THE TRUTH

 With Deaconess Bakare Victor Temitope

                APPOINTED TIME

Habakkuk 2:3 says “the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Like any well regulated business, God’s plan runs on a time schedule.

“Due time” and the “appointed time”. Time began at creation and it became the agency through which God continued to unveil His divine purpose. He is the Beginning and the End” this points out His Lordship over time. Also, Jesus with the father, existed prior to the beginning of time. “Jesus Christ is the sameyesterday, today and forever” hence, they are neither limited by time, nor adversely affected by it. But in contrast to God and Jesus, humanity is limited by time in the cycle of birth, life and death.

Human beings are pilgrim, strangers passing through the earth.Human beings are on a journey and must return home. Therefore, human being must be conscious of time. for we must be aware that there is a time for birth and a time to die. You must know that day to day you are getting closer to the grave, and thus closer to the day of judgment Hebrews 9:27 says “It is appointed unto man to die once and after death is judgment,“human beings are men in hurry” because he knows that time is against him. Any missed opportunity might not be regained. For this reason, we must be careful on how we use our time. We must not be a time waster; we must take cognizance of the following time:

1. TIME TO PLANT. In Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 the bible says, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;”so the question is, what can we plant? Let’s read from Luke 8: 11-end, from there we could see that the seed from the parable is the “word of God”. Therefore, we must use our time to plant this seed gently into the heart of men instead of wasting our time on fables and stories. We plant the word of God by witnessing to the unbelievers and encouraging fellow believers on daily bases.

2. A TIME TO UPROOT: In Matthew 15:13, the bible says “But he answered and said, every plant, which my father has not planted shall be rooted up” we must be ready to uproot plant that the father has not planted, such as demons.In Mark 16:17, the bible tells us to cast out demons. Therefore, do not compromise; uproot them and throw them out.

3. TIME TO KILL: In Ecclesiastes 3:3, the bible says; “a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up.” All those things that wants to drag us back from our Christian race must be destroyed. Such as lust of the flesh, bad habits etc. all hindrances both physical and spiritual must be removed. In 1 Samuel 15:1-3, God told Saul to wipe out the entire nation of the Amalekites because they were germs.

4. TIME TO WEEP: there is always a time of weeping before there can be a shout of Alleluia! In your prayer closet, you must pray the prayers that will bring tears to your facebefore there can be shouts of victory. Jesus as an example constantly pray at night during His earthly ministry Hewrestled all night so that in the day, He could have miracles. In John 11:35 the bible says, “Jesus wept”. Why did Jesus weep? Just before He performed one of the greatest miracles, He said to a man who had been dead for four days, “Lazarus, come forth!” weeping must come before laughing. There must have been real rejoicing when Lazarus came forth. The rejoicing may not necessarily be because of you but for someone else. But the bible admonishes us to rejoice with those that are rejoicing and weep with those that are weeping.

5. TIME TO MOURN: In Ecclesiastes 3:4 the bible says that as there is also a time for mourning and dancing. Mourning must precede the victory dance. When you go with mourning and tears on your face, you can be sure your days of laughter are around the corner, because those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.

6. TIME TO CAST AWAY STONES: For a Christian to be able to live the life of Christ, the kind of life that will bring glory to God, after salvation, after he has been cleansed in the blood of the lamb, that heart which is desperately wicked has to be replaced with the heart of the flesh, anything in our lives that will not allow us to win souls or to bring forth fruits unto repentance, have to be removed. These things that needed to be removed or replaced are stones that must be cast away; some of them are agents of the devil. Some of them are false brethren, they are in the church purposely to weaken the church, they must be uprooted and thrown out.

7. TIME TO GATHER STONE: There are some stones that must be gathered together which are the people that are living the life of holiness the bible called them living stones. They will be gathered together to build a house for God- a spiritual house for God. We brethren we must gather together, when we combine, we can use our voices in praises to the Almighty God so that when God wants to dwell with His people He will find a habitation.

8. TIME TO EMBRACE: There is a time for embracing , for example, there is a time when a husband should embrace his wife 1Corinthian 7:5 says “defraud ye not the order, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency” also, there is a time when the two of you will stay apart because you want to fast, you want to pray, but then when there is no fasting and praying in other not to give room for the enemy to come in between husband and wife, they should come together again.

9. TIME TO GET AND TIME TO LOOSE: This is very important because it is the core of the whole matter we have been discussing. We must know that no one can get anything of eternal value unless he is willing to lose those things that are not of eternal value. In Matthew 10:39 theLord Himself said “He that findeth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it”

In conclusion we need to work with God’s timing and be contended with what we have knowing fully well that God has an appointed time for us. You may have been waiting for the fulfilment of God’s promises. You may have been praying about a matter and thought about giving up, you may face situations that seem hopeless and problems that does not seem to have solutions, but the Bible reminds us that God can do anything but He has an appointed time for His answer and fulfilment of His promise.

Remember that God’s promises are true for you, allow faith to rise within your heart. Pray with boldness, belief that His infinite power is available for you. nothing is impossible for God, don’t give up, He has an appointed time for you and your miracle.

PRAYER POINT: father thank you that you have an appointed time for me and the answers to my prayers, I believe that your promises are true. I will stay faithful and trust you in Jesus name. Amen.