Dear Friend, How are you? I’m well. Do you know which season you are in? I think it’s important for us to understand the seasons of God that He ordained for each one of us. I’d like to share part of a Pastor John Fenn’s book, “Pursing the Seasons of God.” I read and heard him saying he missed the seasons of God and in one case, he almost lost his wife and his first son, Chris. And he also shared his pizza delivery company a few decades back in the book: The Pizza Season One time I started a pizza delivery company, which provided some income for us while I helped a church I was active in, and I could be flexible with my hours as well. The plan was to become full-time with the church as pastor within a few months. I began the pizza delivery store in November of one year and God blessed the thing. Our first week we had $4,000 in cash sales and we got up to about $15,000 in cash sales very quickly—and pizza is a high profit business. In April the following year, just six months later, I was praying and I heard the Father say this, “You’ve learned what I wanted you to learn. Now I want you to sell it.” In the Father’s mind the reason he had me start the business was to learn something; in my mind it was to make money. The Father holds the seasons in his own mind, in his own plans, in his own wisdom. As a Christian I gave up my right to set my own seasons. My thoughts were about growth and expansion! The business was only six months old. Think about how much money I could make for the Lord, which would fund all kinds of good projects. “You’ve learned what I wanted you to learn. Now I want you to sell it.” He is interested in the learning process, and to him, jobs, careers, houses and living locations are interchangeable and subject to his higher purposes. That runs contrary to the un-renewed mind. I waited a year before I sold the business and the sale barely covered the debts; I walked away with next to nothing. He told me to sell it in April and I disobeyed. By July sales had started to decline. A competitor made further inroads into sales. If I had sold it at the time I was told to I would have had enough money to at least put in the bank and help support us in ministry after the debts had been paid off. I missed heaven’s season because I wanted to run my life according to my seasons. Eventually it cost a house to foreclosure, and a car to repossession. If only I had done what the Lord said and realized the six months was a season, even though it didn’t make sense in my brain. Jesus is saying in this passage, “My time is not yet. Your time is always.” I was acting like an unbeliever, because I was not aware that there are seasons, lessons, and specifically set times that the Father has in mind for you and I, which he holds within his own knowledge. The beauty and purpose isn’t revealed until the maturity of the season. One thing that we can do in the season is ask the Father, “What is your purpose for the season that I’m in?” We know it’s going to be for training according to Ecclesiastes 3. How do you handle the season? Do you overcome the frustration? Do you deal with the anger? Do you deal with the constraints placed upon you? How do you handle the frustration of knowing that your destiny lies somewhere else and this is just temporary? How do you conduct yourself with tact and diplomacy when the employer is hoping you’re going to be there for fifty years and yet you have in your spirit that you’re going to be in a foreign field someday? Or that you’re going to be helping in church some way? It’s how you deal with it that the Father observes and examines. I also have a few cases that I missed the seasons of God, just like Pastor John. We all made a mistake, didn’t we? In 2017 when I worked for a multinational pharmaceutical company in Singapore, I asked the Father whether it’s in His will for me to leave the corporate world for good, and to do farming. And amazingly, I received His answer and I left the company in peace. It was really a right time, as my mom’s dementia was already developed and I couldn’t leave her alone at home in Korea anymore. I had to manage her commercial property in Seoul of which she already transferred the title to me long ago. So, it was the time for me to take over the management of the property and let her rest from all the burdens. When it comes to farming, though, I realized His time had not come yet, only after I built a new house in a suburb of Seoul to do farming, and lived there for 3 months or so. We often make a mistake that when we receive the green light from the Lord or receive His promise, we tend to believe it would happen right away. Or we don’t even ask Him when, how, where and so on, even though we ask Him yes or no. And just like Pastor John shared his own experience, we may listen to Him, but disobey His voice. For me, I was and even now am very certain that it’s in His will to do farming, but I was not aware nor did ask Him when. So, to make a long story short, here I am back to the busy Seoul, my hometown, since 2018, only 3 months after living in the suburb. Despite my mistake, our Father is so merciful and gracious that He provided me with good rent income from my house in the suburb, till I sold it earlier this year. And I still believe when it’s His season, I will start farming, no matter whether it’s simply in my future house or in a large field. For the location, I asked the Father and asked Him confirmation. Out of His sense of humor, He answered me in unexpected ways. When the time comes and it comes to pass, I might be able to share it with you. I don’t know how He will unfold it, to make that happen, but I know He is almighty and His wisdom is unsearchable. And looking back on the past 5 years, I realize He made that season for me to be confined yet to enjoy rest, grow and be equipped for the future. I’m not saying I have a character like Moses or Joseph, after they were confined in pasture or in jail, but I have peace, knowing that I’m in His perfect will. Friend, each one of us has different seasons He has ordained. I pray that you and I know and pursue His seasons, not ours, trusting His faithfulness. May we obey His voice and enjoy His very best plan for us! Have a bliss! Yunee PS)After I wrote down the draft of this blog, I received November Newsletter from Pastor John Fenn's ministry. Interestingly enough, he wrote on Times and Seasons and he wrote on the 5 month time frame (Nov. 2022 ~ Mar. 2023) that the Lord talked to him. I share the link here of the prophetic words and I hope this blesses you. To everything there is a season, Comments are closed.
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