This message was shared by Apostle Kathryn Krick, Lead Pastor/Apostle of 5F Church in Los Angeles, on February 15, 2026. To watch the full video, scroll to the bottom of this post. We pray this teaching blesses you and equips you to walk as a powerful vessel of God. 

God has made you promises. He has given this church promises. He’s given us, His children, promises. And there is a promised land where we will see these promises come to pass, up ahead. That’s where we’re going. We are on our way to the promised land. We all have different promised lands, different things God has promised us uniquely, but also for us as a revival army, and for the body of Christ. A couple of months ago, I shared the vision that God has given us at 5F Church: Catching the Vision. In that message I shared this amazing, massive vision that God has given us at 5F Church and for the global revival around the world. It is a massive vision. It is beyond my dreams and expectations, and I’m sure it’s probably beyond yours as well. We are not in that promised land yet. As I shared many times, we have just seen a small percentage of the revival God has in store. Revival is now! We are truly in revival. But we have just seen a small percentage of the magnitude of that revival that God has in store in terms of the amounts of people that will come into this revival, into this church, and the doors that God will open for us to have dominion on this earth: in media, a church building, for example. It’s a massive vision that we have not reached yet, but we are on our way. 

Whenever there is a promise, that means that there is also a wilderness—not in the sense of being constantly stuck in a cave like David, or like the children of Israel outside in the wilderness—but wilderness meaning the journey. The children of Israel went through the wilderness to get to the Promised Land. They went on a journey. They had to pass through a journey that included trials and obstacles and dry parts. 

Whenever there is a promise, there is a road to get there—a wilderness journey to the promised land. The only way there—the path to get there—is the wilderness. That’s the road we have to take. There isn’t another road. 

It took 40 years for the Israelites to get to the Promised Land. That was their road, and it took 40 years.

Deuteronomy 1:2

It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-Barnea.

That was only part of the path, but it was not supposed to take 40 years. It was supposed to take much less time than that to get there, not even a year! That didn’t mean that they went forwards and then backwards; it means they walked in circles. God knew they needed time to get Egypt out of them and that they needed time to be able to handle the promise that He was going to give. So in His goodness, He had them go in circles. He took them around and around until they were finally ready and had gotten Egypt out of them, even though there were only two of them left.

Deuteronomy 1:6 

The Lord, our God, said to us in Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain.”

Finally, when it was God’s timing, God saw, “You have stayed here long enough. Now it is time for you to step into the Promised Land.”

Jesus’ assignment was to deliver the people and to bring salvation to the people in the world. But He didn’t immediately start ministering to people and go to the cross. He first went to the wilderness. That was the road to get to His promise. 

Matthew 3:16-17; 4:1

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened to Him and He saw the spirit of God ascending like a dove and coming to rest on Him, and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” 

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Right after God says, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased,” He then leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 

If you are pleasing to God, He will lead you into the wilderness. It is God's love to take you through the wilderness. And God can never give you something that you can’t overcome. What many people don’t understand is that it’s because you are making God proud, because you have grown, that God has now lead you into a wilderness season. He sees that you are ready to go to the next level. He sees your heart, that you’re ready to obey Him in a way you have never before, in a way that is more difficult. He sees you’re ready for a test now—a new test, a harder test. He knows you will pass it because He sees your heart, your obedience, what you’ve done, and your faithfulness. 

These tests that we go through are always for our good. Through every test, God molds us more and stretches us more. It’s supernatural. It’s how you become more like Jesus—by persevering through the tests and the trials, and by being stretched. You have to work out a muscle for it to grow. So how you become more like Jesus is by persevering through trials. 

That is what we want more than anything, right? To become more like Jesus! And that is what God wants more than anything—that we would become more like Him. As you and I become more like Jesus, it translates to more souls coming into the Kingdom. Because people come out of darkness and into the light when they see the light. And we are the light of the world with Jesus shining through us. The more we are like Jesus, the brighter we shine, the more impact we have in the Kingdom of God, and the more people in darkness will be able to see Jesus.

We should really carry that in our hearts: “I must be more like Jesus.” If you have this heart for souls, even if it’s your own family members that you’re thinking of so much—when you’re thinking you want them to come into the Kingdom and know Jesus, then you must also desire to become more like Jesus, which means you also must be okay to go through trials. You must not dread the wilderness, but embrace it. 

Matthew 4:1

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Even Jesus had to go through this. Jesus was perfect, but God still took Him into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. We have to humble ourselves. Sometimes we think we've gone through enough. Sometimes we can think, “I already went through the wilderness.” 

I’ve been there. I’ve that way sometimes. I've thought, “I already went through four and a half years. I already passed that. I’m good now, right?” 

But the greater the promise, the longer the road to get there. 

This is something that has personally been tough sometimes for me. I remember waiting for revival to break out, but our church was getting smaller and smaller—from twenty to fifteen to ten to five to two, over about four years. And then revival broke out, and the walls of Jericho came down. My spiritual father, Prophet GeorDavie, would tell me, “The bigger the skyscraper and the taller the building, the deeper the foundation must be.” So, I reminded myself of that as I took that journey in the wilderness, as I just hungered to see revival break out, as I just hungered to see people fill up the seats that we would put down and always have to pick back up again every Sunday. I would hunger. Then as we got smaller for four years, I would renew my mind: “Right now, God is building the foundation. You’re in the wilderness, where He is building the foundation. You can’t see the foundation—it’s underground. You’re doing the underground work right now. But it’s needed, because it’s a massive building that God is building: the house of God, His revival. So you have to go through it. It’s worth it!”

I lived in North Hollywood during that time, from 2017 until revival broke out in 2021. Most of the time that I was there, there was an apartment building that was being built and it took, I think, more than a year just for the foundation to be built. I would drive by it every day and I would renew my mind, “It takes longer than I thought, but it’s okay. It’s okay! God’s plans are perfect! And it’s worth it!” 

God has called you to a bigger calling than you know, than you expect. For us at 5F Church, He’s called us to a bigger promised land than we can fathom. But that means we have to go on a journey to get there. We have to go through trials, not just one time, but multiple trials, that’s where God builds that foundation deep, so that it's strong and it cannot be shaken by anything. 

When Jesus went into the wilderness, it says,

Matthew 4:2-11

After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry and the tempter came and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread,” but He answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took Him to the Holy City and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’” Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and he said to Him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan, for it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’” Then the devil left Him and behold, angels came and were ministering to Him.

This was not easy. This was not fun. And He hadn’t eaten for 40 days when He’s going through all of this. The devil was speaking to Him, and it was just him in the wilderness with the devil. In one of the Gospels, it actually says, “The devil left Him for a time.” 

There was a specific season, led by the Holy Spirit, for Jesus to be tempted and tested, but it was temporary. You have to pass the test. It’s not fun, and it's not comfortable. The enemy is literally attacking you, lying to you, speaking gross things to you, but God is giving you what you need to overcome. He knows that you have already become more like Him, and you can now trust Him. You can discern the devil’s lies, and you can do what He has taught you to do, trained you to do—to walk in your authority, to reject the devil, and to keep your faith. And then you pass that test and it’s done! The devil leaves. 

After this, Jesus then went to minister, and He saw people healed, delivered, and saved. It says, “The devil left Him for a time.” So the devil then came back again to tempt him again: when Jesus had to rebuke the devil speaking through Peter and He said, “Get behind me Satan.” God allowed it for another testing time, and He passed that test and He went to the next level. And again the devil left Him for a time. 

On our journey to the promised land, it’s a wilderness—we still have to go through trials sometimes. Sometimes you can pass one wilderness season, and then you’re in the promised land of some sort; but you're still believing in other promises, and you can forget that you’re still on the road to the promise. Sometimes there are pot holes in the road. Sometimes it gets hot and dry on the road. Sometimes it’s testing time. Because when you have Jesus in your life and you have His power, His anointing, in your life, life is full of peace and joy and abundant life. The devil is under your feet every day, and you’re walking in victory every day. But that doesn’t mean that the devil is just completely gone out of your life forever. That doesn’t happen until we die. We’re in a spiritual war, and God uses what the devil intended for evil for our good. God uses the devil’s attacks when God ordains it to be testing time; God uses it for our good every time. That’s why we don’t despise the spiritual battle. We live in this world, and we know we have victory every day. We know that every time, what the devil intended for evil, God will use for good! We know that! So that’s why we don’t despise being in a spiritual war. We don’t get annoyed by it, when we have the right spiritual eyesight and perspective. Because this is the truth: we always have victory, and God is always using it for our good. But truly, life in the anointing is heaven on earth. But we can’t be sleeping. Because it’s like heaven on earth, but then all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit can lead you into the wilderness. You may think, “What’s going on?” Life doesn’t feel the same. Sometimes you might even feel, "What's wrong with me? What’s going on? I don’t feel as joyful. All of a sudden, I’m having these negative thoughts. But I know life is good. I know I’m blessed. I don’t know what’s going on with these negative thoughts.” Wake up. You’re in a spiritual war! There are going to be testing times. This is testing time. Sometimes the enemy will just want to lie, lie, lie and bring negative words. He’ll suddenly want to bring this dark perspective. And God will allow it sometimes. This is what happened with Job. God allowed it, but only for a time. And then the time of the tempting had to end. And God lifted Job so high, so much higher than he was already lifted before, with so many blessings.

We’re all in this revival army together, so sometimes we’re all going through it together. It’s testing time all together because God wants to lift the church at one time. We’re all part of the church—we're one, just like the Israelites when they were together in the wilderness. They were being tested and tried with the same things at the same time. They were passing by the same mountain at the same time. They entered the Promised Land at the same time. 

This is a prophetic message. I know some of you need this reminder. This is the importance of being planted at a church and coming every Sunday, because otherwise the devil can sweep you away. You can be just blindsided, but this is your reminder. We’re in a spiritual war. There are going to be testing times sometimes, and for many of you, it might be right now. This might be the season for another test that is coming to an end as you persevere through it, and after that, you’re going to the next level. We’re going to the next level. Reward is coming. It’s just like in school: at the end of the year, you take a test. At least that’s how it was in my home state of New York. We had to take a test before we could go to the next level. You have to be able to pass the tests at the end of the year to advance to the next grade or else you have to repeat again. When you see you’re being tested, it means God wants to advance you. 

You need the wilderness and the testing because the promised land is a big shift. You can’t really understand now how much you need those tests that you’re going through. You can’t understand; you can only believe. Because once you step into the promised land, it’s a different life. It’s so different. God knows how to prepare you and mold you for a drastic change and shift. Think about the Promised Land: when the walls came down, it was a completely different life. That’s how it was for me once revival broke out. I went from being home all the time, editing videos, preparing the messages, making some posts on social media for the ministry, and then ministering on Fridays and Sundays. That was my life pretty much for four years. I was hardly traveling. I would go to Tanzania to receive more from my spiritual father, and I would go see my family maybe once a year. Many times I wouldn’t even go home. I was home all the time, serving God, editing, not juggling so many things. And then in one day, everything changed when revival broke out. 

A couple of months after revival broke out, I was traveling every single week for three and a half years, except for three weeks of the year. Every week, I was traveling to different cities, states, and nations. In 2022, I traveled to twelve nations, and I was back to minister on Sundays. Do you know how much of a change that is? It’s taking on so much more than I ever had. I went from shepherding a couple of people to uncountable thousands around the world and about three hundred in LA, overnight. And that wasn’t all. On top of shepherding, I was ministering around the world, and then all of a sudden, the devil got really angry and persecution hit beyond what I could imagine. But all through that persecution, I experienced attacks beyond what I could imagine; it was very difficult. But through it all, God was calling me to go full speed ahead. I was just less than a year into ministering wildly all over the world, taking on so much, and all of this persecution came in a hugely public way. People made up lies about me; they said all sorts of disgusting things, like they had said about Jesus: “You’re from the devil. You’re using demonic powers.” So I was dealing with that, on top of taking on all of this ministry and the responsibility of shepherding souls overnight. 

Thank God, God knew what to do to prepare me for that. Thank God He took me through some difficult times with the church getting smaller and smaller. Thank God he took me through betrayals and people mistreating me and speaking lies about our ministry. I had already dealt with things like that and overcome, glory to God, with God’s strength and because of my spiritual father constantly encouraging me, building me up, and prophetically guiding me through that. Thank God I went through those four and a half years of going through hard things. Thank God I went through seeing those empty chairs as I ministered and holding back tears but still keeping on going. Thank God, because I needed that to be able to handle the promised land and the big shift that comes in the promised land.  

I could never have imagined that things would change so drastically, in a heartbeat. I could never have imagined that God was going to entrust me with so much overnight. I could never have imagined I was going to be traveling to twelve different nations and states every single week except for three weeks that first year and come back and minister every Sunday. And do livestreams on top of that, and then deal with persecution like I never imagined. That would have been so daunting if I had thought about that before. 

I share this with you so you can understand more of the goodness of God—of why you're not there yet, of why we’re still on the road. Because if we do not go through these trials, where God changes us, molds us, makes our faith to grow bigger in Him, gives us patience, makes our hearts more pure, and makes us more surrendered and obedient, more humble—if we do not go through those trials that produces that fruit in our lives—we won’t be able to handle the promise. We will blow it. That’s the truth. God knows that without this, we will blow it! We can’t do it! What He’s calling us to is big: to take dominion for Him! To give us land for us to take dominion over. To be leaders in the body of Christ, in His revival. It’s so big. So we all need to go through trials. We have to be refined. So let’s humble ourselves to know that we need more. Jesus went through the wilderness. Let’s humble ourselves. We need more molding. 

I want to give you some insight on this journey in the wilderness on the road to the promise. When I say we need the wilderness, I don’t mean that we are exactly like the children of Israel. We are walking in the promises of God in many areas already! But we are not there yet. We are on the road, and sometimes we pass through trials on that road. The Israelites were going around in circles. They were passing by the same stone, the same tree, the same mountain. And that’s what happens for us, too. We can think, “I passed this trial before; now I’ve got to do the trial again. I passed this before, where the devil came with these lies. I passed that before, and it’s happening again. This looks familiar.” That’s how it is.

The trials that God brings, He allows for our good. Sometimes those trials may be similar ones. But we get stronger as we go through them again. You may think you’re back at square one, but you didn’t go backwards. This time, do you see how you’re responding to this trial? Do you see how you’re overcoming it more quickly than you did in the past? You’ve already grown! That’s a gift. God can show you how you’ve grown. 

So when you find that happening, when you find a similar battle that you already went through in the past—maybe one year, three years, five years ago—and you find it’s so similar, you can know and be encouraged that this is just like the Israelites. In year 38, they were 38 years closer to the Promised Land than when they first passed that mountain. You see? You’re closer. It’s not that you went back in time and you restarted just because this trial seems similar. You're closer. You’re getting there!

Trials are a sign of forward movement. Today, God is changing your perspective on trials. 

This is David speaking when he was in the wilderness, on his road to the promise of being anointed king:

Psalm 43:1-2 

Vindicate me, my God, and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation. Rescue me from those who are deceitful and wicked. You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?

Put yourself in Jesus’ shoes when He’s in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. You’d probably be having thoughts like, “Father, you just said that I’m your beloved son, beloved daughter, and now I’m here. Why have you rejected me? I heard your voice so clearly before. I felt your presence so near me before. I felt you smiling upon me before but now I’m in the dry wilderness and I hear the devil speaking in my ear. Why have you rejected me?” It was the goodness of God that He was led into the wilderness. God didn’t reject Him. 

But you see, we can have these thoughts. The enemy can send these thoughts sometimes when we’re in the wilderness: “Where is God? Why is God allowing this? I thought He was proud of me. This doesn’t feel like He’s proud of me. I’ve been being obedient, but is this a punishment?” No! This is His love. This is His goodness to advance you to the next level. 

Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?

In the wilderness, Jesus was constantly hearing the devil speaking to Him. The devil's voice was loud! And on top of that, Jesus hadn’t eaten for 40 days. So this felt like He was oppressed by the enemy.  

You’re not oppressed by the enemy because you’re going through a trial. This is just God allowing this attack for your good. It’s temporary. 

Psalm 43:3-4 

Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

David spoke to his soul. He reminded himself of God’s perspective on things. And this is what you must do. The words that David was speaking at first—“Why have you rejected me?”—were feelings that you can have when you’re in a trial. They are lies the devil can send when you’re going through trials. But what you need to do is what David did when he said. “No, I’m not going there. I’m not going to go down this rabbit hole of these negative thoughts the devil wants me to think. I’m putting a stop to this, and I’m speaking to my soul right now. Soul, get in line with my spirit, which is submitted to the Holy Spirit. Get in line. Why are you downcast? God is so good.” Look at how God has blessed you. Look at the promises that have already come to pass in your life. Look at the things that you used to pray for, where you used to think, “If only I could have this, I could wait forever for the other promises. And then God gave it to you.

Renew your mind with the truth! Renew your mind that you’re blessed! You’re so blessed! You’re too blessed to be impatient. You’re too blessed to be thinking negatively. You’re too blessed to compare yourself to others, to what they have and to what you don't have. You’re too blessed to be entitled, to be thinking, “But God, I’ve been waiting for so long. I’ve done so many things. Can’t I deserve this now? Is it time yet?” You’re too blessed to be entitled, because we shouldn’t be entitled to anything. We shouldn’t be even entitled to live. We didn’t do anything to deserve to live, to have breath in our lungs, to have loved ones in our lives, to have the job that we have, to have a roof over our head, to have food to eat. We haven’t done anything to deserve these things. It's only God’s grace and love that we have these things. You’re too blessed to not be content in the waiting, in the wilderness. Speak to your soul. Renew your mind. Go and count your blessings one by one, all day, all night, for weeks if you have to. Do what you need to do to renew your mind to get your soul to come in alignment with your spirit. Renew your mind with the revelations God has given you. Maybe you’re dealing with condemnation. Maybe you’re dealing with thoughts that God is not proud of you, that you’re not doing good enough. Maybe God has revealed the truth to you in the past—how the devil’s a liar in that area. Renew your mind to what God has revealed to you. He doesn’t want to baby you. He doesn’t want you to need encouragement. He wants you to remember what He’s already revealed to you so you can become stronger; so you can be one that’s constantly able to help others instead of needing help from others. He’s called you to be a leader. And that includes Him not babying you. 

My spiritual father reveals God’s heart so much in that regard. He doesn’t baby me. And there have been times I’ve wanted him to baby me. We all want to babied sometimes when we’re going through hard things, but he’s never babied me. He calls me higher. You need to be stronger. You need to be even more firm in the truth of who you are in Christ, of who God says you are, of how much God loves you, and what He says about your future. You need to be even more firm in your faith of who God is, that He is always victorious in your life! You need to be even more firm in your faith, that He will defend you, that He will vindicate you, that He will defeat every giant, every enemy, and bring you victory. You need to be even more firm in your faith. So as you go through this trial again, you deal with the negative thoughts. You reject them, you go to work! It’s not time to be babied; it’s time to grow up because God is calling you higher. Your fath is big, but it needs to get bigger! 

You need to deserve the promised land. Sometimes, that can be a hard word. You can think, “I haven't done enough yet to deserve it? What am I missing?” But it’s not that. It’s that what God has called you to is so big—and yes, your faith is big; it’s bigger than most. Your humility is beautiful; more beautiful than most. But God wants it to be even bigger because what He's calling you to is that big. God wants you to start seeing with a different perspective, the bigness of what He’s calling you to, and that you need to go higher still. Don’t rush the promised land. Don’t settle for less than God's best. Don't settle for a smaller promised land. Say yes and amen to God’s perfect ways, His process—to this road, this journey to the promised land. It’s worth it. It’s worth it going through everything. It’s worth it. 

I want to encourage you to fight to have the right perspective. FIGHT to always see rightly: “God knows what He's doing. God knows best. I want it to be time, but it’s not God's timing yet and I want God's best. God, your way is best!” Fight for the right perspective, and don’t give in to the temptation of complaining. You don’t want to regret how you behaved through the trials when you get to the promised land. When you get to the promised land, you will say, “Oh yes, I needed that, and that was the goodness of God that I went through all of that.” So live in that truth right now. You’re going to have to be diligent to renew your mind, to look at your blessings, to the truth of who God is, of what He has revealed to you about who He is and His truths. Your soul will have to submit to your spirit, and you will find contentment. You will find joy. You will find peace on the journey to the promised land!

So don’t sleep anymore. If you're going through something funky or different or difficult, don’t let the devil take you down a rabbit hole of lies. Realize, “It’s testing time! That’s what this is. There is nothing wrong with my heart.” You can start thinking negatively, but it’s because the devil is taking shots at you. You are still that beautiful, joyful person who has a pure heart, who is grateful to God, who is humble. That’s you—you’re just going through a test. Be aware! Know what’s going on so you’re not fooled, and so you can persevere and be victorious. 

Let’s go, warriors of God! Let’s be STRONG! Let’s be STRONG for our Jesus! Come on! Let’s grit for Jesus! Let’s ROAR! Let’s be STRONG warriors, no longer wimpy. We are STRONG. We are more than conquerors, and we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength (Philippians 4:13).Thank you, Jesus. Praise God! 

Thank you, Lord, for your encouragement! God will send angels to minister to you. You’ve been ministered to today. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He needed angels to minister to Him. God is so good. He ministers to you. Thank you, God, for ministering to us. Thank you for restoring our joy, our strength, and our peace.