» UNDERSTANDING TIMES AND SEASONS IN YOUR LIFE (PART 1)
There is a time for everything and a season for every purpose in life. Many do not know the season they are in and fail to grasp the purpose in every season of their lives. Every purpose has a time and every time has a purpose. Time is given for everything and everything has its time. Ecclesiastes chapter 3:1-15 covers a whole understanding of the time for everything. God has made all things beautiful in its time and has planted eternity in the hearts of men. We need to understand the times we are in and the seasons that come upon us from time to time so that we may take full advantage of these in order for our lives to be better. Whenever we do things at the wrong time we get less than the best results in our lives. Whenever we do not realise the season that has come upon us we tend to make wrong decisions. Also, our words and actions can activate new seasons in our lives. Times and seasons affect us individually and collectively. In the Greek language, there are two words which are translated as 'times' in English. They are 'Kairos' and 'Chronos'. Kairos has to do with events leading up to a major event and can be translated as 'season'. It is called 'time' in English but the event being described is what the focus is at the time. Chronos, on the other hand, is the chronological sequence in time or the duration of time. In 'the fullness of time' for an event to happen; is 'in the fullness of Kairos'. Whereas, 'the time came for a person to go to bed' is the Chronos time. Kairos is a particular season and chronos is time. God told Abraham that his people would be in captivity for 430 years. When the season came for that word to come to pass, God raised Moses for that purpose. The events that lead up to all that Moses experienced happened in the season (KAIROS) of deliverance. Moses' birth, his being raised in Pharaoh's palace and all that was recorded in Exodus 2-3, up until their deliverance, were all under the season of their deliverance. The duration of 430 years is the chronological time but the events that culminated in their deliverance can be categorised as the kairos season of God's deliverance for the Israelites. To appreciate times and seasons in our lives, we need to understand the will of God. God's will has seasons worked into it. Ignorance of how God's will is executed on earth can lead to frustration and pain in many lives. When something is not done at the right season, it becomes more difficult in wrong seasons. UNDERSTANDING THE WILL OF GOD
Romans 12:2-3 says 'be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God'. The will of God is not primarily in vocation or location. Many are hung up on the issue of location or vocation when discussing the will of God, when in reality the will of God starts with an internal dynamic before it becomes external. If the mind is not renewed, the will of God cannot be proven or experienced. Too many feel that they can determine the will of God by their external circumstances. The plans, purposes and intentions of God can be classified as His will. There are the unchanging aspects of His will and there are the subjective aspects of His will for a person's life. In the subjective aspect the person's participation matters if their experience will be in harmony with God's will. The Word of God is a compilation of the will of God. His will in the days of old can be read and understood. His ways can be studied and His works observed. His will is revealed in His Word. He will not 'will' something and say something else. He wills that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Tim.2:4) Not all men are being saved but it is His will that this should happen. Man's participation is what will prove this will to be true in their generation. God's will for any man will have to include being saved and coming to the knowledge of the truth as stated in His Word. If the will of God is not primarily at work in me, going somewhere will not necessarily cause His will to be done there. If I do stumble there and He wants His will done then it's really up to Him to choose the location for His will to be done. What I am saying here is that if His will for my life is not changing me inside, then I will not be contributing to His will even if I go somewhere else. In Greek, the will of God is "Thelema" which is a determination, a desire, a pleasure and a will. God's will represents His desire, pleasure, determination, purpose and decree. It is what He is inclined to or what He delights in. His will is in harmony with His character as revealed in the Word of God. God's tool for the implementation of His will is His Word. The strength is the power of His Spirit. The operation will be in harmony with His character. He operates within the context of times and seasons as can be seen in His Word. In the life of Jesus there was a time when He was born of a virgin, Mary. The events that lead up to this birth included the prayers of Anna the prophetess, after the prophecies of Isaiah years ago, the angelic visitation and the human acceptance of the declared Word of God, i.e. Mary said, "Let it be unto me according to your Word". This desire of God came to happen on earth through these channels. The deliverance and protection for mother and child through angelic visitation in a dream and Joseph's participation in obedience were all ingredients of God's will being done. In all these we see the spiritual regulating the natural. This is how God's will is done on earth; the spiritual gets into someone and they come into harmony internally with this expression of God's will and their participation now brings to birth the will of God. For the first 29 years of His life on earth, Jesus did not manifest the fullness of His ministry. It was not the season for showing yet. It can be called preparation, incubation, waiting or the hiding season. Many jump out before they are ready, even before they know what they are called to do. We can see prayers, faith, obedience as ingredients in making the will of God happen on earth but the seasons also determine what we should be expecting and believing for. Many destinies are aborted because they did not quite understand the season of waiting or hiding. If God said "400 years", Moses was not ready to do God's will after 399 years. That was not the time. (There is an article on the cybermessages section of our website,www.fowm.org, called 'The Power of Vision: The Maturity of Vision', which we recommend that you read). Moses could not use his faith or prayers to bring the will of God into action before its time. Having said that, we see Mary placing a demand on Jesus for His first recorded miracle: turning water to wine in John 2. Her prayer seems to activate a new season of God's will in His life. Within the context of God's will, God's people can activate dimensions of His will on earth. Every time victory has come out of defeat, we can learn how to bring seasons of defeat to an end and activate seasons of victory. When David killed Goliath, he brought a season of defeat to an end and activated a season of victory for the Jews. When we are told to count it all joy when we fall into diverse trials as seen in James 1, we learn the secrets of activation of seasons through obedience to the Word of God. .....to be continued in Part 2
