“To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die; plant + reap; kill + heal; break down + build up;
weep + laugh; mourn + dance; cast + gather stones; embrace + refrain; gain + lose;
hold on + let go; rip out + mend; shut up + speak up; love + hate;
A time for war and a time of peace.” (Eccles 3:1-11)
Bob Dylan set these words to music and The Byrds had us singing them in the ‘60s, but I doubt many realized they were singing God’s Word. We thought them paradoxical but catchy, words for a time of change. “Turn, turn, turn,” was our cry for revolution in society, but it was really God’s call for repentance in the human heart. It’s amazing how confused we are sometimes, understanding so little of even what we say we want.
We know little of either the times or seasons of the heart.
I used to think timing was important. Now I’m convinced: it’s absolutely crucial!
The Preacher goes on to say, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” (v 11)
But when is ‘its time’? How can we truly know when something is in or out of season?
And who determines what really is the ‘right season’?
I might think it fits perfectly, but later find out it’s completely out of sync.
I might think I have a sure-fire prophetic word for someone; but a good word must be spoken at the right time in the right spirit or… it may be pathetic, more than prophetic.
‘A word spoken in its time, how good it is!’ (Pro 15:23) But at the wrong time? ...devastating!
We need to know ‘His’ Time. The One who created everything in the first place is also the One who is able to bring it forth to fulfill its purpose at the right time. If He is able to make it,
He can also make it beautiful in the time for which it’s created.
And even if I make a mistake, God can take what the enemy intends for evil or my blunder, and make it good. (Gen 50:20) He works all things together for good to those who love Him, those called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28).
Yeah, but sometimes that takes longer than I think it should!.. and that’s where timing comes in.
I remember arriving one Sunday morning for early prayer in a church we were interim pastoring. Things were in flux; change was in the air; our future was unclear and unsettled, but a sense of excitement and beckoning adventure pervaded in my spirit. I was there first, and when I opened the door and turned on the light, I saw 3 doors standing before me on the school stage, probably props for a play practice. My first thought was: “Which one, Lord?” as in, “Which door-choice is the right one for me to walk through?”
Ever notice how the Lord often speaks when you least expect Him?
Well, without any effort at listening, I immediately heard Him say so clearly,
“They’re all right, but in My time!”
Startled, I looked again more closely at these 3 doors and wondered what future opportunities they represented. Were they 3 specific decisions, relationships, events? Narrow doors often lead into larger rooms. Were these possibly future limitations to prepare me for further service and enlargement? Jesus is the Door. We just need to discern which one... in His time.
1Chron 12:32 describes sons of Issachar who came to David at Hebron before he was king of all Israel. They even went against the popular flow, because they ‘had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.’ Historical hindsight is good if we learn from it, but foresight is preferable. It discerns and reveals the wisdom and godly character to know not only the right thing, but also the right time, so we don’t live life in ‘should-have’s.’
Few in history have found their time to be His or His Time to be theirs.
Jesus came ‘in the fullness of time’ (Gal 4:4), neither too early, nor too late.
He came exactly at the right time.
21st Century North American pragmatism would counter that He should have come in our day. He could have reached so many more millions! More people are alive today; our advanced technology and communications could reach them more effectively; He’d be seen world-wide, not just in tiny Judea. But the Bible says He came at the right time! Jesus knew who He was and He knew His time. Some still think He comes at the wrong time...too late.
Someone who knows their time as His and His as theirs is in step with God and His Purpose.
Those who do not are only trying to prove something.
Jesus didn’t have anything to prove. His first sermon was seed for all future messages and ministry:
“The time is fulfilled, - all OT prophecies about future time were now complete in Him
and the kingdom of God is at hand.” (Mark 1:15)
In other words, “Don’t put it off; drop everything else and receive the kingdom NOW!
It’s right here, don’t wait for another! The King is here! So is His kingdom, it’s for you, NOW! Don’t doubt, reach out, take it to heart! Here it is! Believe… You got it!”
This was Jesus’ essential message both then and now. Unfortunately, many people today respond the same way as some did then: “We believe in the kingdom, but it’s not time yet. It doesn’t fit our theology or our understanding. Maybe some of it is 'already'? But how much is 'not yet'? Probably more the latter: just look how much power the devil still has!”
And they spent their time debating, disputing, arguing while Jesus went about doing good to all: healing, setting captives free, manifesting the kingdom regardless of their unbelief!
Just like He does today!
Actually, the first to recognize Jesus for who He was were demons. They identified Him as the Son of God before His own people did, and added,
“Have you come here to torment us before the time?” (Matt 8:29)
Jesus never let devils tell Him what time it was, especially when it was their time to be cast out.
He replied, “You’re twisted! You’re no longer in control here to say who is going to torment who for how long. I AM HERE NOW. The power of my kingdom is NOW and your time to leave is NOW. Don’t argue ...GO!”
They had no choice: they went. Their time had come.
Jesus said, “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Matt 12:28)
Note the past perfect tense. The demons did.
It is finished! And so are they. Time’s up; the King is Here! Everything else? Out!
Jesus wept over Jerusalem,
“If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!
But now they are hidden from your eyes.
…because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41, 44)
Even at His most difficult time, Jesus knew His Time and Purpose: who He was and what He had to do. The very night He was arrested,
‘when Jesus knew that his hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.’(Jn 13:1)
He was not intimidated by the accusations of this world, overcome by its threats, nor defeated by its reactions.
He overcame and because He did, we are!
"Excuse me...can you tell me what time it is?"
Thursday, July 22, 2010
IN HIS TIME - PART 2
“He came to His own, and his own did not receive Him.” (Jn 1:11-13)
The Jews rejected their Messiah even when all their prophecies and signs pointed unmistakably towards Jesus. Then they unwittingly fulfilled more of those prophecies by crucifying Him.
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become children of God,
to those who believe in His name:
who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God.”
The new birth must not be misunderstood as merely getting our eternal ticket to heaven.
He wants us to know His time of visitation for us TODAY, His coming to abide, dwell, live and walk together with us, opening up the present treasures of His love to and through us! We are salt and light, called to make a difference HERE NOW.
He taught His disciples to pray and impact their contemporary world, not just some time in the future, but RIGHT NOW in their generation:
“Your kingdom come, Your will be done… in earth as it is in heaven.”
The other way around often seems to be many Christians’ present perspective:
“Take me to heaven soon, because my life is getting dark and unbearable here on earth!”
New birth opens a new, full life of liberty in Our Lord!
We need a fresh revelation of this truth today!
His first disciples heard Jesus call their name, “Follow me!” and that same call continues today for us to ‘deny ourselves, take up our cross,’ (Matt 16:24).
In effect, He is calling us take up our new Identity ‘in Christ’ and follow Him. Timing is ‘crucial’ (variant of its root ‘crux = cross’).
Our response shows whether it’s a walk or just talk.
Sons of God are led by the Spirit. (Rom 8:14)
We must not settle for living below our call.
We cannot afford to neither run off ahead nor lag behind in unbelief.
Both procrastination (putting off God’s timing eg. ‘Later, Dad!’)
and presumption (prematurely acting before God’s timing eg. ‘Look Ma, no hands!’)
distract, throw off balance and ultimately crash in equally devastating ditches.
Both deviate from true Christian liberty and wander in a religious wilderness of ideas, fads and traditions, far removed from our necessary central focus.
We need to be looking unto Jesus, focusing on faithfully knowing and following Him alone.
Our walk with Jesus shows how close and sensitive our relationship truly is: either with Him or not.
I’m not talking theory or theology here, but a plain and simple practical reality:
truth + love in action. Do the math: God = Love. Jesus = God. Ergo… Jesus = Love.
Jesus knew His Identity, who He was, and therefore, He knew the best action to take, especially at His most difficult, crucial times. His Cross revealed God’s love in action to a sin-sick world.
And it’s how close our walk is with Him that will bring us through our crises. The crosses-crises we go through reveal who we truly are, what’s really in us, what we’re made of, just who indeed we are truly following and serving. People can say they follow the Lord, but if their confidence is in signs, they’re still caught up in externals and empty showmanship.
However, God says, “Look at my son/daughter, ___________, (put you name in here).
They have signs following them; they are signs themselves, just like my Old Testament prophets and their children.”
Words are cheap. Actions can cloak deceptive motives. But when sons of God follow Christ in spirit and truth (both wings in His Time), the world has to take notice.
This unshakeable unity in the Lord shakes the very foundations of what seems to be!
It’s revealed sometimes like the awesome power a united army unleashes when it marches together, in time. Such highly trained natural armies even have to break rank when crossing bridges or their synchronized co-ordination can actually cause them to collapse!
Or on the other hand, it can be like the game where the ‘leader’ mischievously falls in step closely behind the ‘follower’ without his knowing, and they walk together, step-in-step, virtually as one body. Our Heavenly Father delights in playfully exchanging places with his children, leading by walking so closely behind us, we don’t even realize He’s there. We begin to learn to lead by simply being led by His Presence!
And still other times, He intimately draws us even more closely to Himself, holding and caressing us, as a Bridegroom dances with His Bride, lifting her up for all the world to see! So Christ’s Church, His body, is rising up and advancing over all the earth!
An army of sons and daughters wedded by the New Covenant in Christ’s Blood! United in His Body and established in His Kingdom! He leads us together in His Spirit, one step at a time, to shake earth’s natural foundations, take ground in men’s hearts, disciple nations, do business, occupy and fill the earth with His glory…as the waters cover the sea!
This is our calling: to walk in His Presence and our destiny in Christ here on earth NOW ...so much more than just waiting till heaven’s ready for us.
Paul learned this walk in the Spirit and knew His leading.
In Acts 16:6-10, he and his apostolic team traveled west from Galatia, intending to preach in Ephesus, the major city of the Roman province of Asia. Big commercial, religious, political centre, important centre of influence, lots of souls for the kingdom: prime place to preach, right?
But the Holy Spirit forbade them! Or was it the devil? Can you tell the difference?
Surely, if someone is hindering the gospel, it must be the devil! Or is it?
Paul was not just trained to not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Gal 5:16 does not equate walking in the Spirit with not fulfilling the lust of the flesh. The second is a result of the first; both are not equal. There is a great deal more to the Christian life than just not sinning (whatever that is). Our identity must be more than negatives or what we don’t do.
I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs…hey, I’m a Christian! Unnnhh! Wrong!
Canadians sometimes reason that same way. We think we are Canadians because we’re not Americans!?! That’s confusing and produces confusion! No wonder our country has gone through such identity crises.
God has not only forgiven us, but we who were former sinners are now saints. We are a new creation with a new Identity and Destiny, sanctified, set apart for His glory! Walking in the Spirit does not result from legalistically trying to not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. These are two entirely different mind-sets.
God has freed us from the works of the flesh by the faith of Jesus Christ and called us to walk in His liberty. He wants us to rejoice in this freedom and let the Holy Spirit break us through into new and future adventures in uncharted territory. It’s neither a matter of how well we can keep the letter-perfect dictates of a spiritualized Christian ‘law’, nor of how close we can come to sin without ‘losing our salvation’. It has everything to do with drawing closer day by day to Jesus and letting Him lead us in victory through the enemy’s snares and distractions in this world!
Paul didn’t just receive a preaching-healing gift to justify whatever else he wanted to do ‘in Jesus’ Name’. He had the call to live Christ, follow Christ and preach Christ wherever the Spirit led him. Not just preach and ‘do the stuff’. He was not primarily a preaching machine.
Preaching and other ‘spiritual gifts’ can even be motivated by people-pleasing pride, producing nothing other than lust of the flesh! Ask any honest preacher.
No! Paul was being trained to walk in the Spirit and know His Lord’s leading, yielding to the subtle sensitive tugs on His heart, not just following circumstantial signs.
The Holy Spirit said ‘No!’ to Asia.
At that time it was not His Time.
Paul turned north to Mysia + Bithynia. Surely this was the Lord’s direction!?
But again, “The Spirit did not permit them.”
A lesser man, led by his own feelings, would have been discouraged and turned back to Antioch, questioning whether God had ever really called him to preach in the first place. But Paul was not such a man: he and his team were not easily stopped. Going back was not an option.
Neither to the left nor right? Sounds like Moses at the Red Sea, eh?
So they went straight ahead …to Troas (Troy) and that’s where Paul had his Macedonian vision and clearly “concluded the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
Paul had felt to go to Ephesus: big city, big vision, big exposure?
But God had a bigger vision than Paul!
Paul saw only a city, but God saw Europe, a whole new continent!
Eventually, after 2 years and churches successfully established in Philippi, Thessalonica and Corinth, Paul made it to Ephesus. He later spent 3 years there and evangelized the entire area.
If Paul had only been led by his gifting, and went to Ephesus according to how he might have ‘success’, he might have had good meetings, but missed out on God’s Best.
In His time.
True sons know their Identity to walk in the Spirit + fulfill their Destiny.
The Jews rejected their Messiah even when all their prophecies and signs pointed unmistakably towards Jesus. Then they unwittingly fulfilled more of those prophecies by crucifying Him.
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become children of God,
to those who believe in His name:
who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God.”
The new birth must not be misunderstood as merely getting our eternal ticket to heaven.
He wants us to know His time of visitation for us TODAY, His coming to abide, dwell, live and walk together with us, opening up the present treasures of His love to and through us! We are salt and light, called to make a difference HERE NOW.
He taught His disciples to pray and impact their contemporary world, not just some time in the future, but RIGHT NOW in their generation:
“Your kingdom come, Your will be done… in earth as it is in heaven.”
The other way around often seems to be many Christians’ present perspective:
“Take me to heaven soon, because my life is getting dark and unbearable here on earth!”
New birth opens a new, full life of liberty in Our Lord!
We need a fresh revelation of this truth today!
His first disciples heard Jesus call their name, “Follow me!” and that same call continues today for us to ‘deny ourselves, take up our cross,’ (Matt 16:24).
In effect, He is calling us take up our new Identity ‘in Christ’ and follow Him. Timing is ‘crucial’ (variant of its root ‘crux = cross’).
Our response shows whether it’s a walk or just talk.
Sons of God are led by the Spirit. (Rom 8:14)
We must not settle for living below our call.
We cannot afford to neither run off ahead nor lag behind in unbelief.
Both procrastination (putting off God’s timing eg. ‘Later, Dad!’)
and presumption (prematurely acting before God’s timing eg. ‘Look Ma, no hands!’)
distract, throw off balance and ultimately crash in equally devastating ditches.
Both deviate from true Christian liberty and wander in a religious wilderness of ideas, fads and traditions, far removed from our necessary central focus.
We need to be looking unto Jesus, focusing on faithfully knowing and following Him alone.
Our walk with Jesus shows how close and sensitive our relationship truly is: either with Him or not.
I’m not talking theory or theology here, but a plain and simple practical reality:
truth + love in action. Do the math: God = Love. Jesus = God. Ergo… Jesus = Love.
Jesus knew His Identity, who He was, and therefore, He knew the best action to take, especially at His most difficult, crucial times. His Cross revealed God’s love in action to a sin-sick world.
And it’s how close our walk is with Him that will bring us through our crises. The crosses-crises we go through reveal who we truly are, what’s really in us, what we’re made of, just who indeed we are truly following and serving. People can say they follow the Lord, but if their confidence is in signs, they’re still caught up in externals and empty showmanship.
However, God says, “Look at my son/daughter, ___________, (put you name in here).
They have signs following them; they are signs themselves, just like my Old Testament prophets and their children.”
Words are cheap. Actions can cloak deceptive motives. But when sons of God follow Christ in spirit and truth (both wings in His Time), the world has to take notice.
This unshakeable unity in the Lord shakes the very foundations of what seems to be!
It’s revealed sometimes like the awesome power a united army unleashes when it marches together, in time. Such highly trained natural armies even have to break rank when crossing bridges or their synchronized co-ordination can actually cause them to collapse!
Or on the other hand, it can be like the game where the ‘leader’ mischievously falls in step closely behind the ‘follower’ without his knowing, and they walk together, step-in-step, virtually as one body. Our Heavenly Father delights in playfully exchanging places with his children, leading by walking so closely behind us, we don’t even realize He’s there. We begin to learn to lead by simply being led by His Presence!
And still other times, He intimately draws us even more closely to Himself, holding and caressing us, as a Bridegroom dances with His Bride, lifting her up for all the world to see! So Christ’s Church, His body, is rising up and advancing over all the earth!
An army of sons and daughters wedded by the New Covenant in Christ’s Blood! United in His Body and established in His Kingdom! He leads us together in His Spirit, one step at a time, to shake earth’s natural foundations, take ground in men’s hearts, disciple nations, do business, occupy and fill the earth with His glory…as the waters cover the sea!
This is our calling: to walk in His Presence and our destiny in Christ here on earth NOW ...so much more than just waiting till heaven’s ready for us.
Paul learned this walk in the Spirit and knew His leading.
In Acts 16:6-10, he and his apostolic team traveled west from Galatia, intending to preach in Ephesus, the major city of the Roman province of Asia. Big commercial, religious, political centre, important centre of influence, lots of souls for the kingdom: prime place to preach, right?
But the Holy Spirit forbade them! Or was it the devil? Can you tell the difference?
Surely, if someone is hindering the gospel, it must be the devil! Or is it?
Paul was not just trained to not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Gal 5:16 does not equate walking in the Spirit with not fulfilling the lust of the flesh. The second is a result of the first; both are not equal. There is a great deal more to the Christian life than just not sinning (whatever that is). Our identity must be more than negatives or what we don’t do.
I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs…hey, I’m a Christian! Unnnhh! Wrong!
Canadians sometimes reason that same way. We think we are Canadians because we’re not Americans!?! That’s confusing and produces confusion! No wonder our country has gone through such identity crises.
God has not only forgiven us, but we who were former sinners are now saints. We are a new creation with a new Identity and Destiny, sanctified, set apart for His glory! Walking in the Spirit does not result from legalistically trying to not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. These are two entirely different mind-sets.
God has freed us from the works of the flesh by the faith of Jesus Christ and called us to walk in His liberty. He wants us to rejoice in this freedom and let the Holy Spirit break us through into new and future adventures in uncharted territory. It’s neither a matter of how well we can keep the letter-perfect dictates of a spiritualized Christian ‘law’, nor of how close we can come to sin without ‘losing our salvation’. It has everything to do with drawing closer day by day to Jesus and letting Him lead us in victory through the enemy’s snares and distractions in this world!
Paul didn’t just receive a preaching-healing gift to justify whatever else he wanted to do ‘in Jesus’ Name’. He had the call to live Christ, follow Christ and preach Christ wherever the Spirit led him. Not just preach and ‘do the stuff’. He was not primarily a preaching machine.
Preaching and other ‘spiritual gifts’ can even be motivated by people-pleasing pride, producing nothing other than lust of the flesh! Ask any honest preacher.
No! Paul was being trained to walk in the Spirit and know His Lord’s leading, yielding to the subtle sensitive tugs on His heart, not just following circumstantial signs.
The Holy Spirit said ‘No!’ to Asia.
At that time it was not His Time.
Paul turned north to Mysia + Bithynia. Surely this was the Lord’s direction!?
But again, “The Spirit did not permit them.”
A lesser man, led by his own feelings, would have been discouraged and turned back to Antioch, questioning whether God had ever really called him to preach in the first place. But Paul was not such a man: he and his team were not easily stopped. Going back was not an option.
Neither to the left nor right? Sounds like Moses at the Red Sea, eh?
So they went straight ahead …to Troas (Troy) and that’s where Paul had his Macedonian vision and clearly “concluded the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
Paul had felt to go to Ephesus: big city, big vision, big exposure?
But God had a bigger vision than Paul!
Paul saw only a city, but God saw Europe, a whole new continent!
Eventually, after 2 years and churches successfully established in Philippi, Thessalonica and Corinth, Paul made it to Ephesus. He later spent 3 years there and evangelized the entire area.
If Paul had only been led by his gifting, and went to Ephesus according to how he might have ‘success’, he might have had good meetings, but missed out on God’s Best.
In His time.
True sons know their Identity to walk in the Spirit + fulfill their Destiny.
IN HIS TIME - Part 3
Jesus didn’t say He’d be there just at the end to meet us when we arrive on the other side.
He says, “I AM with you always, all the way through.”
His light isn’t just at the end of the tunnel; He’s with us in the midst of the darkness and trials. He is the Light unto our path, the Lamp unto our feet.
It’s not enough to just run: we need to run with the right message, direction and timing.
We need to run with patience, endurance, perseverance and never give up.
These all relate to timing.
God’s not looking for showy sprinters, but good starters who finish well.
He’s training marathoners who will run together with Him.
He ran and finished His race well here on earth and opened up a better way for us, a new and living way. His race; we need His pace.
Too often, Christians follow wannabe shooting stars and end up crashing in ditches of legalism or license. These are poor and shameful substitutes for a personal walk in liberty with the Living God. Faith beckons us to cross the threshold, take a daring step through His revelation into the unknown, and then another and another, continually trusting God Himself has opened the way.
Jesus only spoke what He heard the Father speak. Only did what He saw the Father do.
So should we.
Only five centuries ago, much of the Church had so compromised its faith that it had lost its Christian outlook and world-view.
It had become mired in institutionalized form, rather than being a revolutionary force.
It had decided for scaffolding rather than substance.
It had so compromised itself that it became a maintenance-minded status quo of hierarchical, religious people-pleasers.
Called to bring truth to light, it had instead retreated into shadows of fear and mystery. Forsaking a clear stand in the truth of God’s Word, it had become spoiled by vain philosophies of men and painted itself into a corner, ironically defending pagan Aristotelian myth (the earth is flat and if you sail too far, you will drop over the edge) as God’s truth.
Similarly, to a large extent, so have we.
However, Christopher Columbus saw himself and his world in a different, divine light.
He derived both his identity and destiny to dispel darkness and break down old mind-sets from his namesake, Christ the Light-bearer.
He believed the Word of God. For him, Isaiah 40:9 described the ‘circle of the earth’ as a globe and this insight gave him the confidence that he could reach Oriental destinations by sailing westward. He did not believe the fear-mongers’ prophecies that he would fall over the ocean edge and perish. Rather, faith by God’s Word stirred his vision to look beyond the edge and see new lands…a new world to be discovered.
He further read, ‘The islands wait for Me,’ (Isa 60:9) and his eschatology and world-view were revolutionized. Only when the whole earth (including all those yet-to-be-discovered lands) had heard Christ’s gospel could the Lord ever come again… and not before!
Columbus realized he had God’s calling to answer, His destiny to fulfill, this job to do!
He believed His time had come. It was His time to step out in the boat.
Christopher was predestined to follow Christ his Light, break through old borders, open new horizons and discover new lands, all to the further glory of Christ’s name! Many could not grasp his vision, but Columbus sought to fulfill his part. His destiny called him into the unknown and he stepped out in faith on the Word of God.
He believed He was called according to God’s purpose, predestined by God.
Many of us face much this same dilemma in our day.
And here’s where either faith releases or religion entraps.
Rom 8:28’s ‘predestinate’ (the only form of ‘destiny’ in the New Testament) is the English translation of the Greek ‘proorizo’(4309 Strong’s Concordance). While others debated that this meant either the predetermined ‘fate’ of a sovereign God, or the answer of man’s preconceived ‘free will’, Columbus took it in its practical sense and turned his world upside down.
It literally means ‘pro’ = ‘before’ + ‘orizo’ = ‘limit, decree, boundary, horizon’; that is, ‘to see in advance’. As you approach what appears to be earth’s edge, the visible horizon steadily retreats before you. As you confront and break through the ‘old horizon’ boundary, whole new horizons repeatedly appear and further open up before you.
‘Predestinate’ then takes on a whole new perspective!
Rather than being trapped in some fatalistic box, you are now free to journey ‘before horizons’, confident He is leading you out of old world forms into new world vistas.
As in the natural, so also in the spiritual, God has also challenged and broken the religious, traditional, limiting horizons, the status quo, defeatist, God-in-the-box systems of unbelief. While others remained in port, complaining and making excuses why it couldn’t be done, Columbus set sail, opened up new horizons by faith and our world has never been the same!
He believed the Word of God rather than his contemporary fear-mongers.
He knew His time!
The Word of God releases faith to advance in the Spirit and discover new realms of His glory in the kingdom of God NOW!
That’s how the Spirit leads His children in faith.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
We are.. transformed into the same image (changed to be more like Jesus each day)
from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord!” (2Cor 3:17-18)
Even today, this same Spirit confronts and destroys old, religious, negative boundaries/mindsets and releases sons and daughters to walk in His kingdom faith
…it’s His Time!
He says, “I AM with you always, all the way through.”
His light isn’t just at the end of the tunnel; He’s with us in the midst of the darkness and trials. He is the Light unto our path, the Lamp unto our feet.
It’s not enough to just run: we need to run with the right message, direction and timing.
We need to run with patience, endurance, perseverance and never give up.
These all relate to timing.
God’s not looking for showy sprinters, but good starters who finish well.
He’s training marathoners who will run together with Him.
He ran and finished His race well here on earth and opened up a better way for us, a new and living way. His race; we need His pace.
Too often, Christians follow wannabe shooting stars and end up crashing in ditches of legalism or license. These are poor and shameful substitutes for a personal walk in liberty with the Living God. Faith beckons us to cross the threshold, take a daring step through His revelation into the unknown, and then another and another, continually trusting God Himself has opened the way.
Jesus only spoke what He heard the Father speak. Only did what He saw the Father do.
So should we.
Only five centuries ago, much of the Church had so compromised its faith that it had lost its Christian outlook and world-view.
It had become mired in institutionalized form, rather than being a revolutionary force.
It had decided for scaffolding rather than substance.
It had so compromised itself that it became a maintenance-minded status quo of hierarchical, religious people-pleasers.
Called to bring truth to light, it had instead retreated into shadows of fear and mystery. Forsaking a clear stand in the truth of God’s Word, it had become spoiled by vain philosophies of men and painted itself into a corner, ironically defending pagan Aristotelian myth (the earth is flat and if you sail too far, you will drop over the edge) as God’s truth.
Similarly, to a large extent, so have we.
However, Christopher Columbus saw himself and his world in a different, divine light.
He derived both his identity and destiny to dispel darkness and break down old mind-sets from his namesake, Christ the Light-bearer.
He believed the Word of God. For him, Isaiah 40:9 described the ‘circle of the earth’ as a globe and this insight gave him the confidence that he could reach Oriental destinations by sailing westward. He did not believe the fear-mongers’ prophecies that he would fall over the ocean edge and perish. Rather, faith by God’s Word stirred his vision to look beyond the edge and see new lands…a new world to be discovered.
He further read, ‘The islands wait for Me,’ (Isa 60:9) and his eschatology and world-view were revolutionized. Only when the whole earth (including all those yet-to-be-discovered lands) had heard Christ’s gospel could the Lord ever come again… and not before!
Columbus realized he had God’s calling to answer, His destiny to fulfill, this job to do!
He believed His time had come. It was His time to step out in the boat.
Christopher was predestined to follow Christ his Light, break through old borders, open new horizons and discover new lands, all to the further glory of Christ’s name! Many could not grasp his vision, but Columbus sought to fulfill his part. His destiny called him into the unknown and he stepped out in faith on the Word of God.
He believed He was called according to God’s purpose, predestined by God.
Many of us face much this same dilemma in our day.
And here’s where either faith releases or religion entraps.
Rom 8:28’s ‘predestinate’ (the only form of ‘destiny’ in the New Testament) is the English translation of the Greek ‘proorizo’(4309 Strong’s Concordance). While others debated that this meant either the predetermined ‘fate’ of a sovereign God, or the answer of man’s preconceived ‘free will’, Columbus took it in its practical sense and turned his world upside down.
It literally means ‘pro’ = ‘before’ + ‘orizo’ = ‘limit, decree, boundary, horizon’; that is, ‘to see in advance’. As you approach what appears to be earth’s edge, the visible horizon steadily retreats before you. As you confront and break through the ‘old horizon’ boundary, whole new horizons repeatedly appear and further open up before you.
‘Predestinate’ then takes on a whole new perspective!
Rather than being trapped in some fatalistic box, you are now free to journey ‘before horizons’, confident He is leading you out of old world forms into new world vistas.
As in the natural, so also in the spiritual, God has also challenged and broken the religious, traditional, limiting horizons, the status quo, defeatist, God-in-the-box systems of unbelief. While others remained in port, complaining and making excuses why it couldn’t be done, Columbus set sail, opened up new horizons by faith and our world has never been the same!
He believed the Word of God rather than his contemporary fear-mongers.
He knew His time!
The Word of God releases faith to advance in the Spirit and discover new realms of His glory in the kingdom of God NOW!
That’s how the Spirit leads His children in faith.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
We are.. transformed into the same image (changed to be more like Jesus each day)
from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord!” (2Cor 3:17-18)
Even today, this same Spirit confronts and destroys old, religious, negative boundaries/mindsets and releases sons and daughters to walk in His kingdom faith
…it’s His Time!
IN HIS TIME -PART 4
So how can I apply this in my time…the situations I’m facing today and tomorrow?
I pray this testimony may be an encouragement to you all!
This last year has not been easy for our family, but the Lord has been with us and led us. As some of you know, Erica and I were involved with a ministry, leading a Training Centre during the last 4 years. Some of you were eagles with us then. We enjoyed wonderful times in God’s Presence. The Holy Spirit revealed our Identity (we are not turkeys, but His eagles) to release us into our Destiny (get our 2 wings to fly and soar with Christ) and fulfill God’s kingdom purpose in our lives.
However, in the midst of these ‘glories’, strong discrepancies appeared between the ministry’s professed vision-values and its actual reality. My wife and I met with the leadership and challenged what we discerned to be hypocrisy and deception. We did not seek to condemn; we simply sought to be honest and loving, at the same time. Part of an eagle’s training is to simply use both wings: speak the truth in love.
We did. It was not received. We knew our time was finished. However, for the sake of the students, I felt we needed to stay until the end of the term…another 2 ½ months. This would not be easy, but somehow I felt strongly that this was necessary.
Time did not fly by; in fact, it often seemed to grind to a halt. Especially when the ministry went into revival mode and God appeared to be suddenly blessing (?) what we had questioned! It all grew very confusing!
Finally, the last day of the semester arrived and our class shared in a time of communion. Students were speaking their hearts and I felt I needed to also.
So after others had shared about how they were facing changes, I also told them about ours: this would probably be our last year as leaders in the Training Centre. Many responded: some with understanding; others were upset. It’s not easy to go against the flow of what appears. However, I felt I had to take a stand, be honest publicly and leave the rest to the Lord.
That was on Friday. Sunday night was graduation. Monday we were finished!
So I thought: “Now I can just kick back and finally rest…let’s get a movie!”
Do you think God can speak any way He wants?
He definitely speaks through His Word and His Spirit in many ways: people, circumstances, thoughts, feelings, dreams, but what about movies?
Is He free to speak and confirm whatever way He wants? Come and See!
Looking through the titles on the DVD racks, I thought I should get a chick flick for Erica. Found one, but can’t even remember what it was now. But just in case she didn’t like my first choice, I thought I’d better get a back-up. I walked up and down the rows, sampling different covers. I picked them up and checked them over, then put them down again. One seemed to linger longer in my hands: a baseball story called “Off the Black”. Never heard of it! The popular movies all had multiple copies on the shelf; this one stood alone. So much for it being well-known and popular! Nick Nolte was the lead actor. I’d heard of him, but nothing too earth-shaking. Put it down, continued sampling. No particular movie suited my mood or taste, and I found myself back with “Off the Black”.
I reread the storyline. Again put it down, and picked it up a third time.
Finally I decided, “Oh, why not?!’ and took it home.
That evening we watched the chick flick, but Erica lost interest halfway through and went to bed. However, I was now in vacation mode and wanted some amusement. I wanted to turn my mind off and just relax.
Curious, I popped in “Off the Black”.
Scene opened: a baseball diamond. Nick Nolte’s character, a somewhat rounded, 60ish and balding umpire calls out, “Ball Four!” and in walks the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. ‘Off the Black’ means ‘off target; outside the strike zone’. That meant a loss for the teenage pitcher and he was not a happy camper. He’s so upset, in fact, he wants revenge for what he views as a bad call that cost him the game. So he and a couple of his buddies decide to trash the ump’s yard. A few nights later, 2:30 in the morning, they strike: general mayhem, toilet paper strewn throughout the trees, a rock crashes through Nick’s car’s side window. Inside, ‘Nick’ is passed out in his easy chair, surrounded by empty beer bottles, TV still on, but no one’s watching …not much of a life! But the breaking window awakens him, he rises, stumbles groggily to the doorway and catches the pitcher as he tries to make his getaway.
“What…? Who…? he stammers, trying to assess what’s going on and what he’ll do.
He can only threaten, “You’ll pay for this! You’re going to fix this up… or else!”
“Ah, stop bugging me, old man!”
“Old man!? I’ll show you!”
But before either of them does anything foolish, the teenager relents and over the next few afternoons, returns to clean up his mess. The two even begin to strike up a friendly relationship.
Also during this time, Nick receives an invitation to an upcoming high school grad reunion. He graduated in 1966. Same year as me! Hmmmm!?
Looking at his life, he feels like a real loser, a turkey, no eagle at all. No family, no measure of any success whatever. He feels he has nothing to share with old grad friends. But somehow this crazy idea gets in his head. He fights it, but the next day when the kid comes over, he makes his offer.
“I’ve got this invitation to my grad reunion. I was thinking about going, but then I figured I really got nothing to tell anyone ...no stories, no family, no exciting experiences. But then I was also thinkin’… that window’s gonna cost you a lot to fix and seein’ you haven’t got money like that, uhh… so I was thinking, how about you come with me to the grad, be my son for the day, and we’ll call it even, hey?”
“You’re crazy!” and the kid stormed off.
However, he reconsidered, came back in a few hours, and both agreed to the deal.
Over the next few days, their relationship grew and suddenly the scene shifts to a boat out in a lake and the two of them fishing. The shadows show it’s late afternoon; the kid’s impatience shows they haven’t had much luck.
‘Want to call it a day? Haven't had any bites all day.”
Nick replies, ‘You're a real whiner, you know that! Do you know Henry Schmidt?’
… I believe I dropped off the couch! I could not believe my ears! Had I heard correctly? Wasn’t that my name?
Nick continued. I listened, scarcely able to take in what followed.
“This fellow was a pitcher from Texas. In his rookie year, he played for the Dodgers, won 20 games. Know what he did for his 2nd year?
He sent in his 2nd season contract unsigned with a note attached to it: I do not like to live in the East & I won't report.
He never played another game in the majors.”
‘Why?’ the kid asked.
‘Why?
Because Henry Schmidt knew he had to walk away.
Because some voice deep inside of him was telling him it was time.
Now, do you have a voice deep inside of you that's telling you, “It’s time?”’
And that was the end of it! A couple minutes' dialogue out in a boat, totally unrelated to the rest of the movie, a scene out of nowhere with my name in it! It’s not like my name is that popular that it pops up normally in books or movies. I sat there…literally dumbfounded!
I reached for the remote and pressed Replay. Played it again. Sure enough…that was my name! Clearly I was not hearing things.
And then the message!
Henry Schmidt knew he had to walk away because he had a voice deep inside telling him it was time!
That fit! I played it again…and again…and again.
But then I started second guessing: maybe someone’s made a mistake or they’re playing a cruel joke on me. But it was no mistake. I thought of waking Erica up. But then I figured if it was true, it would keep until morning.
It was true. Check out the movie for yourself. In fact, I’ve attached it to the end of this blog. I don’t know if the director really knew why he was putting that scene in his movie, but I am convinced it was solely and ultimately for my benefit! The message and its timing were extraordinary! Exactly the issue I had been facing! Precisely what we had felt, but without any external confirmations! In fact, what evidence there was seemed to show I was dead wrong!
My confidence level soared! I googled ‘Henry Schmidt’ and sure enough: he was not a fictional character, but a real pitcher, played his rookie season for Brooklyn in 1903. Exactly like Nick had described!
It’s not my name in the movie that was so amazing, but how I’d chosen it (or had it chosen me?) the very day after our classes finished, neither a week/month/year before or after, but that very day!
The timing was more than incidental; it was Godcidental!
And the message: it was a prophetic word for us to know that regardless of what people said or what things looked like, it was God’s opinion and timing that mattered most.
Not too many stood with us during the test, but the Lord wanted us to know He was standing with us! And He led us away when it was the right time in His time.
Paul writes, “But the Lord stood with me” (2Tim 4:17) and when it comes right down to it, what else really matters?
“Do you have a voice deep inside you telling you, ‘It’s time?’
P.S. Click on the following and you can actually check out the actual scene itself!
Isn’t God amazing?
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