Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8,
‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.’
To know the times and seasons of the Heartbeats of our God and obey them, will give God great pleasure and also blessings to our lives.
Jeremiah 29:11, ‘For I know the plans I have for you.’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…’
God has chosen out a plan for us before the foundation of the earth. God’s plan for us is from here to eternity. Through the eyes of God, the process of blessing us is not only for this life but also for the Kingdom to come.
Our lives on earth is only the beginning, it is for us to prove our faithfulness to Him. For His plans for us is to spend eternity with Him. What is 70-80 years on earth compared to eternity?
Yet God is preparing us through the seasons, refining and perfecting us while we are on earth.
Philippians 1:6, ‘…that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.’
We can learn a good lesson from the Israelites in the wilderness after leaving Egypt; on their way to the promise land.
Exodus 40: 36-38, ‘ In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they would not set out – until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during their travels.’
The Israelites were obedient to the seasons of God and were bless by His guidance. They would loose the covering of God if they did not move on with the clouds. They were privileged to be blessed by His personal Glory in attendance.
Have you overstayed? Are you sensitive to the seasons of God? Why are you not blessed?
Sometimes by our human minds we would like to stay on in the oasis of comfort, but God says, move on!!!
Acts 17:26, 'From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhibit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.'
From the seed of Abraham to the many generations of his children and children to come, God is moving in the seasons of His great big plan for humanity. From the prophecies of the coming Messiah of the old testament Prophets, to their fulfillment in the revelation of Jesus Christ; and from the beginning of the new testament church to the second coming Jesus Christ , there is a perfect flow of God’s sequence and timing in His season. He will make all things beautiful in His time.
Hurry!!! Hurry!!! For those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. (Psalm 125:5) For weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)
We are living in the night in this fallen world and whatever we have labored and suffered for righteousness sake, will be no more when morning comes. We look forward to a new day of rewards. Morning may also mean when we have completed our jobs on earth and God brings us back home to rest.
1Peter:6-7, ‘In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.’
For the phase of this season on earth will be coming to an end soon, and all that has been promised in His Words will finally be fulfilled in the New Jerusalem . Hallelujah!!!
THREE DIFFERENT SEASONS OF GOD - (In the lives of believers)
Rom 8:29 says, ‘For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.’
While men have different cycles of seasons in their lives, God has three distinct seasons for our lives. Let us break up the above verse into three parts.
'For whom He foreknew' - First Season - The Permissive Will of God
'He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son' - The Second Season- The Perfect Will of God.
'That He might be the firstborn among many brethren' - Third Season - His Love
FIRST SEASON - FOR WHOM HE FOREKNEW
Since God has chosen us, foreknew us before the foundation of the earth and we have responded through our own choice to become His children, He definitely receives great pleasure out of it. God gives gifts and favors to His children.
They have been abused by this fallen world and its systems both physically and spiritually and were in great needs before they came into the Kingdom.
Psalm 100:4, ‘Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever, His faithfulness continues through all generations.’
In this first season of God for the spiritual babies, He comforts them with streams in the desert, He satisfies their hunger and thirst and fills them with His love, peace and joy beyond all understanding and blankets them with a mild refiner’s fire in corporate worship; a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. The promises in the Bible are now all yours, my beloved, all yours, grab it and run, baby!!!
Zephaniah 3:17, ‘He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.’
They begin to enjoy the ecstasies of worship while God begins to woo them and draws them further into His presence with His love. Imagine the times of wooing in the ‘Bollywood’ pictures when the man begins to woo the woman.
It is the honeymoon season and God answers all their prayers from the most insignificant to the important. From prosperity, physical and spiritual healing to a taste of His divine love, they will be highly favored in this season of God. Humanity is a sponge for love.
Matt.24:12, ‘Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of many will grow cold…’
At this stage, out of His permissive will and by His grace and mercy through the blood of Jesus, God will play the part of the Father in providing for the needs of His children and He will receive great pleasure out of it but the children only know how to receive.
This new creation is made up of part flesh and part spirit. Their spirit is willing because of their ‘first love’ for God but their flesh is weak; like a spiritual monster.
Christians in this season is inward, self centered and it’s all about them; and it is a hindrance in the work of the Lord sometimes. When they open their mouths it is I, me and mine, even in the things of God. They want God to work for them instead of them working for God.
Slowly God will begin to empty their worldliness, teach them to die to self and crucify their flesh. They have come out of Egypt but Egypt is not out of them yet.
http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=3597181&q=lo http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=3597181&q=hi
Click for song ,'You will rejoice over us with singing'.
next.........................The Outer Court Christians.
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