excited about platforms.
God is concerned about character. We pray for
promotion. God prepares us for responsibility
because God knows something we often forget.
An assignment is only as effective as the person
carrying it. The greatest danger is not receiving
an assignment too late. The greatest danger is
receiving it too early. Imagine placing the crown
of Israel on David's head the day Samuel anointed
him. He would have worn the crown without learning
humility, without learning dependence upon God,
without learning to forgive, without learning
to lead, without learning that victory belongs
to the Lord. The throne would have destroyed
the man. So God did not simply prepare a kingdom
for David. God prepared David for the kingdom.
The same was true for Joseph. Pharaoh needed
someone who could lead Egypt through the greatest
famine in history. But dreams alone do not prepare
a ruler. Knowledge alone does not prepare a ruler.
Even gifting alone does not prepare a ruler.
Character does. Wisdom does. Humility does. Faithfulness
does. Those qualities cannot be learned in comfort.
They are forged. Forged in places where no one
applauds. Forged in places where no one notices.
Forged in places where only God sees what he
is creating. And isn't that exactly how a blacksmith
works? He never places steel into the fire because
he hates the steel. He places it there because
he sees what the steel can become. The fire does
not create the vision. The fire reveals it the
hammer does not destroy the metal it shapes it
again and again and again fire pressure cooling
back into the fire more shaping more strengthening
until one day what entered the forge as ordinary
metal leaves carrying a purpose it could never
have fulfilled without the fire perhaps that
is why Peter writes Do not be surprised at the
fiery trial that has come upon you to test you
as though something strange were happening to
you. Peter knew he had lived it. The man who
once denied Jesus became the apostle who boldly
proclaimed Christ before kings and councils.
He too had been forged. Throughout scripture,
God never calls people because they are already
finished. He calls them and then he forms them.
He anoints them and then he prepares them. He
gives them a promise and then he builds the person
who can faithfully carry that promise. That is
why the distance between the promise and its
fulfillment is often called preparation and maybe
That is where some of you are today. You are
not being forgotten. You are not being abandoned.
You are not living through meaningless delays.
You are standing inside the forge. Not because
God is punishing you, but because God refuses
to send you into your future without first preparing
you for it. Because the God who prepares the
assignment always prepares the servant before
revealing the full weight of the assignment.
Now that we understand why God prepares His people,
another question naturally arises. How does He
do it? Why did Joseph need a prison, David a
cave, Moses a wilderness, and Esther an exile?
Were those painful seasons merely unfortunate
events? or were they carefully woven into God's
preparation? Let's open the scriptures and begin
with a young dreamer who thought his journey
to the throne would begin in a palace, but instead,
God led him to a pit. There is something fascinating
about the life of Joseph. Most people remember
the dreams, the colorful robe, the pit, the prison.
the palace, but I believe many people miss the
greatest lesson hidden within his story. Joseph's
life was never simply moving from one location
to another. God was moving Joseph from one version
of himself to another. When Joseph received the
dreams, he was only 17 years old. He was sincere.
He loved God. He possessed extraordinary favor.
He carried a divine calling, but although he
possessed the dream, the dream had not yet produced
the man. The assignment already existed. The
person was still being prepared. That changes
the entire story, because suddenly, the pit was
no longer simply a tragedy. It became the first
classroom. Slavery was no longer merely injustice.
It became another classroom. Potiphar's house
became another classroom. False accusation, another
classroom. Prison, another classroom. Every place
was teaching Joseph something Egypt never could.
Imagine if Joseph had become prime minister the
week after receiving the dreams. Would he have
understood broken people? Would he have learned
humility? Would he have resisted bitterness?
Would he have managed power wisely? Would he
have recognized that authority belongs to God?
Probably not. Because character cannot be downloaded.
It must be developed. And development takes time.
Sometimes more time than we would ever choose.
That is why Genesis never says, God abandoned
Joseph. In fact, the Bible repeatedly says something
remarkable. The Lord was with Joseph. Notice
where scripture says that, not only in the palace,
not only during promotion, not only after the
dreams came true. It says it in slavery. It says
it in prison. God's presence did not wait for
Joseph's promotion. His presence accompanied
Joseph through the preparation. That alone should
encourage someone listening today. Perhaps You
have mistaken the absence of promotion for the
absence of God. Joseph would tell you those are
not the same thing. Sometimes God is closest
in the very season where nothing around you appears
to be changing. Then there is another detail
that has always amazed me. Joseph never stopped
being Joseph. He served in Potiphar's house.
with excellence. He served in prison with excellence.
He interpreted dreams without demanding recognition.
He remained faithful when no one was watching.
That is one of the greatest marks of someone
being forged. Because faithfulness, that depends
upon recognition, is not yet mature. True faithfulness
continues, whether anyone applauds or not. Joseph
did not prepare himself for Pharaoh. He simply
remained faithful where God had placed him. And
one morning, everything changed. Not because
Joseph chased the throne, but because the throne
was finally ready for the Joseph. God had finished
preparing. Think about that. The palace was never
Joseph's miracle. Joseph had become the miracle.
The prison had already accomplished its purpose.
The forge had completed its work. And when the
moment came, God did not need years to elevate
Joseph. He did it in a single day. One moment,
Joseph was wearing prison clothes. A few hours
later, he wore Pharaoh's signet ring. One conversation,
one interpretation, one divine appointment. and
decades of preparation suddenly became visible.
Never confuse the speed of your promotion with
the length of God's preparation. He may prepare
you for years and then accomplish in one day
what no human effort could achieve in a lifetime.
That is how God works. He prepares quietly before
He reveals publicly. He builds deeply. Before
he elevates visibly he forges secretly before
he entrusts openly and perhaps that is why The
prison was never Joseph's greatest obstacle it
became the doorway to his future assignment Joseph
was not the exception. He was the pattern because
after Joseph God did exactly the same thing again
this time not with the prisoner but with a shepherd,
not in a prison, but in a wilderness, not before
Pharaoh, but before a giant. His name was David.
And once again, God would prove that before he
entrusts a throne, he first forges the heart
that will sit upon it. If Joseph had been the
only person who walked through the forge, perhaps
we could call his story an exception. But the
moment we continue reading the Bible, we discover
Joseph was never the exception. He was the pattern.
David was the same. Samuel poured oil upon his
head. God declared him the future king of Israel.
The assignment was announced, but the throne
did not immediately follow. Instead, God led
him back to the sheep. Think about that. Imagine
being anointed king, only to return to the same
field, the same sheep, the same ordinary responsibilities.
Nothing appeared to change, except David. Because
while everyone else was waiting for a king, God
was preparing one. The wilderness became David's
classroom. The lion was not simply an attack,
it was preparation. The bear, was not simply
another danger, it was preparation. Goliath was
not merely a battle, it was preparation. Even
Saul's jealousy became preparation. The caves
became preparation. The years of running became
preparation. David was learning how to trust
God when nothing around him made sense. He was
learning how to lead before anyone called him
king. He was learning how to worship while living
in uncertainty. He was learning how to spare
the very man who wanted to kill him. Because
one day, David himself would hold power and God
wanted to know what kind of king he would become.
The cave prepared the throne. Then comes Moses
raised in Pharaoh's palace, educated in Egypt,
strong, passionate. ready to deliver Israel,
at least according to his own understanding.
But God saw something Moses could not yet see.
He possessed passion. He lacked preparation.
One day, Moses tried to accomplish God's assignment
through human strength. The result was failure.
He fled into the wilderness. 40 years. 40 silent
years. 40 years. That must have looked like wasted
time, forty years, that probably appeared to
have buried his calling forever. Yet those forty
years were never wasted. The prince became a
shepherd. The confident man became the humble
servant who would later say, I am not able. The
man who once believed he was ready became the
man. God could finally send because God's assignments
are never carried by human confidence alone.
They are carried by people who have learned to
depend completely upon him. Then comes Esther,
an orphan living in exile, far from the promised
land. Nothing about her life suggested she would
influence an empire. Yet every hidden chapter
was moving her toward one unforgettable moment.
For such a time as this, Notice something. God
did not prepare Esther the day Haman issued his
decree. He had been preparing her long before.
The crisis arrived because that is how God works.
He prepares his servants before their assignment
arrives. Now step back and look at them together.
Joseph, David, Moses, Esther. Different stories,
different generations, different circumstances.
The same God, the same forge, the same preparation,
the same principle. God never prepared the assignment
first. He prepared the servant. And suddenly,
perhaps your own story begins to make a little
more sense. Maybe the waiting has not been punishment.
Maybe the delay has not been rejection. Maybe
the fire has not been abandonment. Perhaps. God
has been doing what he has always done, forging
his servant before revealing the full weight
of the assignment. As we close this first conversation,
I want to leave you with one thought. Stop asking,
Lord, when will my assignment begin? Perhaps
it already has. Perhaps the forge is the first
chapter of your assignment. Because every prison,
every cave, every wilderness, every season of
waiting, every misunderstood moment, every faithful
act that no one applauded may be part of God's
preparation for something you cannot yet see.
Never measure God's faithfulness by your current
location. Joseph measured it from the throne.
David measured it from the kingdom. Moses measured
it at the Red Sea. Esther measured it after a
nation was saved. And we measure it at an empty
tomb. Because the greatest forge in history was
never the prison. It was never the cave. It was
never the wilderness. It was a rugged cross outside
Jerusalem. When the world believed Jesus had
lost, God was accomplishing the greatest victory.
History would ever know, never judge, God's work
by Friday. He has already prepared Sunday, and
perhaps one day you will look back at the very
season you begged God to remove, only to discover
it was the place where He forged you for your
future assignment. As we close this first conversation,
one truth has become impossible to ignore. Joseph
was not the exception. David was not the exception.
They were part of a divine pattern, a pattern
that has echoed throughout the pages of scripture,
from Genesis to Revelation. Because before God
entrusts great assignments, he first forges his
servants. But Joseph's prison and David's caves
are only the beginning. There are still wildernesses
to explore, burning bushes, exiles, lion's dens,
fiery furnaces, prisons, storms, crosses, and
in every one of them, the same God is doing the
same work. Join me in our next conversation as
we continue uncovering this extraordinary biblical
pattern through the life of Moses, because what
looked like 40 years of silence was actually
40 years of preparation. The wilderness was never
the interruption of Moses' calling. It became
the forge of his future assignment. Until then,
remember this, God never wastes the forge, because
he never wastes the assignment.