Let me open this thought with something that happened to me this week.... On Wednesday, the lease on the Rav 4 ended and when I drove into the dealer's lot, I had 8 miles to go before going over my 36000 mile limit. After that I would have to pay for each mile that I was over. I had 2 options, buy out the remainder which was owed or begin a new lease on another vehicle. I opted to begin a new lease on a brand new 2017 Rogue. It still had the protective wrap on it which had to be removed before I could drive away in it... I started out with zero miles in a car that I now had to learn all the bells and whistles.
I could do it the hard way, by trial and error, or I could read the manual..... When we come into new seasons of life, we have the same options... We can do it by trial and error, or we can read the manual which the God of all seasons has given us... (the bible).
Most of the mistakes that we can make, have already been made by many, many others, so why make them all ourselves when we can learn from the mistakes of all those other folks? The salesman who set me up in the Nisson, walked me through some things which I was not familiar with on the Rogue, but I'm going to have to check the manual for most of the things I will be dealing with.
A man wanted his 4 sons to understand that every season of life needed to be accepted and appreciated and they needed to be careful about judging things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, to go into an orchard and look at the fruit trees which were there.
The first son was sent in the winter, the second one was sent in the spring, the third one went in summer, and the youngest son went in the fall. When each son returned, they were asked to describe the fruit trees.
The first son said that they were bare, and twisted, with no signs of life. The second son disagreed, and said oh no, they were loaded with blossoms that filled the air with sweet fragrance and looked beautiful, it was the most colorful and sweet smelling thing he had experienced. The third son said oh no, they were loaded with with newly formed apples that were full of promise...The last son disagreed with them all and said they were filled with delicious, ripe fruit, and he couldn't resist eating some of it.
Each of the sons had viewed the same orchard in different seasons of it's life. Each of them were judging the orchard by the season that he experienced.
But you can't judge the summer by the winter, and you can't judge the fall by the spring. If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, and you miss the full experience of summer, and you'll give up before you reach the fulfillment of the fall harvest time. You can’t enjoy a bumper crop in autumn if you waste your summer taking siestas.
Don't let the pain and the sacrifice of one season destroy the joy and the fulfillment of all the rest. So, if we judge the seasons of our lives by God's plans, we have to say that "The best season of them all, is Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall" One student was asked to name the four seasons. He said they are Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.
A Canadian was heard to say, “In Canada we have two Seasons...six months of winter and six months of lousy skiing.
As we look back on our lives, we can all point to those milestones, that mark the beginning of the new seasons we’ve experienced. In fact, as we go forward, we can be sure that the future will be the same, with it’s own new markers. New seasons of our life will have their own markers and some new beginnings are about to be launched even as we gather here today.
Every season we enter, has a shelf life and an expiration date, so that we can be free and we can be unencumbered to fully reap the blessings of the next season, because we have a tendancy to cling to the last one.
Jesus taught us to pray..“Give us this day our daily bread.” We need fresh oil of anointing, fresh manna, and fresh revelation or we become stagnant.
We need to be “season sensitive” in how we live our lives. Sometimes, we are tempted to charge ahead without heaven’s witness, and at times we are sluggish in moving forward from the place we’ve become too comfortable with.
This is the theme of Ecclesiastes 3:1 "There is an opportune time to do all things, a right time for everything under heaven. v2 A right time for birth and another for death, A right time to plant and another to reap, v3 A right time to terminate and another to restore, A right time to destroy and another to build, v4 A right time to cry and another to laugh, A right time to lament and another to cheer, v5 A right time to make love and another to abstain, A right time to embrace and another to be apart, v6 A right time to keep searching and another to count your losses, A right time to hold on and another to let go, v7 A right time to rip out and another to plant, A right time to shut up and another to speak up, v8 A right time to love and another to hate, A right time to wage war and another to make peace".
Everything that God did or God does is on purpose and there are no accidents with God! You may have heard that you weren't planned, that you were an accident, but I want you to know that God planned you....you were no accident! We hear so much about the "big bang" theory and we can know that if there was a BIG BANG that started it all, it wasn’t an accident! Everything God does is for a purpose and He has an intention and a design for doing it!
For example, God's purpose for trees is to provide wood for lumber, fuel to keep us warm, fruit for us to eat, shade from the sun, to produce the oxygen that we breathe, and some trees produce rubber, and some produce maple syrup. And on and on we could go....There are thousands of purposes for trees.
God had a purpose for rocks and stones, we extract minerals from them and these minerals are used in thousands of ways that benefit us all.... and my point is, are you not more valuable than a rock or a tree!!!?
Solomon said "For every THING, there is a SEASON"...(Say it with me) He didn't say "to every season there is a thing". But to every thing, there is a season!!! We look for the season to bring new things, but God says,
The season exists for the thing, not the thing for the season! Without the purpose or the thing that God has planned, there wouldn't be the season!! What Solomon is saying is that you are so important to God, and His plan for you is so valuable, that you change the atmosphere, you influence the season, so that you can fulfill and complete what God has planned for you. For Every THING, There Is A Season!! New things bring forth, release and activate new seasons.
Daniel 2:20 "Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever
and ever: for wisdom and might are His: v21 And He changes the times and the
seasons: He removes kings, and sets up kings: He gives wisdom unto the wise,
and knowledge to those that know understanding: v22 He reveals the deep and
secret things: he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells in him".
(Did you notice... it says "He changes the times and the seasons")
You see, there is hidden wisdom in the story of the bible which describes
how on one occasion, Jesus was hungry and He came to a fig tree and looked
for figs, but there were none, so He cursed the fig tree and it died... Here's what
most of us miss in the story....we are told that it was not the season for figs!!!!
Jesus certainly knew that!!! But here's the scripture, see for yourself...
Mark 11:13 "And seeing a fig tree afar off, having leaves, he came, looking to find figs on it, and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season of figs. v14 And Jesus responded by saying unto it, May no man eat fruit of you hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it"…..
They heard it, but did they really hear it?
What Jesus is saying is that the season exists for the thing, not the thing for the
season!!!
The Master does not serve the season, but the season serves the master!!
When God is doing a thing in the earth, He creates a season for it!
TO EVERY THING THERE IS A SEASON, AND A SEASON FOR EVERY THING!
When we are walking with God, He makes a way where there is no way, He
makes a season where there is no season!
"Didn’t He make a path through the sea when there was no way through ....
Didn't He bring water from a rock when there was no water.... Didn't He bring
manna from heaven when they had nothing to eat....Didn't He bring them
through the wilderness when they were surrounded by their enemies...He went
with them, He fed them, He clothed them, and He protected them..
Deueronomy 6:10 "And it shall be, when the LORD your God shall have
brought you into the land which he swore unto you, that He shall give you
great and goodly cities, which you did not build...v11 And houses full of all good
things, which you did not fill, and wells which you did not dig, vineyards and
olive trees, which you did not plant..."
Now to tie this promise which was made to the Jewish people, into where we
are today...Listen to the way God put it on the day of Pentecost.....
Act 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel...
(THIS IS THAT)….That was then, and this is now..and God has not changed!
What He said to Joel, still applied to those in the New Covenant, if they would
dare to believe it and receive it!!
What He has said, He is still saying..."Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall
spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert.
God has appointed to every thing a season, Seasons in our lives are appointed
by God according to the things that He brings into our lives. New Things
produce new seasons!
A thing called "marriage" creates a new season...When you get married I can
confidently promise you, one season is over and another begins. The season of
singleness better be over!!! Growing old is mandatory, growing up is
optional and a choice we all have to make.
A thing called a baby coming in a family, whether you are ready or not,
produces a new season. You better start making some adjustments, and
believing for provision for new expenses, new demands, and a lot of new
experiences.
If you fully embrace the new season, it can be the most fullfilling and joyous
time of your life! If not, I feel sorry for you and your kids!!!
A married man can't continue to act like he's single...that season is over, and a
mom and dad need to make some important adjustments in every area of their
lives if they are to succeed as good parents.
The new things God has ordered for me, can't happen if I'm hanging on to the
season that has already passed!
I am told that in one church, there is old man named Dic-Tate who wants to
run everything, and his Uncle Ro-Tate tries to change everything. Then there's
sister Agi-Tate who stirs up plenty of trouble, with help from her husband,
Irri-Tate. Whenever new projects are suggested, Hesi-Tate and his wife,Vege-
Tate, want to wait until next year. Then there is Aunt Imi-Tate, who wants her
church to be like all the others. Devas-Tate provides the voice of doom and
gloom, while Poten-Tate wants to be a big shot. But not all members of the
family are bad. Brother Facili-Tate is quite helpful in most church matters. And
there’s a delightfully, happy member of the family named Miss Felici-Tate.
A couple of cousins Cogi-Tate and Medi-Tate always think things over and lend
helpful, steady hands. And of course there is the black sheep of the family,
Ampu-Tate, who has completely cut himself off from the church.
How about it - do you know anyone in the "Tate" family?....Well, the Tate family
is hanging onto the way it's always been done....
Someone figured that only 50% of the folks who say they are Christians, are
going to make it to heaven.. The reason is that if any more got in . . . it would
just be hell all over again!
At the beginning of every new year I have to really be careful in writing
checks to make sure I don’t write the old year on the check for the new year. I
tell myself, not to do it, and every year, sure enough, I’ll write the old year
instead of the current year.
It’s easy to get caught up in the former things because we’ve lived with them so
long we have develop patterns that are part of that former season. We just do it
that way because we’ve done it that way for so long we can now do it without
even thinking about it.....it's comfortable, it's what we are used to...
We want the new thing, but we want to keep the old patterns and ways of
doing things...New patterns, new thinking and new actions are necessary in
each new season. Can you imagine what would happen if you went from a job at
First State Bank to working at First Federal and told them that you would be
doing everything the way you did at First State...IT JUST WOULDN'T WORK!!
You would accept the fact that you were in a new season, and it would require
new ways of doing things.
Philippians 3:13 “Brethren, I do not count myself to have arrived, but one
thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind I press forward to those
things which are ahead”
The story is told of the Big Brown bear who, all of its life had lived in a cage
at the carnival. During the day it would be put in a display cage on wheels and at
night it was put in a 12 by 12 inclosure. The bear was a big attraction in the
traveling Carnival. That was all it knew for its entire life.
As the bear grew old someone was moved with compassion for the old bear
and purchased it from the carnival so it could live out the rest of its life with
more space to roam around in a beautiful park like setting and explore to its
heart’s content. However when they removed the bear from its cage all it knew
how to do was 12 paces to the left and grunt and growl then 12 paces to the right
and grunt and growl, even though it now had acres of habitat to enjoy.
Finally after prodding and forcing and luring it out with food to go a little
further and a little further, the bear began to move out of it’s old pattern ...and
began to enjoy the new season in it's life....
You see, the world of the bear was totally consumed with former things!
Even though the cage was gone. Even though the man with the whip was gone,
in its mind it was still operating in the former season...
I can picture God sometimes, trying to coax us out of the old and into the new...
God is doing a new thing, and with that new thing, comes a new season!!!
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of THINGS hoped for, and it is the
evidence of THINGS not seen”.
Faith is the substance of things...Faith is the evidence of things...
When we’re ready for our break through, we must not allow any former things
to keep us from our new season!
Isaiah 43:18,19 'Remember not the former things, neither consider (continue
to focus on) the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring
forth, shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers
in the desert."
(THIS IS THAT)….That was a former season, and this is a new season..
Healing is a thing, provision is a thing, finances are a thing, and as you open
yourself in faith, a season is created by the one who changes the times and the
seasons, so that the thing of healing, and the thing of provision can come
forth and manifest itself and be your new season!!!
Galatians 6:9 "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we
shall reap, if we faint not".
A New Season is a Due Season....
The thing God plans for you has the potential in your life, to create your "due
season". It becomes the season of things showing up, of dreams you’ve been
praying being fulfilled, of things falling into place, and problems you’ve
believed for the answer, beginning to turn around..
Because it is your "due season" the thing that has been delayed, that has been
sabotaged by the enemy, and that has tarried so long, can now take place!
(Say it with me...."The things God has desired for me, have created a due
season for me."
This is what the woman with the issue of blood had to do in Mark 5:25. The
experts said she’d never get well. But she knew that she was supposed to get
healthy and well. She heard that her due season in the form of Jesus, was
coming to town. Something inside told her that the very thing she needed, was
creating a season of opportunity for her.
She didn't listen to her body, even though she was weak from losing blood. She
didn't stop because of her circumstances in the form of a big crowd that was a
barrier between her and her season. She pushed thru the crowd and didn't let
the former things keep her from her new thing!!!
She said in Mark 5:28 "If I can just touch the hem of His garment, I know
that I will be healed".
She was full of expectancy and she felt the favor of God all over her....
When you love what God loves, and want what God wants, the favor of God is
all over you...You begin to access through surrender, what you could never get
through sheer determination. Sometimes you have to push past the last season
you were in and forget the former things or you’ll trip over them.
Your “due season” is why this is the time to accomplish your dreams. This is
the time to break free from the fear and depression, this is the time to enter into
your healing.
Release the regret and choose to forget!
This is the season that changes everything...
Isaiah 61:3 "I will care for the needs of all who mourn, and give them bouquets
of roses instead of ashes, Messages of joy instead of news of hopelessness, a
praising heart instead of a heavy spirit. I will rename them "Pillars of
Righteousness" planted by God to display his glory. v4 They'll rebuild the old
waste places, raise a new dwelling place out of the wreckage. They'll start over
again, and use the rubble left behind to transform into a new thing".
Would someone say with me… “Lord I want to thank You that this is my due season”.
One thing remains the same in every season we go through….God desires that we grow and increase in….The capacity to forgive… the strength and courage to proclaim His Good News and a single-minded love and devotion to the Lord Jesus.
When God gives you power, it is to empower others…. When God gives you
success, it is so you can bless your successors… When God imparts to you it is
so you can impart to others, When you are touched by God it is for the purpose
of touching the lives of others…When you are restored it is so you can restore
others….Freely you have received, freely give….
Begin now to celebrate, begin now to praise Him for it, begin now to rejoice
your due season….
Ephesians 1:4 “For He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. v5 Having
predestinated us unto adoption as His children by Jesus Christ to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will, v6 To the praise of the glory of his
grace, wherein he has made us accepted (approved) in the beloved. v7 In whom
we have redemption through his blood, and the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of his grace. v8 And he has abounded toward us in all wisdom
and Divine insight”.
God has given us an upgrade to help us to be free of the orphan mentality.
What are the signs of an orphan spirit in the church...? (here's just a few)
If you feel the need to perform for attention and acceptance, you're struggling
with an orphan spirit... true sons and daughters know they are accepted...
If you've tried a number of churches but none ever meet your needs, so you just
decide to go it alone...you have an orphan spirit...True sons and daughters put
the family first and find the place they can be most effective in the family unit...
If you are defensive and need to constantly prove yourself, and need
constant praise and assurance...You have an orphan spirit....True sons and
daughters know who they are and do all to please the Father not for the praise
of men, they are not so focused on getting praise, but giving praise and support
to everyone around them....If you are judgmental and have a difficult time in
trusting others, you have an orphan spirit....True sons and daughter leave
the judging to God because they are to busy loving and they can accept others
because they trust God to deal with the people.....
We are the redeemed and the transformed…
We are in a season where we are trading up and for iron He gives us gold… for
mourning, He gives us the oil of joy… for the spirit of heaviness He
gives us the garments of praise!
(Tell someone)“God didn’t save you to be a chump, he saved you to be a champ"
God has placed things in you, that are creating an atmosphere of “Due Season”that is allowing you to move into His power and prosperity....Where He is opening up His good treasure to you….where you shall lend and not borrow… where you will be the head and not the tail…where you will be above and not beneath... It’s a season where the veil of the heavenlies is being pulled back so you can see what you couldn’t see before…. Where those who once were held under are now going to be going over… Where those who were once forgotten are now going to be remembered…. Where those who were depressed will once again begin to rejoice… Where those who were once rejected will now be accepted… Where those who are trodden down will have their heads lifted up…. Where those who grieve will experience everlasting joy that will not diminish….Those who were once poor will say I am rich…
Those who are afflicted will once again walk in wholeness….
We are stepping into a new season where those things that have been taken from you will be restored 100 fold.
Look at somebody and say with a shout of triumph, “My season is here. There is a fresh anointing flowing my way. Put your hands up in the air right now and proclaim it.
Expect great things in this new season of your life....Right now Heaven’s anthem is being played over you, and the banner of the Lord is being hoisted over you. On God’s winner's platform there are no second or third places, there are no silver and bronze, there is only gold that has been refined in the fire. And Jesus has already won the Gold medal and He desires to place it on each one of us!!!!
