The Signs Are All Around Us...Do You Perceive Them?

 God has given us an unseasonably warm winter thus far which I have personally enjoyed.  It speaks of God's sovereignty and control over everything that is happening around us despite the world's circumstances and fallenness.  In Ecclesiastes 3, God reveals to us that:

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴ I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

¹⁵ Whatever is has already been,
    and what will be has been before;
    and God will call the past to account.

¹⁶ And I saw something else under the sun:

In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
    in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

¹⁷ I said to myself,

“God will bring into judgment
    both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
    a time to judge every deed.”

 

We can't fully comprehend God's ways and timing, but we can be obedient to the season of life whatever our circumstances, trials, hurts and burdens may be.  For we know in all things, God is Emmanuel and with us who is the one in control of everything.  Even when it does not make sense to us intellectually, or we try to seek scientific reasoning, or we offer posits of why we are experiencing abnormal weather patterns where regions are getting snow that normally doesn't see snow, the east cost is getting above average and record breaking temperatures in the winter months, torrential flooding that hasn't occurred in areas for over hundreds of years and tornados where they are least likely to happen.  In the midst of all of this and our own personal storms, God is still in control and with us.  I believe God is sending us urgent messages to awaken us calling us to come back to God and God alone!  God is desiring for us to draw near to Him and He will then draw near to us. 

 

God has placed upon my heart that this is a time of Him awakening His people for a revival.  In order for a revival to take place there must be a fortunate fall.  Where do our priorities lie in our every day waking life?  I pray that it is God first that we are seeking in all areas of our lives.

 

As I look out into my small garden at my front steps, I see God reminding me that He orchestrates Divine order, time and seasons of life as my Easter lilies are up preparing to bloom in the middle of winter instead of early spring.  God is saying,

"See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland."

 

^{Right before there was an awakening during the time of John the Baptist who was preaching in the wilderness of Judea, he asked them to:}

 

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.’ ”

 

People were coming forth from the Judean region.  The were coming and confessing their sins and were baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.  We know what follows John's heed and warnings of repentance.  Jesus then comes to John asking to be baptized which would set the divine order, time and season for the destiny of Jesus' ministry.  Jesus said, "Let it be so now; it is proper that the right time (season) for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness"  (Matthew 3:15). 

 

Because Jesus was aware of the right timing of His Father, He obediently followed God.  Those witnessing Jesus' baptism also witnessed God's anointing for the new thing that was about to spring up.  Then the heavens opened up where Jesus and others "saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:16). 

 

If Jesus were to come back today, are we walking in God's holy anointing and aligned to God's will?  What would God from heaven say to each of us?  The signs are all around us.  I pray that we perceive it and are making a way for the coming of the Lord for what is eminent for it has been written and does not delay or follow our personal schedules.  God has been in control since the beginning, for He is the Alpha and the Omega.  His words, truth and promises are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  They do not change, so I would suggest that we walk obediently against the ways of the world professing the coming of Jesus our Savior of the World!  His timing is and will be perfect.  Will you be ready?  Amen