Thursday, August 4, 2016

Recognize your season!


Happy Thursday, saints! This is the day that Lord has made and I pray that you are rejoicing and glad in it! God is amazing in His timing. He always knows what you need, when you need it. I’ve just come back from my Rhema Retreat and it was awesome! God stretched me and allowed me to see some of what He has called me to. I almost couldn’t believe what took place over the course of that 48 hours. When I returned home, I was reminded several times of different prophetic words that people have spoken over my life over the last several months. They were words of breakthrough and victory, fresh anointing and deliverance. I heard them and hid them in my heart but if I’m honest, I don’t know that I really believed them because my circumstances didn’t back them up. But today, God said to me, “Recognize your season.” He said, “If you recognize where you are in Me, your circumstances can no longer dictate where you stay.” Whew!! How many of you have been stuck in one place because your situation didn’t look like the promise? God basically said that if you begin to believe and walk in what He has promised, you can speak to your circumstances and see them change. You can tell them to line up and come under subjection to the Holy Spirit and the word of God. The key is recognizing where God has you. What has He been saying to you about your life and your purpose? What has He been leading you to and showing you? If God is saying breakthrough to you, you need to set your mind and your mouth to breakthrough. Close your eyes to what your circumstances are saying and focus on your faith.

I was reminded of Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 1 &2. You might remember that they were in captivity, living amongst the Babylonians but they were in an interesting position. God had blessed them with favor and such wisdom that they were considered among the wisest in the kingdom and were often sought out by the king. When Nebuchadnezzar had a difficult dream, he sought out the Babylonian wise men for interpretation but none of them were able to do it. They said, “There is not a man on earth who can tell the king’s matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean.  It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” (Dan. 2:10 -11, NKJV) This sent the king into a rage and he decreed that all wise men be put to death, including Daniel and his friends, because they had proven themselves to be wise. Daniel asked his friends, to pray that God would reveal what the dream meant so they could live. Well, to make a long story short, God answered and gave the interpretation. When Daniel presented what God said to the king, it blew his mind! In response, Nebuchadnezzar honored God and promoted Daniel to governor and gave him permission to elevate his friends.

So you might be asking, what does this have to do with recognizing your season? Well, I asked the same thing and God told me to look at their situation. It all became clear. Their circumstances said bondage but their season said promotion. Daniel grabbed hold of what God was saying and his circumstances had to line up with God. Recognize your season and walk in it. If everything you hear God saying about your life and purpose are saying victory, grab hold, obey and watch God move what He has to in order to bring it to pass. If Daniel would have gotten stuck on what his situation said, he would have been dead. Instead, He knew the God that He served and decided to trust Him. Everything he had been seeing in his life during this time told him that God was with him, so his circumstances had to line up with that. After God gave him the interpretation, Daniel acknowledged God’s ability by blessing Him, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His.  And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.” (Dan. 2:21, NKJV)

Do you see? God is in control and has the wisdom and the power to shift what is needed to bring about His plan. He can move people and He can give you the intelligence and discernment to do whatever He wants you to.  My challenge to you today is to recognize the season that God has you in and walk in it. If He is saying move, don’t let your circumstances make you stay. If He is saying promotion, don’t let your situation say downgrade. If He is saying step out, don’t let what you see say isolate. God has such great plans for you and He wants you to trust who He is so that He can use you to accomplish those things. Recognize your season and watch things begin to line up in your favor.

Amen