IN GOD'S TIME

God's time is one of the laws, spiritual and literal, that rule creation, the universe and everything that exists.  Man, although under this law too - I refer to every man or woman, who thinks they are living under their own law of will, who think that live and do in their own time, but who cannot achieve a full life, a life of blessing. They live under uncertainty and fear because they still sin since Eden, where Eve, man's mind, ate of the tree that gave a fruit which made it slave of a personal moral, a heavy law, but a law that can only slave the soul. God wants us to ask Him, and He will teach us, as a good father.

This Bible study guides us into a deep knowledge of God's will through patience, prayer and the carrying of our cross, in a daily spiritual relation with our Lord.

If you have spent years of your spiritual life wondering why things that you thought had to happen, because you knew God had told you they would, have not happened yet, but you have seen God's hand in your life before, and your heart is devoted to obeying and loving God and your neighbour, then this guide for personal and congregation spiritual growth, provides you with the tools to make your life a life of spiritual Godly fruits doing things in God's time, praying in God's will and acting with God's guidance.

This spiritual growth begins with effective prayer, to which the Bible refers to in James 5:16, and in a friendly and personal conversation with the Almighty, and shows us when God is going to support us on what we do, on what we pray for and in our life's projects, whether they are projects for the spiritual field or for daily life.

In order to achieve this blessing, one of the main things we must learn to seek for in our daily prayer is revelation of His will, for us to pray in His Spirit, and not in ours. There are daily facts that our Lord uses to show us how He, and only He, controls our life, our life 's projects, our spiritual achievements.

To put us in the picture and before we continue: let’s remember some of our elderly brothers that lived and experienced this relation with God:

Abraham did not see his promised son Isaac until he was very old. Surely that was the time when God wanted it to happen. Do you think Abraham did not fall into doubt thinking that having a son was only part of his own illusions and fruit of his mind? 

Moses had to be extremely patient, 40 years in the wilderness with his people moaning against him, until he saw the Promised Land, and even though he did not enter it. How many times must have Moses thought whether what he was doing wasn't a product of his own heart?

David did not build the temple of God in Jerusalem although he prepared all the materials for it, spending time of his life and effort on it, but in the end God told him that it would instead be his son Solomon, who left the Lord's ways for the many wives.

Simeon was a man of God to whom the Holy Spirit said he would see the Messiah before his death, which was the hope of so many in Israel. Luke 2:25. We must not think, that as he received that message, it happened right away. He had to wait, surely for years, before that happened. Surely he was tempted to doubt and lose the faith, because it did not happen immediately.

BIBLE TEXTS:

... My times are in your hand... Psalm 31:15.

... I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Psalm 34:1.

... It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law. Psalm 119:126.

... A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it! Proverb 15:23.

... To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the :heaven... ... He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:1 and 11.

... For man also knoweth not his time... Ecclesiastes 9:12.

... And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be. Daniel 8:19.

... And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? Matthew 16:3.

... And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples. Matthew 26:18.

... Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. Mark 13:33.

... And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Luck 21:24.

... Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is always ready. John 7:6.

... And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation. Acts 17:26.

... Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:16.

... Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. 2 Timothy 4:2.

... And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. Revelation 22:10.

Well, we, in our lives, when we pray to the Father in the name of Yahshua, the Son of God, so many times would want things to happen right away, specially when we know we are right, when the word of God supports our intention, when even the Holy Spirit, somehow, is showing us in our heart that what we pray for is His will. However, and this is what we need to learn, God's things will only happen in God's time.

In my life with God, I have experienced things I knew would happen because He told me, sometimes sooner than I thought; I have also seen other things happen later than I thought. If you realize, I have used "I thought" both times and this is the reason I did not know, because I was expecting them in my time, not in God's time.

So a question comes to our minds: why does God do things, sometimes when we think He should have done them in our time? Why has God not done so many important things yet, that affect the whole world, His church, His Kingdom, and our worries and achievements of our lives.

God's things happen in God's time, because that is the exact time in which they fit into the chronology of the times established by Him. If they happened when we want, most surely God's plan would not work. He is sovereign in this because He is the Creator. It's not that God doesn't want to please us too, on the contrary, He makes us participant of His work and makes us an active part of it. As He said about Abraham in Isaiah 41:8 "my friend" and whom He treated like this: ...Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing...? Genesis 18:17.

There are also actions and ways to be that will never depend on time, because they are for all times, like love, to love one another is for all times, to help the needed is for all times, to preach the Gospel is specially commanded to be done in season and out of season in 2 Corinthians 4:2, because that person not in Christ may be called tonight, and that would be in God's time; but having preached to that person is our responsibility, is always in God's time and it's a must, something basic for us, if we are part of the kingdom of kings and priests that Jesus bought with His precious blood. If we see ourselves weak in this or in loving or in any other of our basic spiritual functions, we have two knees to fight this battle with, until we become conquerors of our acts in the love of God.

For all these things it is always God's time, because it isn't a question of time but a question of essence. This is how we are, because we are sons of God. In the spiritual dimension all these things belong to the spiritual survival. The same way we don't stop breathing, feeding, drinking, looking, talking, because they are functions of physical survival.

Noah's Ark: The Lord saves us from the day of judgment, in his coming, when He will take us in the air, in front of the evil ones.

God sent Moses: The Lord sends us free from slavery to sin.

Conquer of Jericho: The conquer of the soul of a new brother for God.

Construction of the temple:  the inner temple of our souls.

First coming of Christ the Messiah to conquer His kingdom; done in Calvary at His cross and resurrecting and setting us free from sin and condemnation for those who believe in Him as the son of God and receive Him as their saviour.

The conversion of men becoming the church.

The conversion of the majority of the Jews to Christ the Messiah as fulfilment of the prophecy in Romans 11:26.

Second and final coming of the Messiah to establish his kingdom.

And all these things occurred in God's time, literally, and occur in our souls in God's time, too.

As we see, all these things have either been fulfilled in God's time, some are currently being fulfilled, and we remain patient awaiting the arrival of the King, the son of God, to establish His kingdom in God's time. Glory be to Him. HalleluYah.

CONCLUSION

To achieve God's will, we must pray in His ways, we must live the life He lived, pray in the lines that He taught us, think the same He thought yesterday, thinks today and tomorrow, those with a heart committed to loving God. Many Christians, like others, say they do the things of God, but the do not obey His Word: ...if you love me, keep my commandments... John 14:15, and: ...you call me Lord, Lord, and don’t do the things which I say...Luke 6:46 and also say they love their brothers and there neighbours, but with their acts deny it. These will not understand God's times in their lives, they will not have a life of certainty but of doubt.

Those who love God and go on their knees daily, those that fight the good battle for the love of God and for the brethren and neighbours, those who live in God's time doing these basic things, will receive the blessing also for their lives of understanding God's times for them and for others. Prayer, dreams, visions, revelations, in the Word of God, will be the ways that God will use, but there is a special requirement: patience with perseverance. If you lose your patience, go on your knees, pray for it, pray for it for the brethren too, patience and perseverance come with self control which comes after knowledge if we are virtuous in faith, and these are steps prior to Love and brotherly kindness, and godliness, and essential for the survival of the body of Christ. Read 2 Peter 1.

So, do you consider yourself a person of your time, are you living in your time, or in God's time?