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.”

COUNTING THE COST PART 2

A number of people assume that people they consider “spiritual” are not really “earthly” useful to them since they are full of the word of God. Such people tend to think that the word of God is only good to deal with “heaven or heavenly related matters” so that in their opinion, the word is unable to provide the guidance they require for daily living.  To them it is irrelevant in dealing with real challenges; when in reality they do not understand it and so, are unable to receive and/or apply the wisdom therein.

Luke 14: 31 “Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10, 000 could defeat the 20, 000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away.”

I am still writing today, about the wisdom of counting the cost. If we don’t learn to count the cost before actualizing our decisions, we would always appear to be in difficult situations and God would appear to be silent. The reason being that we would believe we have a spiritual problem, and some may truly have them, and so keep praying and casting out demons; when in reality, we should be praying for grace to be more responsible because the root cause of our problem would be our consistent refusal to count the cost of actualizing decisions or if you like, our recurring irresponsibility.

From what the above scripture says, you don’t go to war – spiritual or physical based on emotional reasons. You don’t fight with your friends or enemies just because you are angry. It is okay for example to be angry but don’t’ make a decisions to enter battle just because you are angry. You have to count the cost thinking about your options, the weight of your opponent and the consequences, whether you win or lose; before you make that decision. The same way we must count the cost before we commit to anything else particularly a lifelong thing.   

God is advising that notwithstanding the fact that you feel angry enough to fight, you have to be controlled enough to still think so that if you realize that your opponent is stronger, or much better prepared, withdraw from going into the battle. It is never too late to withdraw. Now sometimes, when we manage to withdraw from going into a battle, we think we have done our best because our egos already feel wounded that we had to withdraw. 

The scripture above suggest that even after you have withdrawn from the battle, you will then need to humble yourself further to pacify your opponent: you live to prepare to fight another day. However, a lot of us would insist on fighting and say that God has not told us to stop. Did He tell you to start in the first place? Usually, we are just making excuses for our pride. We even try to make people see that we have good reasons for electing to fight but this scripture does not say make your decision to fight based on the strength of your reasons. 

Whatever your reasons are for fighting, if you are prudent, you would foresee the consequences and then make up your mind whether or not you need to hide.  God does not need to speak again when the counsel is already made available in His word. Don’t deceive yourself by saying you did not hear God before you started out, He already spoke to you in His word.

COUNTING THE COST - PART 1

It is my firm belief that the bible is replete with counsel which if applied in life, would definitely make one very wise and successful. Unfortunately, to many believers, the bible remains a mystery: a book which we barely understand because we do not study it. Jesus explained to His disciples, that He spoke in parables so that some people will not understand so they do not receive the treasure hidden therein and reserved for believers. He said however, that the disciples ought to understand because the treasures in the bible are not hidden from them. 

Luke 14: 28 “For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?”

God is in this scripture admonishing us to count the cost before we take a responsibility or make actualize our decisions. Counting the cost includes thinking through the price you have to pay and the possible consequences of the decision. As believers, we need to do all the research necessary and consider the likely consequences of our actions. Very often, we don’t do this and attribute it all to faith which is usually a lie. What one tends to see, are reckless and irresponsible believers who would rather indulge self by doing whatever they feel like doing when they want to. Unfortunately, when they fail, they blame it on someone else and when there is no one to blame it on, they blame it on God or satan.

Also for those us that often leave things half done, never able to complete anything they start, the scripture is a testament to the fact that it is not a good way of life; and also that the reason that happens is that we did not count the cost in the beginning. In my environment, many of such cases are attributed to the influences of demonic forces. Whilst I agree that sometimes that is the case, it is not always so. If we would count the cost before we set out, the demons may be less able to win the victory over our lives since we may not start on a lot of things we take on and fail. This is wisdom which the bible says is better than weapons of war. Indeed form the tone of the scripture; it would appear that God is amazed when He sees anyone who starts construction without first checking to see if they have enough to complete it. 

Construction here could be anything from a business to marriage, pastoring a church etc. We need to be responsible enough to check that we have enough resources which would include education, money, Holy Spirit or whatever else you need for the particular thing you are building. If you don’t have enough then you must know what you need, how to get it and when to get it.  We have to be responsible. 

Luke 14: 20 “otherwise you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, there is the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!”

When we consistently are unable to complete the things we started, we give people room to make fun of us and we then complain that they are mean. It is not their fault; you gave them room to make fun of you and to hiss whenever your name is mentioned by leaving half-finished projects all over the place. God is saying if you don’t want them to do that to you, then you must begin to act responsibly.

ACTIONS AND CONSEQUENCES

Isn’t it interesting how believers like to abdicate responsibility and attribute every contrary circumstance to the “dealings of God”? Have you noticed that when we go through difficulties, it is often the “dealings of God”? Then we explain – “God is trying to make me a better person or bring me to the next level”. Whilst it is true that God does that from to time to time, very often, our difficult experiences are as a result of our actions or wrong decisions. There is a cost for every decision and it is wise to count that cost in the course of making decisions.

It is often easier and less painful to pass off experiences as “acts of God”. It sounds very spiritual when we explain it all away as difficulties permitted by God that we may “grow as believers.” Like I said earlier, God does allow such experiences sometimes like when the bible says Joseph was tried by the word of God. God allows them not because of what you did or did not do but because of that which God has called you to be and to do; the type of experiences described by the psalmist below:

Psalm 66: 10-12 “you have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver. You captured us in your net and laid the burden of slavery on our backs. Then you put a leader over us. We went through fie and flood, but you brought us to a place of great abundance.”

However, as believers we must not forget that decisions/actions have consequences and the fact of your being saved may not deliver you from the consequences of bad decisions. Only the mercy of God can do that and the scriptures tell us that it is God’s prerogative to elect whom He chooses to show mercy. We cannot make bad decisions and expect good to come out of it. Of course God allows us learn lessons too from the consequences of our bad decision but not because He brought on the circumstance: but because in His goodness, He is causing all things to work together for our good as the scriptures say.

Galatians 6: 4 “Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.”

This is why we are admonished to count the cost of our decisions. If the cost is too high, it is okay to amend the decision. Even when you already started to actualize it, you can stop. You may think people will laugh at you but the pain you suffer if you carry on in your error will be worse.

Do not be deceived, actions do have consequences. Can you imagine that Sarah would have said that the pain she bore from the presence of Hagar and Ishmael in her life was “God’s dealings” in her life? Certainly not! It is the consequence of a decision she made long time ago. Or Joseph referring to his brother’s dislike of him as “God’s dealing’s” after foolishly telling all those dreams suggesting they would be enslaved to him? Bad decisions from which I believe they both learnt lessons.

When the consequences of our decisions hurt deeply, then we may have to make other painful decisions to ameliorate the damage. If you keep blaming it on God, you may never see the opportunity He has created to ameliorate the damage and go forward. Be true to yourself  –is that problem you or God?

SELF RESTRAINT IS VITAL FOR SUCCESS

Let me open with this remark – “You are in the world but not of the world”. This is a direct quote from Jesus discussion with His disciples. We, born again believers and disciples of Jesus, are definitely not of the world though we live in the world; so that we operate by a different set of rules and code of conduct for we are the light of the world.

Proverbs 29: 18 “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint: but happy is he who keeps the law.”

To be effective as light, we are compelled to be restrained /controlled. Unbelievers cannot be compelled to be restrained since it takes knowledge of God revealed to our spirit man by the Holy Spirit, to be restrained. Unfortunately, we are determined to operate like they do and yet claim to be light. There is now no limit to which a believer can go to get what they want. There is no balance to anything we do. We are excessive in everything and have become ostentatious. We are unrestrained and unable to control ourselves yet the bible admonishes us repeatedly to be self-controlled.

1 Peter 1: 5 “Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

It is sad that despite knowing that we exist in the midst of enemies, we have gone wild thereby suffering self-inflicted defeat in the midst of our enemies who are amused at the mess we are making of ourselves. They look at us, laugh, and then say “and they say they are Christians.” We can pretend like they don’t know what they are saying and deceive ourselves all we like, making all the excuses in the world but we know the truth deep down- we have become totally unrestrained.

Exodus 32: 25 “Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get completely out of control, much to the amusement of their enemies.

 Just like the Israelites we have built golden calves of ourselves and idols of “things” and “people” to whom we now bow instead of our God. Also, uncovering our shame and nakedness in the process; thereby putting ourselves in captivity, completely bound and controlled by the dictates of the world. If we must walk in victory, we must learn to be restrained by the word of God.

Proverbs 29: 18 “when people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild.” 

For how much longer are you going to remain in ignorant bliss? You that deceives yourself and says, “I don’t want to know more about God so I can continue living the way I want to live. If I know more, it will put me under condemnation.” I hate to say this but you are not wise, the price you pay is too high. 

Proverbs 28: 9 “one who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.”

Ask yourself – are you a wild grape? If your answer is yes, you can do something about it today.

TAKE YOUR EYES OFF YOUR “SELF"

There is no doubt that God’s word is “ye and amen. We serve a God that cannot lie. The bible says it is impossible for Him to lie. So knowing all of this, why do we as born-again believers often have no faith or why does our faith level fluctuate so badly so often? Indeed it wavers so badly that sometimes we have made decisions that have destroyed others, hurt us and even ended a life: all because we were in the “lows” of our faith yet we study the word and worship Him seriously and often.

I have realized that we are very confident when our eyes are on Jesus. As we look on Him, we see His power and ability to do whatever He has said. There must also be power flowing from Him which we receive just by setting our eyes on Him. No wonder God said to Joshua not to let the words of the law depart from before his eyes; so that he could have good success. The word of the law is the book of life which is also Jesus Christ. That must also have been the reason Peter told the beggar at the beautiful gate to look on them as they prayed for his healing and he was healed. As he looked upon them, he must have seen the power of Jesus as it flowed from them. However, when our eyes are turned on us, we see ourselves thereby shortening our sight and making it impossible for us to have good success.

Success is different from good success. Good success is when one attains to the very height that God destined for that person and that requires faith and vision is very important for faith. Obviously, we can’t succeed beyond what our spiritual eyes see. The truth is that very few believers will deliberately set out to see self; seeing as that we know the consequences. It is for several different reasons that we take our focus off Jesus. It is true that some of us are downright selfish and others are proud and arrogant; but for some others it could be the fact that people always take advantage of them or do hurtful things to them making it necessary for them to protect themselves thereby setting their eyes on “self”. Whilst we should love ourselves, I feel an urgent need to sound a note of warning because “self-love” can easily become a tool in the hand of satan to drive us to the place where our vision is shortened thereby ensuring that we are unable to attain to the fullness of who God made us to be.

Romans 12: 3NKJ “for I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think”

Of course there will always be reasons and arguments for our stance but they are all excuses. We must learn that the fact that we have reasons for doing whatever we do does not make it right. You may have thought it through logically before you arrived at a decision and yet you arrived at the wrong decision. Any decision that ends up making you the object of your focus will eventually get you into trouble. It is true that we should love ourselves but enough to submit to God. Take your eyes off self and even off others and set them on Jesus if you must attain to the heights that God has called you to. The only reason Peter could walk on water was because his eyes were on Jesus.

Isaiah 5: 21 “what sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.”

If your eyes remain on you long enough, you will see yourself bigger and smarter than all: though that may not have been your objective in the beginning. Is that what you want?

WHO TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS?

It is interesting that believers hardly take responsibility for things we do wrong. In my opinion, it suggests a measure of irresponsibility. It is often either the devil’s fault or another person’s fault. What about you? You have the final say in any thing you do or decision you make. We have gone too far with this attitude and it is costing us. How can you ever make corrections that will lead you in the right direction if it is never your fault that anything went wrong? Indeed there is a new thing – “it is God’s fault”. Blaming God is a new one, it is done subtly and in the most spiritual way – “the Lord did it so I can learn something from it”. No! He didn’t. Your wrong decisions brought it upon you but the Lord in His mercy will cause it to somehow work for your good.

1 Corinthians 3: 18 “stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by the world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise.”

I like the saying – “to thyself, be true”. It is time we begin to tell ourselves the truth otherwise we break a hedge that eventually gives the devil room into our lives. We must carefully evaluate every situation with a view to making required corrections that we may go forward in life. I am by no means suggesting we blame ourselves for everything, that is another extreme; neither am I suggesting we make our lives hell because we made mistakes; no! The thing is to correct one’s self and then move forward.

We need to ask ourselves the critical question – would I have gotten a different result if I had acted differently? If the answer is yes, then you owe it to yourself to accept some responsibility for what happened. How can anybody change anything when they always blame somebody else for whatever wrong they do? We need to correctly and sincerely evaluate situations so we can see our errors and correct them. It is our responsibility to ensure that we are transformed: changed to align with the word of God.

Romans 12: 2a “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”

It always takes our faith being tested for us to know whether or not we are changing; why blame the other parties when you are the pot on the potter’s wheel. If you don’t see that those are the potter’s instruments to smoothen the pots and make it more beautiful, then you will keep fighting and blaming them for your pain. The instrument used to take out the rough edges of cake before it is iced is not the cake’s problem though it is the instrument inflicting the pain; there is a baker controlling it. So why blame it? Maybe if you were a bit more calm and patient, the smoothening will pass quickly and you can move on to the next level. But how will you ever stay calm when all you are doing is blaming the instrument through the process? If the cake is not properly smoothened, when iced, it will look terrible. Is that what you want? There is no doubt it is painful but there is an end in sight

Psalm 60: 8a “But Moab, my washbasin….”

So knowing that the knife is like Moab, a washbasin, are you ready to quit blaming others and evaluate situations correctly?