New Seasons of Promise
Jeanne Stewart, Oklahoma
Have
you ever been so hungry for a sweet, juicy, pear in winter? Does the thought
tantalize your taste buds? But winter is not the season for pears! In the natural,
the season for perfect fruit comes with much preparation after all the elements
of weather and care are fulfilled. In the realm of the spirit we ripen our
spiritual fruitfulness in the principles of God’s Kingdom as we walk the
seasons of His training grace.
Let
me share with you a situation in the work place of a godly woman whom Father
God has been teaching, ‘mercy triumphing
over judgment’ (James 2:13), for the past year. Misunderstandings, discontentment,
disappointments between her supervisor and herself had been building over a
period of time. During this phase (season) the Lord was revealing His word to
her in kingdom principles and her maturity in grace and mercy was growing with
great passion spiritually. One morning while talking with her supervisor about
job duties and accountability, both became increasingly angry. Words were
exchanged back and forth that turned into a competition of rage between the
two. As all irritations came out into
the light that had been hidden, both left that place hurt and wounded as
neither acted like the position each truly was to represent. Her supervisor’s
responsibility was to guide fairly the work and she was to represent God’s
kingdom of love and respect of authority, but the meeting had become like a third
grade recess fight only with words. Over
the next week neither spoke and the atmosphere of the work place was strained
with hurt emotions. The Holy Spirit convicted her heart of sin and to
acknowledge it as such. He moved her to
ask forgiveness of her boss for the words she had spoken in anger. She confessed in tears and explained the sin
of slander which had brought shame to his position of authority and God’s.
As
she was obedient to the Spirit’s instructions, she has now entered a new season
of fruitfulness and is taking a new turn into the death of self-will. She
learned that it was not enough to ask forgiveness. She had to see what she did
as sin and an insult of authority, no matter who seemed wrong or right. She is
learning the judgment side of mercy by the hand of God through authority.
Let
us go in scripture to 1 Kings Chapters 17-19 to understand a new season in the
life of Elijah. Being from the tribe of Benjamin, he was an influential prophet of ninth
century B.C. during the reigns of Ahab
and Ahazian in the Northern kingdom of Israel. His prophetic activities emphasized the
unconditional loyalty to God required of the nation of Israel. Because of wayward Israel’s widespread idolatry, he appears in the
role of God’s instrument of judgment between the true worship of Jehovah and the false worship of Baal. From
hiding in the Kerith Ravine, being fed by ravens and
drinking from the brook we go to the widow at Zarephath
where Elijah prayed and her son was restored to life.
This widow noticed that the power he walked in was from God as she spoke, ‘… now I know that you are a man of God and
that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth’ (1 Kings 17:24).
From there the Lord instructs Elijah to present himself before King Ahab with the message that the Lord would
provide rain after the land had been in drought for three and a half years. King Ahab had married Jezebel, the daughter of a
pagan king and she had influenced him into the worship of Baal. It was at this
time that Elijah challenges the 850 prophets of Baal and Asheroth to a contest on Mount Carmel (1Kings 18:21). Each side would offer sacrifices to
their God without building a fire. The ignition by fire would prove the
strongest god and thereby reveal himself as the true God. Jehovah God proves Himself true as Elijah’s sacrifice was consumed by fire from
heaven, and Israel responds strongly back to favor God. All
the false prophets of Baal and Asheroth are
slaughtered at Elijah’s command. Queen Jezebel is furious over the fate of the prophets
of Baal and vows she would take revenge upon Elijah and he flees to the desert for fear of
his life, being the only one of the Lord’s prophets left alive.
We
now see a different Elijah hiding in a cave at Horeb, the mountain of God. God asks Elijah two different times, ‘… what are you doing here, Elijah?’
(1Kings 19:9,13) Elijah had come to a new season in his life as a
prophet of God. Up to this time we have seen the confident and boldly
proclaiming prophet of God. Now we see the man, weary and fearful, without the
power of God; a place we all have come to in our lives of ministries and
encouragement to others.
We
as believers, the Bride of Christ, grow in strength and fruitfulness through
the difficulties (seasons) of everyday life here on earth before we take our
final move to the heavenly home with Him for all eternity. To be spiritually
fruitful (productive) we must allow the lessons of grace to develop us through
our seasons of change. The law was given to call sin against God as sin in all
our actions, in thought and deed. Calvary’s blood sacrifice brought the promise of healing grace through
repentance from sin. The Holy Spirit reveals to us these areas through His
convictive power to grow us to completeness in Christ. The ripeness of our spiritual fruit is
lived out daily as we walk and work among those around us, bringing God honor
in everything we say and do. Calling those things in us that displease Him as
sin, and dealing with our own heart is a daily walk of a penitent lifestyle.
The church today needs to see and understand that sin is anything that comes
between us and our heavenly Father. Anything that wedges between our spiritual
growth and takes away from us our desire to please Him above all else becomes
as an idol.
An
interesting thought in this story is found in verse one of chapter 19 where Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the
prophets with the sword. Ahab
did not consider the strength of Jehovah God as the one true God doing all, but
spoke of it as if it were Elijah doing some magical scheme like the false prophets of Baal were in
the custom of doing. In the role of the
Bride we have a mission to preserve the worship of the one true God in a pure
form without any mixture. Our uncompromising stand may often endanger our
popularity by bringing us into conflict with those in positions of power and
positions of leadership in our world today. But we need the new seasons in our
lives to keep us sharp and ever moving closer to that perfect place of all
total surrender of our way unto His.
Elijah ran away from Jezebel, taking himself out
of the situation. He had had enough, he wanted to die, he was no better than
his ancestors. (1Kings 19:4) The
woman in the situation with her boss was becoming discontent with where she was
working. Both took action but both over-reacted because God was moving them
both into new seasons of something new to do for the Kingdom of God. Elijah was to anoint Hazael
as king over Syria, anoint Jehu king over Israel and Elisha as prophet in Elijah’s place. God was not done with Elijah, God was moving him into a new place of
mentoring. The woman was to be the image of God in the work place, being His
voice of understanding and patience as she lived out the Kingdom principle of
love, forgiving.
As
the Church (Bride) let us go on and move past where we walk, what we think is
truth, and progress on into that new season, advancing steadily toward the
completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity. As heirs of His
promise, the very certainty of the presence within the veil, we can be sure
that our Father God has a divine purpose behind every single trial we endure in
the changing seasons of our spiritual growth.
‘And though the Lord gives you the bread of
adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide Himself
any more, but your eyes will constantly behold your Teacher and your ears will
hear a word behind you, saying … this is the way; walk in it, when you turn to
the right hand and when you turn to the left.’ (Isaiah 30:20-21 Amplified)
We
the Church (Bride) must see those things that keep us weak spiritually as sin
and calling it sin, turn and repent so that our lives may bring forth the
promise, yielding fruit in due season as we ever move forward in His mercy that
triumphs over judgment.
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