The right season
Fruit appear in the right season. God determined that there would be seasons in the earth: summer, autumn, winter & spring. Every season is necessary in the plan of God. Peaches & mangoes grow in summer to give energy but oranges and tangerines grow in winter when we need vitamin C for our bodies. Africa and Asia have a lot of summer fruit because of the warm climates, but Canada has a lot of winter fruit that is suitable to the climate. Everything has a season. The same applies in life.
Here are a few seasons to consider in our lives.
Zechariah speaks about the early and the late rains. The early rains are heavy rains to break up the hard, fallow ground for sowing. Late rains are scattered and lighter to produce a harvest. The prophet tells us to pray for rain in the time of rain. There is a season that rain should fall for a definite purpose. We need to discern the season accurately and pray accordingly.
Harvest is a time of great rejoicing. The fruit has grown to maturity and the harvest is ripe. You send in the harvesters to reap the harvest.
Israel had many feasts signifying different seasons. The feast of trumpets came just before the harvest. A trumpet signifies prophetic ministry: things are announced. The feast of atonement speaks of sanctification and cleansing.
The feast of tabernacles brings spiritual awareness and takes our eyes of the worldly things. They had to move out of their normal structures and build a temporary booth on the roof of their houses and live there for a whole week. That is why it is also called the feast of booths. It reminds them that they have no permanent dwelling on the earth but they are waiting for an eternal city that God built. Here we are sojourners, pilgrims but we have an open heaven because we know the eternal God. We have to come out of the man-made structures to serve the living God. Because we have our minds set on eternal things we can live in tents in a hostile environment.
In the AFM we used to gather from all over the country for a week in April at Maranatha Park where people lived in tents & caravans and worshipped God together as a Pentecostal nation. The AFM sold that property and no longer have a national event. It broke down the solidity of the denomination and it lost its cohesiveness. People no longer have that sense of belonging to a move.
By understanding the right season we can reach and impact nations and bring understanding wherever we go.
Hebrew for season is ‘eth’ – when we discern the ‘eth’ of God we can co-operate with Him and fulfil His purposes in the earth. To describe ‘eth’ it is like a piece of a pie dished up on a plate. This is your piece of the pie. This is your season. You were born for such a time as this in the overall purpose of God. All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:26)
‘Eth’ indicates a new season, a new dimension, a fresh understanding and we make a transition to enter it. We cross over to possess a new place in the spirit.
Israel had to leave Egypt behind to enter the Promised Land. Egypt is always associated with the world and with sin, but it actually refers to an old position, a former vision.
If you have a small vegetable patch you can water it with a watering can. Most people have small visions and their whole world is a small world.
Technology has shrunk the world. You can have a small church and influence the world through live streaming! We have reached 10 000 people in 125 nations in a few years from one place! The world has become our parish!
In 1988 I had a vision of serving 10 000 people. All I could think of at that stage was a church seating 10 000 people. But when we reached the 10 000 mark of viewers in 2016 through live streaming I realized that my dream has come true! But it did not happen in the way I thought. God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. In 1991 we were just a single church in Milnerton. Now we have churches all over the world networking with us in Harvester International Ministries. We have registered Harvester Church in South Africa, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, India and the Philippines! We have stepped into God’s ‘eth’ for our church and movement. We discerned the movement that God placed us in and got our new spiritual modem and found a environment with no limitations! Our spiritscape expanded beyond what we thought was possible!
We have learned to network with people who are of the same spiritual frequency as we are. We submitted to the plumbline in God’s hand to re-align our church to Jesus’ original plan for the church that He is building. The Lord allowed us to make divine connections that is mutually beneficial for the greater advancement of the Kingdom of God and the betterment of humanity.
The Prophet Zechariah describes the flashing clouds in the time of rain. It speaks of spiritual enlightenment and accuracy. It is a time of clarity and understanding. It is a wonderful season! It is a time of reformation!
Hebrews 9:10 –reformation in Greek is ‘diorthosis’ and it literally means to straighten thoroughly, rectification, to straighten out, to bring back in order. It describes a bone that has gone out of joint and needs to be put back in its proper position.
Job describes a war horse accurately: it paws the ground, it smells the battle, it is ready to go war! It is not intimidated by the danger. It hears the trumpet signalling the attack and says ‘aha!’ and devours the distance with great speed and steps into the battle to occupy new territory!
That is what reformers are like: they are not intimidated by the present condition of the world. They are ready to take new ground. When they hear the trumpet they say ‘aha’ and step into new territories! They devour distance with great speed! They criss-cross the globe at great speed to deliver the message of the Kingdom of Christ bringing great reforms wherever they go! They are not scared to sponsor this move because they know they are fulfilling Christ’s great commission and will be rewarded for doing so!
This morning we realize we are in the ‘eth’ of God and we say ‘aha’ to what needs to be done! God’s army is an unstoppable force in the earth! His will be done on earth as it is in heaven!
Amen
