Even though there are certain things that are constant for us to enjoy in God’s word such as our righteousness, health and prosperity, (3 John 2) as believers, we must realize that God has times and seasons for various things in our lives and ministry. (Acts 3:19) “Repent ye therefore, and be converted that your sins might be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the lord”. Any time God speaks concerning anything, it is important to respond properly or we may miss out on what God is doing.
First of All how do we know what times and seasons we are in? By being constantly in God’s presence praying and seeking His face and He will reveal His will for that time to us by His Spirit.
For example, God has told us that it is a season of new beginnings, how do we respond to that? Certainly not by sitting around and waiting for a wind to blow or just saying “Hallelujah.” (Ephesians 3:13-14). We are forgetting past failures and successes and reaching for what God has for us in the future which is always better than the past, doing better than we’ve ever done, in all things required by the Word of God. We press into it through prayer, obedience and faith.
PRAYER: When we are praying in response to a word from God to us about a particular situation, we should not pray just any kind of prayer, but prayer that is in line with what He has said to us.
Zechariah 10:1 says “ask ye of the lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain to every one grass in the field.”
Let us be reminded of how important it is to yield quickly whenever we feel led to pray, because God uses our prayers to manifest His will on earth.
Romans 8:26-27 says “likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God”
FAITH: Some say “if God wills it, it will happen regardless of my response or actions” but this is not true, for example, we all know how the children of Israel wandered for 40 years in the wilderness because they did not respond properly (by faith) to God’s will/word until a new generation came in with faith before they entered into the promise (Hebrews 4:2) “for unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it”.
OBEDIENCE: There are different levels of obedience. There is complete obedience and there is partial obedience.
Partial obedience is manipulating an instruction to fit your needs, desires, circumstances or situation. It is doing it at your own convenience and not in the timing of God. The problem with this is that it is a lack of trust for God, power and might and according to the flesh not the Spirit. Needless to say you definitely will not get the desired result.
Complete obedience on the other hand is doing what God says in His time and how he wants it done. A perfect illustration is seen in Numbers 14:1-45. God told the children of Israel to go up and possess the land of promise but they were afraid to go and did not go because of the bad report given by the ten spies. When they were told by Moses that God was angry with them and that they would die in the wilderness because of their unbelief, they then decided to obey and go to possess the land. But Moses told them not to because God will not go with them. They did not listen and insisted on obeying the initial instruction but it was too late, the timing/season was wrong and they were not in complete obedience. This led to their eventual defeat and destruction by their enemies.
Was it God’s will that they possess the land? Yes. Were they able to do it? Yes. Yet, they were defeated and destroyed. Why? Disobedience and unbelief.
Finally, brothers and sisters, let us pray that God will give us the strength to seek His will, when He reveals it to us, (which He will), that we would be obedient and also mix it with faith. This is the only way that God’s perfect will, will be done here on earth.
