Tuesday 17 July 2012

TIMES AND SEASONS


Daniel 2: 20 “Praise the name of the God forever and ever, for He has all wisdom and power. He controls the course of world events”

The Webster’s dictionary describes time amongst other things, as an appointed fixed or customary moment for something to happen or the point/period when something occurs. It also likens time to a season. All these describe “course of events” which God controls. Time is absolutely controlled by God. It only stops when God says so. As time moves, so seasons change; the same set of seasons over and over again (winter, summer etc.), but a past season can never be regained; it is gone for good. Though it is summer again, it can never be the same as the past summer so we must spend our time wisely.


Ecclesiastes 3: 1 “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.”

Apparently, in setting the course of a man’s life, God works with time and/or seasons.  He appoints a time and season to everything that should happen in the course of a man’s life leading up to the fulfillment of his destiny. Though God sets these times and seasons in the spirit, they are expressed in the physical so that a man who allows himself to be led by God should naturally align with the times God has set in place for him. When the cup of the Amorites was full, it was time for God to respond to the cry for deliverance of the Israelites who were in bondage. If Israel had chosen instead to remain in Egypt, God would not have forced liberty on them since He leaves us with the power to make our choices but they would have missed their time for deliverance. We need to be sensitive to the timing of God for our lives so that we do not miss out. 

Sometimes, satan wants to make us miss our season by doing everything possible to frustrate us so that our timing is out of sync with God’s proposed timing for us. He knows that if God purposes a thing and we are in consonance with Him, it will surely happen. So he either tries to create delays or cause us to move before our time. If it happens before its time, it is not fulfilling and ugly.  I heard Bishop Jakes say that though pregnancy is a good thing, it does not look good when a 13year old girl gets pregnant. I agree with this analogy. If he succeeds in slowing us down, it is also not as fulfilling as it should; it loses its beauty and the joy is no longer as it should be. 

He can use anything from spiritual/physical giants to our weaknesses like procrastination etc. If we are sensitive enough to discern the times, then we must fight with all we have to ensure we get all that is ours in each season. This warfare is primarily spiritual and the weapons of our warfare are not only spiritual but they are also mighty. Like Daniel when the prince of Persia was delaying answers to His prayers, we must learn to tarry in the place of prayer until we take what is ours.  

It is true that if there is a delay, it is not as fulfilling as it ought to be; but when the delay is permitted by God, it is okay because He has the power to make all things beautiful in its time.
Ecclesiastes 3: 11 “yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.”

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