Seasons

I want to talk to you about the seasons of our lives that we all go through. More specifically,  I want to talk about the need for some you to let go of the Old and reach out for the New!

Now, we all have to go thru stuff. And here’s the thing: no matter what you’re dealing with right now, no matter how hard you’ve tried, no matter what you’ve done there are a couple of things that you can always do that are guaranteed to make a difference.

Here’s the mathematical formula you need to change:

Remember the 3 “P’s”

Place, Pace and Perspective

See, when you combine all 3, change has to take plac.e

Change Place + Change Pace = Change of Perspective

IF you change where you’re at  (Place), change the speed your moving at  (Pace), I guarantee you’ll have a change in what you’re looking at (Perspective)

So, how do we change where we’re at? Well, lets go to the Bible and see what it says:

2 Cor 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. NKJV

God wants to take us from glory to glory.

And if God wants to take us from one place and take us to somewhere else - that means God wants us to move

No matter how good you think you’ve got it right now, no matter how bad you think you’ve got it right now, God wants to move you on to somewhere else. See, the Bible says that’s His plan for us.

NOW, here’s something so simple and startlingly obvious, yet so often overlooked or forgotten that  it’s going to be a revelation for some of you..

If God wants you to move from wherever you’re at and take you somewhere else

that means that

God HAS A FUTURE for you and that’s enough to give anyone of us a New Hope. And that Hope is something that should cause any of us to change our whole perspective.

Now, when it comes to Gods plan for your life the Bible has something to say about that too. As we pass through life on this earth, we’re going to pass through seasons.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven:

Now, if everything has a season, it becomes very important that we know and understand the season that we’re in.The Hebrew word for season in the Bible is the word Zaman. It literally means, ‘an appointed time or a fixed time.’

Now watch this - If everything has a season – and the Bible says that it does, then everything you go through in life is appointed by God. Each season is fixed by God for a specific duration of time. And as God guarantees his provision to us (He promises to meet all of our needs according to His riches in Glory thru Christ Jesus) we can be confident that we’ll always have everything we need in that season.

Lets go a little further with the verse

Ecc 3:1 To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven:

The next thing we need to understand is time…  “To everything there is a season, a time…”

A time and a season— these words are almost synonymous in Hebrew but they get significant when you combine them together.

Time is an opportunity.

It is a proper time.  So, a season is a fixed, appointed time of opportunity that God ‘s putting in front of you, and so the only time in your life history that a particular opportunity will pass by you is in that one specific season. There’s no guarantee that it will ever come your way again. But if you’re only focused on the season instead of the appointment, you’ll miss what God wants to do.

Here’s the thing: you can get so busy looking around at all your circumstances, and fighting with God over the season that He’s put you in, that those opportunities and divine appointments He has for you just  zoom right by. So whatever season you’re in, its crucial that we don’t miss the purpose for this season.

“To every thing there is a season, a time, a purpose under heaven.”

Purpose:

There is a moment, an appointment, and an opportunity for God to be pleased. In the next few verses of Eccl 3:2-8  Solomon gives us a whole list of seasons:

A time to be born and a time to die.
      A time to plant and a time to harvest.

 ³ A time to kill and a time to heal.
      A time to tear down and a time to build up.

 ⁴ A time to cry and a time to laugh.
      A time to grieve and a time to dance.

 ⁵ A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
      A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

 ⁶ A time to search and a time to quit searching.
      A time to keep and a time to throw away.

 ⁷ A time to tear and a time to mend.
      A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

 ⁸ A time to love and a time to hate.
      A time for war and a time for peace.

Now, that list includes a whole number of negative things. And there’s a good reason for that. As long as we live in this natural realm, we’ll all have to deal with life circumstances. And so Solomon gives us the key for dealing with difficult times.

So, how do you start to get your head round all this?

First, you have to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is a good God and that He is thinking only good thoughts toward you.

Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Now, the one speaking here is God. He’s telling you what His intentions are towards you. He’s telling you what He’s thinking about you. He’s telling you that he only has good things planned for you. Every time God thinks about you His thoughts, his intentions, and his plans are of peace, not of evil.

God is not the author of your trouble, but God will allow you to go through trouble to get your attention. If you want to get to the better future God says He’s already planned for you, your job is hold fast to your hope about the future that God’s waiting to unfold before your eyes.

The word “hope” is nothing to do with wishful thinking

Hope is all about having a confident expectation!  Don’t get locked into the where you are right now. Over the next few day, week, or months you’re going to get “unstuck” from the past season because there’s a divine purpose filled with peace and wholeness and prosperity that you’ve yet to walk in!!!

Here’s a major issue for so many Christians:

So many times we get so focused on what we do for God, that we neglect to focus on what God wants to do for us.

And because it’s so easy to get focused on what God wants to do through us that we totally neglect what God wants to do in us.

Go to Ex 3:4-5

 ⁴ When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”  “Here I am!” Moses replied.

 ⁵ “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.

Shortly after telling Moses to take off his sandals, God gave Moses one more interesting command. He told Moses to throw down his staff.

Ex 4:2-5 NLT  ² Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”  “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.  ³ “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back. ⁴ Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand. ⁵ “Perform this sign,” the Lord told him. “Then they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you.

Here’s my question:

What if Moses had held on to his staff?

I think the answer’s simple: the shepherd’s staff would have remained a shepherd’s staff. I don’t think God would have used Moses to deliver Israel. I think Moses would have gone right back to being shepherd and to taking care of his flock of sheep.

If you’re not willing to throw down your staff, you forfeit the miracle that’s right at your finger tips.

You have to be willing to let go in order of that thing that identifies you as you before you take on the new identity God has for you. And that is what happens to Moses. He had to stop being a shepherd before he could become something else.

Some of you need to stop living up to the labels that the world has given you. Some of you need to stop being identified by what you’ve done and start being identified by what’s God want to do. Some of you need to stop confessing what you used to be and start claiming what God says you can be! Recognizing that to make the change is going to take a miracle of transformation.

This is a miracle of transformation in Exodus 4. It’s not just the staff turning into a snake, its about turning a shepherd of sheep into the leader of a nation. And just as God turned Moses from what he was in the eyes of the world, He can turn you and me into whatever he wants us to be. Moses started off as a Hebrew baby, but God turned him into an Egyptian prince. Then he turned him into a shepherd. And that lasted 40 years. And then God turned him into the deliverer of a whole race of people

BUT here’s the thing: Moses had to throw down the shepherd’s staff in order for it to be transformed into the rod of God.

As far as I know, this is the first miracle Moses ever experienced. If Moses had held on to the staff, he’d have forfeited all of those subsequent miracles and He’d probably have spent the rest of his life counting sheep.

Question for you:

Where do you find your identity?

What is the source of your security?

Is it a title - a paycheck - a relationship - a degree - a name? There is nothing wrong with any of those things - just so long as you can throw them down.

See, your success in this season of your life isn’t dependent upon what’s in your hand.

Your success is contingent on whether God extends His mighty hand on your behalf.

But often were too guilty to throw down our staff

So many believers are living lives that are hindered by guilt. The enemy’s tactics haven’t changed since the Garden of Eden. He tries to neutralize us by getting us to focus on what we’ve done wrong in the past.

Other times, its our failures that stop us from  throwing down our staff

Here’s the thing though: sometimes our plans have to fail in order for God’s plans to succeed. See, Divine detours and divine delays are the ways God gets us where He wants us to go. So, we need to quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Instead, we need to start playing offense with our lives. The world needs more daring people with daring plans.

The Bible says that we’ll all have stuff:

John 16:33  These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

As long as we are on this earth, we’ll have tribulations, trials, frustrations, and distress. But Jesus also gave us a magnificent promise in that same verse: Lets look at it in the amplified…

... But be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]!

For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have

conquered it for you.] AMP

What does that mean exactly? Simply this: It means that Jesus has deprived the world of its power to harm you! The main reason we experience heartache in our lives is that we have an enemy who absolutely hates our guts. See, we remind the devil of God. We were created in God’s image. God has “wired” us with gifts, callings, and anointing. And those gifts, that calling and that anointing reside on the inside of us, And whether we actually use them -  or not - the enemy sees the God-potential in each and every one of us, and he hates it with a passion. So, he’s always looking for ways to steal, kill, and destroy everything good in our lives.

Whatever problem you struggled with in the past – or are struggling with now, the devil wants you to assign it to your whole life - not just to the season. He wants you to see yourself as a loser. And He wants the problem that is hindering you in the present season to continue limiting you for the rest of your life.

One of the enemy’s favorite tricks is to convince you that the past season and it’s pain has been assigned to your life, instead of just the current season or season you’re coming out of.

BUT THE DEVIL IS A LIAR!

GOD’S PLAN FOR YOU: A FUTURE AND A HOPE MEANS THIS YOU GET A WHOLE FRESH START EVERY MORNING!

Lam 3:22-24  ²² The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. ²³ Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. ²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”

His mercies are new every morning. So we all get a fresh start, and a brand-new chance each and every day!.

Even if we wasted some time yesterday, even if we wasted all of yesterday with every new beak of day God slides twenty-four more hours across to our side of the table.

Time is life, and how we spend our time is how we spend our life. So the smartest thing we can do is spend time with the “Timeless One.” We can’t afford to live our relationship with God in a state of perpetual deficit. If we do, our relationship with Him becomes bankrupt. We have to make time to spend with the Timeless One. Don’t give God your leftover time. But in this new season give God the first fruits of your time. And as you do, a “SUPERNATURAL SYNCHRONIZATION” will take place. You’ll give God the currency of this dimension -  your time and in return you will receive the wisdom, revelation, and strength you need to help you. And when the transaction is complete, you’ll come out of that place of intimate fellowship both refreshed and transformed by the power of God.

Some Important Points to Remember about seasons

Its important that you to grasp some principles about seasons

#1- WE DON’T WANT TO GET STUCK IN A SEASON.

Whatever has happened to you in the past, no matter how difficult it was, you need to leave it in that season. If you drag it with you all through the rest of your life, it’ll cause you all kinds of problems.

GOD HASN’T CALLED YOU TO COPE WITH THE SEASON. God’s called you to be free. He’s called to be blessed and to be a blessing – to enjoy this life - not just to “grin and bear it.”

And to make sure you don’t get stuck in a season and lose out on His good plan for your life, God even gives you “daily supplements” from Heaven. They come in the form of peace, joy, and help from above.

#2- WE DON’T WANT TO MISS A SEASON

Gen 1:14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;

Seasons here are “an appointment or a fixed time.” The concept of time means  a period of duration with boundaries.It has limits, but it continues to pass and to advance. Since a season is an appointment, you have to be cautious about disappointments.

If you experience a disappointment and you don’t handle it right, your disappointment can cause you to miss your divine appointment. Remember, Jesus told us in John 10:10 the reason He came to redeem us was so that we could, “have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).”

John 10:10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). AMP

Here’s something that may surprise you

WE SHOULD NEVER FAIL TO REAP A HARVEST FROM EVERY SEASON:

In the book of Exodus,the children of Israel had been held as slaves in captivity for 430 years. But one day the Lord spoke to them through Moses. He gave them a promise to hold onto. He told them he was fixing to deliver them,

Ex 3:21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed.

For 430 years, the Israelites had been treated like dirt, pushed down, held back, and abused in every possible way. But the Lord declared that when they left the nation that had oppressed them they wouldn’t leave empty-handed. He gave them so much favor that they actually plundered the Egyptians without a fight!

You should always gain something of benefit from anything you go through. You should come out with a greater revelation of God’s Word. You should come out with a lesson learned. You should come out with a greater appreciation of God’s faithfulness. No matter how bad or rough the season that you’re going through, you can still come out of that season with a greater trust in God because He has just delivered you out of a pit. It may have been bad, but think how much worse it would have been without God on your side!

You need to come out of every situation with greater faith, greater trust, and a greater heart of gratitude. You need to come out with lessons learned and an added measure of wisdom gained from the experience. But make sure you don’t come out of a season with just any kind of harvest; it has to be the right harvest Don’t bring out a bad attitude or unforgivneness or a root of bitterness.

We all want greener grass and bluer skies; it’s the way God created us. We’re always looking for relief because we don’t like to suffer. We turn over in bed at night in an unconscious effort to get a little more comfortable. If we get a rock in our shoe, we take the shoe off because we don’t like to be uncomfortable! This is why we don’t like to be in seasons where we’re uncomfortable. They don’t feel good, and aren’t a lot of fun.

BUT so often its the desire to get out of an undesirable season that can be the catalyst that brings necessary change to our lives. Whether we find ourselves dealing with sickness, financial hardships, or problems with our relationships, there is one thing we’re sure of: we don’t want to camp out and live in the current season! So if you are experiencing hard times –

whether it be sickness, depression, or any other kind of trouble it’s a good thing to want to move into the next season . The God we serve is a delivering God and He wants to bring you out.

#3 - LOOK TO THE “UNSEEN” THE NEXT SEASON

So many people decide to live with their problems. People who are sick received a diagnosis and then they assign that sickness to their lives, and not to the season.

Oh  you don’t understand, I’m a diabetic…. So I can’t do this and I cant do that

No, you’re suffering with diabetes for a season. it can change…

Oh you don’t understand, I’m an addict… so I can’t do this or I can’t do that

No, you’re suffering with drugs for a season. it can change… just ask Rodney

You don’t have to live with that bad situation. You don’t have to say,  Well, I blew it, so now I’m just one of life’s losers. You don’t have to be a loser for the rest of your life.”

No, you may have lost in that season, But there’s a new season just around the comer! You don’t have to accept everything that comes your way.

2 Cor 4:17-18  For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! ¹⁸ So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever

Don’t focus on your current situation. Don’t spend all your time looking at your mountain of problems and wondering what else will go wrong. God say’s that which is seen- your current season - is temporary. That word “temporary” actually means for a season, for an occasion, or subject to change.

We’re to look to the season that is ahead of us. Hebrews 11:1 tells us how to do that:

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is the spiritual force that reaches into the “things not seen” and the things that are not seen are the future seasons of life.

God’s Covenant with Abraham.

Gen 15:1-6  ¹ Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.” ² But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. ³ You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.” ⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” ⁵ Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”  ⁶ And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.

what God did is just as significant as what God said. “[God] took [Abraham] outside.”

Abraham was holed up inside his tent. Stuck in an old season. He was staring at a canvas ceiling. So God took him outside and gave him an assignment: count the stars. Abraham would never look into the sky the same way again. From that point on -every time Abraham saw those stars they were reminders of the promises that God had given him.

Why did God take Abraham outside?

The answer is more obvious than we imagine. As long as Abraham was inside the tent, his vision was covered, hidden. The promises of God were out of sight. God remind Abraham of just how big He was, so He told him to do a little stargazing. Against all hope, Abraham believed and so he became the father of many nations just as God told him :

FAITH IS NOT LOGICAL,

AND IT’S NOT ILLOGICAL EITHER.

FAITH IS THEOLOGICAL

Faith doesn’t ignore reality; what faith does is this:  it adds God into the equation.

Abraham “faced the fact.” But he was also “fully persuaded that God had the power to deliver on His promises. Faith is not mindless ignorance; it simply refuses to limit God to the logical constraints of the left side of the brain.

When Christianity turns into a noun ,it becomes a turn off.Christianity was always intended to be a verb;

The title of the book of Acts says it all. It’s not the book of Idea’s or Theories or Words. It’s the book of the Acts of the Apostles. It’s the Book about what the Apostles DID

How many more times does God have to speak to us? God will always use a combination of the Holy Spirit and His Word to guide us. If we open His Word, God will open His mouth and speak to us through it. And when the Word of God has conceived our spirits, it’s time to quit praying and time to act, and get our feet wet.

You know why some of us have never seen God part a river? Because our feet are still firmly planted on the dry ground of the old season. We’re waiting on God while God is waiting on us! Most people want God to provide miraculous signs before we step out. We want God to part the river before we get our feet wet.  Why? So our faith doesn’t require any faith!

Sometimes God will provide a miraculous sign that will give you just enough faith to take the first step in the pursuit of your passion. But more often than not, faith doesn’t follow signs. Signs follow faith.It’s the biblical pattern.

The book of Mark concludes this way:

Mark 16:20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.