When I heard Pastor Joel open his sermon with Amos 9:13, my heart leapt! Initially I thought he was talking about harvest time or something like that. It couldn't be a coincidence that this passage was something I read recently. I was all ears. When he mentioned that this is a year of acceleration, a year when God is speeding things up, I shouted Amen! Every fibre of my body resounded with his message, once again just like last year's theme about due season year! It was the very thing that God had impressed upon me. It has to be God!
The seed was taking root in my heart as I heard Pastor Joel talk about the testimonies of how it should have taken years but God made it happen much sooner than expected. I loved the one when he said he planned to make a love gift to a friend in need, which was like sowing a seed. But before he even got to do that, there was a phone call telling him of a donation to his ministry a hundred times the amount he was planning to give. Wow! This is a classic example of how the treader of grapes overtaking the ones sowing it! Whoever heard of the harvest coming no sooner than the seed being sowed! Amazing!
He also talked about the first miracle of Jesus which was also about acceleration. Turning water into wine. Everyone knows that making good wine takes years, even decades. However, in this miracle, Jesus turned water into wine in an instant. Pastor Joel stressed that nothing is impossible with God and He can do things in a split second what you cannot achieve in years. This reminded me of the phrase I stuck on my wall in 2005: God can do much more in a year than what you can do in ten years! That year I truly saw how God did much more than all other years put together! It was not only a year of restoration but of acceleration too!
Pastor Joel said that this year, God is going to do things so fast that you won't be able to catch up. It will make your head swim. Well, I had enough of circling the same mountain, of not seeing things change in an area of my life year after year, of having to wait a little longer and feeling that my finish line was pushed back again and again. I was so sick and tired of the delay in a promise. Delay in transitions for my ministry as well.
So can you imagine how I felt when I hear that God is speeding things up? I felt that things have been moving really slow for me in the past few years especially in this area. Most times I have been raring to go but I was met with roadblocks, setbacks and resistance. Well, God has turned all that out for my good by developing patience in my character. Pastor Joel said sometimes we have to be patient and wait for God to act but this year, it is not about having patience. It is seeing God accelerate things in our lives. I was like shouting within me: It's about time that happened!
I felt like I have lost so much precious time in waiting. Yes I know God was using that time to hone my spiritual muscles but I felt like I was lagging behind while others were advancing forward. And each time I tried to forge ahead in this issue, something came up to hinder my progress. Can you imagine how frustrating that was! And I know God also didn't want any more delay in this area. That's why He is speeding things up this year. There seemed to be a fury of pent up anger from the Lord, that's why He is accelerating things as if to make up for the lost time. To redeem those years eaten by the locusts.
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