“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV
I have never been a big fan of winter. I don’t mind a snowfall here or there, but I could do without the cold temperatures. I hate being cold. Just a week ago, I got the opportunity to spend a weekend in Syracuse, NY, where the weather was below zero. If I would have walked out of my hotel in below zero weather that weekend with only a tank top and shorts, my husband and onlookers might have sent me to be committed because who in their right mind would walk out in that type of weather underprepared?
This natural example is obvious to us because we understand natural seasons. Therefore that example sounds silly. When it’s cold outside, we come outside prepared with long sleeves, sweaters, coats, hats, gloves and anything else that should keep us warm. We have learned to be prepared for each season with the appropriate attire. What we don’t realize is this also goes for our spiritual life as well.
God has been dealing with me the past 3 weeks on seasons. I have come into a new season. Many might ask, “how do you know you are entering into a new season?” Easy, the first clue I know I entered into a new season was my normal or regular habits and routines no longer served me well. For example, getting up only 20-30 minutes before my alarm for prayer no longer enough for me to kill the flesh to start my day on the right foot. I needed to get up an hour earlier because I needed to now read my Bible and pray. Participating in only prayer in the morning was no longer suffice. Another clue my season had changed was the people I was surrounded by changed. I no longer had a crowd around me, from my co workers hanging out after work to my some of my closest friends. I now spent most of my time either alone, with my daughter, with my husband or with family. The last clue was I no longer felt the need to get my point across in all situations. I no longer ALWAYS needed to be heard in each and every situation I encountered at work, at home or in my personal life. I was no longer engrossed with telling my side or getting my point across about things I felt were important. I learned to internalize a lot more and instead of responding verbally, I just shifted my actions or how I moved.
God told me recently that one of the biggest hang ups in a Believers life is not being able to discern the seasons. God said, “daughter you don’t need the same things in winter as you do in summer, do you? You won’t walk outside in your Northface in May will you?” The same goes for your spiritual life. There is a season and purpose for everything. And each season you don’t need the same things you needed in the previous season. God is telling us to discern our season because if not it may cost us more time, more energy and more money than we were ever suppose to give up.
If you feel like you are on the right track and you are feeling like you are doing what God is calling you to do, but still feel like you are in a stuck place, pray and ask God to help you discern what season you are in, ask Him what you need as well as who you need this season. We ruin our seasons sometimes because we either stay too long in a season or we move too quick out of a season. The issue with staying too long is it sometimes slows us down on our path and we endure unnecessary trials and tribulations simply because we aren’t hearing God. The issue with cutting a season too short is it usually causes us to miss what God wanted us to learn or even may miss a blessing we are meant to receive.
We tend to try to cut our suffering season short when we are able to, which is understandable. However, there is something special about “trial by fire”. When we are suffering and we go through with God, we allow Him to mold us, teach us, strengthen us and ultimately prepare us for the upcoming seasons.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Though this scripture is most often used to state that God is going to work it out for our good, we don’t always recognize what’s good. Trials keep us humble and give us a great reminder that we need Jesus. Any reminder that keeps us close to God is for our good! When we remain humble, it not only tells us we need God but it keeps us giving God the glory (which is where it belongs) and it keeps us on the path toward Jesus.
If we can’t discern our seasons then how will we know how to operate in it? If we don’t know the season we are in, how will we know what we need to be equipped and prepared for the season? If we don’t know the season we are in, how will we know who we need to help us get through the season? If we don’t know the season, how will we know who will hinder us or slow us down if they come along in this season?
Our only real purpose is connected to God. If we don’t understand our season or cannot
discern when a season has shifted, it interrupts and/or slows down our assignment in God. Our discernment this season is crucial because God determines our seasons, how long they will last, what and who we will need, what the circumstances will be and decides when the season is over. Remember every season has a purpose.
So regardless of what season you are in, open your spiritual eyes, open your spiritual ears, seek His Wisdom and clarity by prayer and reading God’s word because despite what season you are in, when we submit to His will, His grace, His mercy, His providence and His favor will also meet us there and that’s needed in EVERY season in God.