WHAT ARE OUR FAILURES TO GOD?

Some time ago I was pondering upon certain things that people said regarding their past failures. They were asking themselves, which part of it was their responsibility and which part was God’s. Have they missed God? Why did God set them up for failure? If God already knew that the venture would not work, why tell them to do it anyway? It was incredulous to think that God will set anyone up for failure. Well, that depends on how we see failure. Our failure to God is not failure, it is fermentation. 

Such experiences served the purpose of changing us from one state to another. God had to deal with our impurities and much of our flesh, the old man inside us before He could do a great work to us. Before He could bring us to the palace or put us in prominent positions. We had to be prepared in our hearts that when we faced our transgressors, that we still could have compassion on them, rather than to take revenge since we are in a position of power. 

 

Not many people went through as many failures as Joseph did in his life. And these were not mistakes of his making. Not intentionally anyway. Yet God used these painful experiences to build his character which was able to withstand the temptations of being in high position. In the end God restored more than double back to Joseph. He came to a place where he could see how others meant it for harm, but God turned it out for good. And everything that happened was all part of God’s plan. 

 

Well, Joseph could blame God for not protecting him from being sold as a slave to Egypt. But he didn’t. Even while he was being favoured in Potiphar’s house, he still had the fear of God to not commit adultery. He could have just done it, having cared less since this God that he served didn’t even stop the bad thing from happening to him. But Joseph was still honouring God in spite of his circumstances. He knew that the Lord’s presence was with him hence he was prospering. 

 

Once again Joseph could blame God for not justifying him before Potiphar. Or angry with Potiphar for not standing up for Joseph when he probably knew the truth. There in the cold prison cell, he probably wondered why he had to suffer when he did nothing wrong. It was all so unfair. But yet he did not give up his faith in God. He kept a good attitude and God caused him to prosper even in prison. How amazing can that be! When he interpreted the chief baker and chief butler’s dreams, he was again forgotten by them. 

 

He probably thought the opportunity had come for him to be restored to freedom and vindicated but who knew he had to wait another 2 more years? Well, it was only on hindsight that we can see it was all according to God’s timing. If he had been released 2 years ago, he wouldn’t be in position to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. He would have missed the opportunity to become the prime minister of Egypt. But more importantly God’s plan of raising Joseph up to store up grain to prepare for the coming famine would probably not happen. 

 

Which was why I now begin to understand more that these seeming ‘failures’ in our lives were all part of God’s plan. It wasn’t that we missed God or failed because we didn’t obey Him. We wondered why we stepped out in faith many times only to fall flat on our faces. Perhaps our ultimate ‘failure’ was our inability to understand God’s timing for our lives. Or that the right connections were still not in place yet. But if we are honest, we did see a measure of success in the venture God told us to do at first. 

 

Think back to the experiences and anointing God has given all of us. They blessed and helped us but in most cases they were only a forerunner or first fruits of the Lord’s full intention. This is not a matter of failure on our part. Nor is this a matter of not fulfilling an assignment. Rather, it is a matter of the fullness of God’s timing. Just as Elisha told the Shunammite woman to leave and come back at the right time, God is now bringing us back to those experiences. Or bringing those experiences back to us. Why now? Because now is the fullness of time. Now is the time of full harvest.

 

So yes, I felt so heartened knowing that it was a matter of God’s timing, not a matter of me not fulfilling my assignment. Because all I wanted to know is if I had obeyed the Lord as I did not want to miss His voice when He told me to step out to do something. The important thing is that I need to do my part. As for the outcome, I have no control over but just to entrust it to Him. Whether it succeeds or fails it is not my responsibility at all. It is His. All I wanted was to cooperate with Him to close each chapter of my life well. To finish well and move on.  

 

I may not understand why that season didn’t work out the way I expected but I still trust that God will work all things out for my good. And at the right time, He may choose to show me the big picture. If not, it is ok. I still trust Him. The past is no more but what I don’t want to do is to miss the time of His visitation now. The kairos moment. The fullness of His timing. I don’t want to be so bitter or hopeless or bruised that I don’t dare to try again. To dream again, to hope again when He comes to tell me to fan into flames those dead dreams in my life. 

 

I want to be in position when He calls. I want to receive the fullness of whatever He has prepared for my life. I want to lay aside all those disappointments and heartaches in those years. I want to let Him heal me of my soul wounds. I want to be made whole again. I want to be restored to a childlike faith in Him. I want to believe that He has come in the fullness of time to bring to pass those dead dreams. To give me resurrection life. And I know that this time, I will not be disappointed because the fullness of time has come. Yes, it has truly come.  

 

 

JOURNEY OF 13 YEARS FINALLY OVER!

This morning as I woke up, I was meditating on the journey of Abraham. Last night I was reminded of the resemblance of my own faith journey with Abraham’s. Those memories were triggered because of a post I had read yesterday. I wasn’t much in a reflective mode recently because I was all raring to move forward. I could not wait to see what the new season holds. 

 

But I felt that God seemed to be telling me not to rush this process, for it hadn’t been just a year or two that passed. It was an entire chunk of 13 years of my life, with the past decade spent in preparation at home. I really didn’t expect to embark on such a journey in Jan 2008 when I sought the Lord for the next season of my life. 

 

On 18 Jan 2021, it would be exactly 13 years since God told me to trust Him for what He was doing in my next season when I last sought His will. God told me that it was a faith test for me. I didn’t know I was about to enter a long season of wilderness after God led me out of Egypt (my old workplace). But thank God that I have passed the faith test. An entire chunk of my life had been completed. 

 

At that time I was just hoping to hear from the Lord when I could leave my company and stay home to take care of Joshua. It had been my heart’s desire to be able to stay home. Well even though I knew that returning to work was only temporal after I gave birth, I still had to be patient and wait upon His timing to leave. Only if He gave the green light to resign. 

 

I so very much wanted to jump on an opportunity to resign in Oct 2008. There was a door to part time work that had opened. But after I sought the Lord, I decided it wasn’t a good time to leave yet. I had unfinished business in that place. So I had to stay on and cooperate with God on whatever He wished to accomplish in that place.

 

And the days became months and years. I ended up staying there for another 3 more years before God led me out. Later on I understood the reason why God had me stay on. He wanted to do a restorative work before He took me out of corporate world. He had to cause me to leave with my head lifted up. He had to drown those enemies in the Red Sea.

 

Towards the end of that season, things heated up and I almost lost my bearing during the shaking in my workplace. But thank God I kept focusing on Jesus and cooperating with Him. That was how God caused me to conquer and stay afloat when the others were all sinking. It was like going through the fire. But thank God the tough times didn’t linger. 

 

When God did what He wanted, He wasted no time to move me out of that place. It came to a point when I didn’t think that I was going to leave that place because my new season had begun there. After all it seemed like I was stuck there indefinitely. What I thought was temporal actually lasted for three years. I didn’t expect it to take so long. 

 

But God is faithful. He is really not a man who changes His mind. When His plan for that season was completed, He really moved me out. I was glad to have cooperated with Him when I saw how I left that place in honour. The enemies I saw in that season, I saw no more. It was on hindsight that I realised what mattered most wasn’t the length of time taken for His word to come to pass. What was more important was to close each chapter well. 

 

In that way, the enemies of my past couldn’t come and haunt me in the new season. Because they were all drowned in the Red Sea. During that time, my enemy was the taunting of my defeat in another company, how I left that place in shame. But God restored my honour and lifted me up. It was a glorious finish to my corporate life. After all I really wasn’t sure if I was ever going back to the workforce. 

 

At the start of my stay-home season, it felt like days of heaven on earth. I was finally living my dream life. Staying in a beautiful condo environment, not having to work yet still receiving passive income. I was not only able to spend more time with Joshua, I could spend unhindered fellowship with the Lord. This was really a luxury. I couldn’t be more grateful to Him for His wonderful plan.

 

But as the days turned into months and years, with no sight of a promise God gave me in Feb 2008, I began to get restless. Honestly I really had no idea when this promise would manifest. I also didn’t know what God was doing in my life. How long I would remain at home and whether I would go back to the corporate world. Or whether there would be a change in my vocation. My life was so dependent on the doors God opened for me. 

 

Back then I was just so happy to jump into the stay home season without much thoughts about my future or even our finances. I figured out that since God has called me to stay home, then He would provide for our family. In fact, just like Abraham during his sojourning, God prospered us a lot. He caused Heng to rise up to the top in his career. He prospered us along the journey with Him, not knowing where He was leading us to. 

 

In many ways our lives mirrored Abraham’s. Even in the area of relationships, there was much strife at the start when I was still very much attached to my mum’s family. I had a lot of trouble with my ‘Lot’ until I had no choice but to separate ourselves from them. After that I had some peace in my life. But the emotional ties with my mum’s family were only cut off last year. It took many years for God to do that. 

 

Even my ministry was similar to Abraham. I was praying and interceding for others, helping them out in their times of trouble even while waiting for my own breakthrough. We are blessed to be a blessing. God justified Abraham even when he lied about Sarah being his sister twice and protected her from being violated. Abraham also prayed for King Abimelech’s household to have children while Sarah was still barren. 

 

But now I am impressed upon the time In Genesis 17 when the three angels visited Abraham to bring good news of the arrival of Isaac. Before that God told Abraham to circumcise his household. Ishmael was 13 years old at that time. It reminded me of the time when God told Joshua to consecrate His people for tomorrow God is going to perform miracles. It was a time of consecration for Abraham before the promised child came. 

 

In Feb, I was given a word on Joshua 3:5. During the subsequent months, I too went through a time of consecration. God had to make sure that my heart was pure and my allegiance was solely to Him. He was performing a circumcision of my heart all these years. But at the appointed time, He came and told me to consecrate myself again. That was the when I saw the post about Joshua 3:5 on 3 Nov and 14 Dec. The time must have come. 

 

The reason for consecration is so that we could be presented as pure and sanctified vessels for God to pour out His glory through us to bless others. God can do miracles independent of us but He wants to partner us so that we can share in His joy. God is so good. He seems to be saying that there is a finality to a long-standing issue in my life. 

 

Just like the time when I really thought I was going to be stuck in that workplace forever, yet when my time came, God moved me out just as He promised. It didn’t matter how long I waited for my promise to manifest. It didn’t matter how it didn’t look like it was coming soon. It didn’t matter that everything seems the same in the natural for a while. If God said it, it is done. He does not lie. If He said your appointed time has come, then it has come. 

 

Just continue to press in, move forward and only believe. Rest in His faithfulness because the battle belongs to the Lord. Don’t even touch it. I have truly come to the end of this journey. It is going to be 13 years on 18 Jan 2021. I should know the times and seasons. My time and season. I should be aware by now that God has started releasing me from my prison and concreted my calling. That was the second wind. So don’t look back anymore.

 

This month, God began to show me how I have passed the faith test. How I have finished the race, crossed the finishing line. I have fought the good fight of faith and He said: Well done, my good and faithful servant! He began to impress upon me that my past season was finally done. He was closing the chapter. He pointed out the story of Joseph with the 13-year wilderness and said it wasn’t a coincidence that I have walked through 13 years of wilderness since Jan 2008. 

 

God also pointed out that for the past two years I had been in prison but now I am being released from prison. In 2018, Heng also likened me to Joseph being in prison, waiting for God to release me. As I looked back on hindsight, I saw that I had indeed walked through a long season of wilderness, wandering in the desert. But now it has finally ended. It wasn’t a coincidence that another sister who had been with me on this journey said she believed the process she had been going through in this season was complete. 

SEEDTIME AND HARVEST

Recently I am watching Andrew Wommack’s series on ‘A Sure Foundation’. He talked about seed time and harvest, and how this law always works. But there usually is a time lapse between sowing and reaping. The seed needs time to germinate, spring up and then grow to a point where it can bear fruit. If we don’t understand this principle then we will get discouraged if we don’t see fruits soon enough.

He taught from Mark 4:4-8. It was a parable of how a sower sowed seeds and some fell by the wayside and the birds of the air came and ate it. Some fell on stony ground and it immediately sprung up but because it had no root, it withered away. Yet some seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew and choked it, so it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a harvest: some thirty fold, some sixty and some a hundred. 

This verse was given to me in Apr 2011. That was the time I started studying the word of God seriously. I knew God was trying to tell me that one day this word will produce a crop because it is like seed sowed in good soil. In Feb 2012, He even gave me an imagery of a big oak tree and told me that one day I will be like that oak tree of righteousness and others will take shade under my tree. 

I always take it that Mark 4:8 was referring to how the harvest might be progressive like healing manifestation. Thirty, sixty then hundredfold. But when I read it again, I saw that the word of God sowed in different good soil might produce different harvests. For some people it might produce thirty fold harvest. For others sixty fold. Yet others hundredfold. As for me I want to go for the hundredfold harvest. 

Somehow the principle of sowing and reaping was brought to my attention when Pastor preached about it two weeks ago. He was saying that we might be eating of the old harvest but are we sowing for the next harvest. He was talking of sowing in a time of famine to reap a hundredfold return. When I watched his sermon again, I had this sense that the famine we are going to see is going to be more severe than we can imagine. 

This is definitely not good news for the world but for the church, when there is a famine, there will be a transfer of wealth. This can’t take place under normal circumstances. Only under a major shaking or a time of famine. Once again I am convinced that the Lord connected me to a particular group for a time like this. It had only been a few months but we are already seeing a time of famine in the world.

For some reason while the people of the world are fearful of their financial future, I am not. Somehow I know this is a great opportunity for the transfer of wealth. Although I don’t like to see people losing their jobs or economies going into recession, I believe this shaking is for our good. And the world will not understand the power of a seed. The power of sowing in a time like famine. It doesn’t make sense to give when you could be in lack. 

Genesis 26:12 says ‘Isaac sowed a seed in a time of famine and he reaped a hundredfold in the same year.’ There is a transfer of wealth taking place in a time of famine. Things are always inverse for the church, so when the world is in famine, the church will prosper. That was what Andrew Wommack did. During a time of recession in 2008/2009, the Lord prospered his ministry and they were able to buy properties at a fraction of the price because people were selling frantically. 

He was bold enough to enter the market to buy the properties instead of putting his money in the bank because he knew that one day things would turn around. And when it finally did turn around, they benefited so much from the downturn. This was something the Lord impressed upon me too. This is not the time to draw back but be bold. When the Lord tells us to take action, we obey. We don’t have to fear like the people of the world. The Lord protects and blesses our seed when it is sown.

PURPOSE OF GOD’S SHAKING

Yesterday the Lord opened my eyes to see that this season was similar to the one I had experienced in 2010. It was a time of shaking. Shaking is always uncomfortable and scary at times but I know that the outcome is always good. After the shaking comes release and promotion. After the shaking was over, the Lord always moved me on to my new season. It was almost as if I felt stuck in that season forever but then the shaking came and suddenly I was released from inertia. Suddenly the thing I was waiting for so long came to pass. 

This morning as I woke up I was thinking about the times of shaking in my life. Another shaking happened in end 2002 till mid 2003. That was the time something bad happened in my mum’s family. It coincided with the SARS epidemic and the re-organisation in my previous company. So many things were happening all at once. I wasn’t taught well by the Lord back then so I was tossed and turned during the storm. I couldn’t get a grip on Jesus but He held on to me.

After that storm ceased, the enemy attacked me with another horrible ordeal. I came out badly wounded but God was gracious. He pulled me out of my workplace quickly and nursed my wounds in the next company. That was when I could really start afresh. God also restored many things and I gave birth to Joshua. Three years later, I didn’t know He was preparing me for another shaking in my company, another re-organisation. Thank God this time round I was much better equipped.

As I learnt to cooperate and flow with the Lord, I was amazed I accomplished things I never thought I could. It was not by power or might but by His Spirit. Where many people left the company in defeat and shame, I left with my head lifted up. My bosses felt that it was a pity I could not stay to help them. The Lord did a marvellous work of restoration in that company so I would never be taunted by the defeat in my previous company. The enemy’s mouth was shut up tight.

I never really saw this shaking in the same way. Maybe I had forgotten about how shaking felt like because it was a decade ago. Over the years there were some attacks and I went through challenging times in my journey but none was of this scale. 2016 and 2017 was a bit like 2003 and 2004, yet I wasn’t as badly wounded the second time round. Still I wouldn’t call those years times of shaking.

When I reviewed last year’s journals, I realised that the Lord had already preempted me of this great shaking to come. I noticed God’s shaking begin to happen to people around me last Aug but thank God it didn’t really happen to me. I went through a transition but I wouldn’t call it shaking. At one point I was a bit affected by the moodiness of some people. I also noticed there was a shaking even in Heng’s workplace.

There is a slight difference between transition times and shaking. The latter is usually of a bigger scale and catches people off their guard. A transition is more or less predictable especially when one cooperates with God regarding a move or shift in his life. God has already prepared him in advance for the shift so transition is expected. The common grounds in transition and shaking could be confusion and discomfort in the process. Old things are being dealt with so as to prepare the person for the new wine. The new things God is bringing.

So yes, my past experiences with God reminded me that times of shaking always bring about the fulfilment of His purposes, which is always good. Things that cannot be shaken will remain. This shaking will show up the gold from the bronze and separate the sheep from the goat. It will also flush out all the injustices and evil forces behind certain people. God is forcing the enemy to show hand so he could be totally defeated. 

A time of shaking is also a time of birthing. Even though it didn’t make sense in the natural, many great movements were birthed out of crisis. Besides the Lord is shaking out the strongholds of the principalities and the enemy had no choice but to let His people go. That is why I observe that things which were inertia for a very long time suddenly moved during the shaking. And once things moved, there would be a momentum. 

I am beginning to see that one may encounter numerous divine shifts and transitions in his life, as God brings about change in sequential moves so it would not be too overwhelming. But times of shaking are far and few. God is merciful because He knows many of us may not be able to take the shaking. So His best plan is to bring us to the destination in progressive moves. The changes are more gradual in the latter. Each shift brings us closer to the destination but times of shaking usually bring us straight to the destination.

Which is why I am even more convinced that after this shaking, the promise I had been looking out for will manifest. Yes, my set time has come. It had been a decade since the last shaking took place. A time of shaking is also like a test for us. If we passed the test, we would be promoted. And yes the Lord will cause me to pass this test. In fact, He will also allow the shaking in my life when He is confident that I will pass the test, just like in 2010. He wanted so much to release me to my next season. It had been long overdue. 

It’s like God opening my eyes to make sense of what was happening in the spiritual realm. Once I saw the pattern and His purpose in the shaking, I was able to cooperate better with Him. I would no longer be confused or blindsided anymore. I can see clearly now. I also don’t resist the things God is doing because I understand why He is doing all these. If He says this season of lockdown is for my good, I gladly embrace it and make the best of it.

So yes, my response to all these wonderful things He is doing in my life is to praise and worship. Rejoice and celebrate for my set time has truly come! I will give thanks to God in advance for the fulfilment of this promise. I will sing and dance. I will worship Him with extravagance. This is really the last push. Praise and worship is an offensive weapon. Recently the Lord had been showing me the importance of praise and worship. Previously it was fasting. 

DISCERNING THE TIMES AND SEASONS

As I was writing down the highlights of the recent posts I read, I saw a common thread. One of which was to focus and set our faces like flint. The other was don’t give up now because you are right there and you are about to occupy. You must march in to possess your promised land. It’s a month of action and movement. There shall be a release from captivity of those things holding you back. Especially for the past seven years. Not only that, expect a repayment and restoration of all that the enemy had stolen.

There is a significant shift happening right now. Especially from 10 Mar, which is the Feast of Purim, the happiest day in the month of Adar. It is also a time of cross over from the wilderness into the promised land. Nisan is the first month of the Hebrew year and a month of miracles and new beginnings. His deliverance is about to explode over our lives in a magnificent way. This is your set time. You are clothed in your cloaks and sandals in your feet. The move from captivity will be sudden, much like the Israelites on the night of Passover.

As I write, I am also reminded about how deliverance is forming in the month of Adar. Moses was born on 7 Adar and he also died on this day 120 years later. Two things are happening now leading up to the month of Nisan which will start on 26 Mar. I am taken back to the time when God sent the ten plagues in Egypt. I don’t know exactly how long the plagues lasted but some commentaries said it could be about 20 weeks or about 4-5 months for all the ten plagues.

The last plague occurred on the 14 Nisan, night before Passover feast. This date typically falls in late Mar or early Apr. This year the Passover will begin on 8 Apr. Now drawing a parallel to the world which is like Egypt, isn’t this what is happening? The virus outbreak is like a plague except that it wasn’t sent by God. But God is using it to work things out for our good. During this time, the enemy is being flushed out. He is forced to show hands. He is being chased out, his time is coming to an end. That is why he seemed to be fighting back with a greater ferocity. He wants us to give up by making us crumble to fear.

This outbreak started last Dec. If I didn’t hear God wrongly, I believe the end of the outbreak would be around Passover. 7 or 8 Apr. It shall happen suddenly just as the children of Israel was suddenly delivered from Egypt. They didn’t have the time to let the bread raise. They ate the Passover lamb in haste. They were told to dress themselves and to put sandals on their feet when they ate the Passover. They were getting ready to leave Egypt.

What happened next was that they plundered the Egyptians and was loaded with gold and silver. But before the tenth plague, Moses already told them to ask for articles of gold and silver from their Egyptian neighbours. It was backpay for their wages. No wonder God kept saying there will be a restoration of the things the enemy stole from us in the past season. We will be weighed down with the wealth of Egypt. This is also when the great transfer of wealth is taking place.

The other major thing that happened in Nisan was the crossing over of Jordan. This occurred on the 10 Nisan, which will be on 4 Apr in our Gregorian calendar. We are also at the place of crossing over, the final step taking us into our promised land. Moses had died and it represented the old us, so the old captive places are now dead. That is why there is a release from captivity and things that were difficult to overcome in the past are falling away in ease. Gods people are coming out of famine and barrenness into overflow.

Joshua 3:5 was given to God’s people the day before they crossed Jordan. So it means that it will take place on 3 Apr this year. There is a call to consecrate ourselves, to surrender to His will and stay close to the Lord now more than ever. The reason is clear. We are crossing over to our promised land very soon. And this is also why the prophets kept telling us not to give up now. Press into the pressure and we will break out into the new place. Pressing into the pressure is how we provoke a suddenly to manifest in our lives.

It seemed to me that the first week of Apr this year will be very significant. Things will begin to turn around from tomorrow but will culminate in the first week of Apr. So many things will happen in that week. 3 Apr: call to consecrate ourselves. 4 Apr: cross over Jordan. 7 Apr: last plague. 8 Apr: Passover feast. It also occurred to me that four days before the Passover feast, the Jews were told to bring an ewe lamb into their household to be slaughtered on the day of Passover. So this date coincided with the crossing of Jordan.

THE ILLUSION OF TIME

I read this devotional from ‘Journals of the heart’ in Aug 2011 and found this very profound and meaningful. I couldn’t really understand what the author was trying to say back then but now with hindsight I could relate to it. 

Beloved, don’t you know by now that I am not limited to time and space. I live outside of time. I am the Alpha and the Omega…the Beginning and the End. The past, present and future have all already happened as far as I am concerned. I have always been before the worlds began and I continue to be.

I exist outside the realms and confinements of time; yet, I dwell in your heart. How marvellous is that…to know the Timeless One lives in you imparting all the wisdom and revelation you will ever need. This changes everything in relation to time and its power over you.

Time does pass and those living do pass on: but, that is only the beginning regardless where you spend eternity. All things pass away. The rulers of this age shall pass away, but to where? Not the same place as you. In your case, time goes on, but moves from a limited, finite state to an eternal immeasurable state.

Therefore, I don’t want you to think about time in such a way that it remains confined to what you hold in your hand or what your own personal hour glass contains. I don’t want you to concentrate on what you have missed or what has sifted through your hands. When you do this, you miss what is left…the golden nuggets of truth which cannot be destroyed. When you do this, you miss the new thing…the new grains I am pouring in to your hands…into your life.

Beloved, do not spend time running here and there all the while trying to grab some other portion…some other hand full. Do not be discouraged by how time seems confined to the hour glass of your life. If you see your time and what you do within such a limited finite scope or in such a restricted fashion you will have a tendency to give up or be despondent.

What you do with and in the time given you is eternal and goes on forever. You could say the true nature of who you are and what you do is cloaked in the illusion of natural time. This illusion can tell you there will be no consequences for speaking words of death. This illusion can tell you there will be no long range eternal effects released when you speak as I tell you to in agreement with My Word. 

Whatever the enemy can tell you in relation to the value of your time and words in order to render you ineffective he will. This is why it is so important to understand that there is only one truth for any and every situation, the truth of My Word. Outside of My Word, all else is an illusion as well. There is revelation of the Word but all revelation must be true to the Word as well.

I affected time by listening to My father and doing only as I heard Him say or saw Him do. I took what He gave Me and released it into finite time. As a result, people were healed, delivered and set free from lives of bondage to sin and the devil. People were freed and they became eternal bearers of My light in a dark world.

What happened to them affected generations to come. In others words, what you do with what you hear from Me has the power to affect natural time and infuse it with eternal purpose which in turn continues to grow like a mustard seed until all the birds of the air have a place to rest.

What is time? Time is a period with limits when viewed outside of the supernatural. In the natural, it can be seen like sand sifting through one’s hands or an hour glass as it ebbs away.

What is time? It is to do something in the correct or same rhythm as someone else. It is doing something at a speed or pace which feels natural. The only natural I want you to feel in relation to doing things within the space of time is the supernatural. I want it to become natural to be supernatural.

In the true eternal perspective, time is a place where I deposit revelation and understanding of things once hidden but now revealed into the hearts of man…a place where time is changed from natural to supernatural. I redeem time. Today I am releasing to you some eternal perspectives and answers for your life that have already happened in My heart.

I give them to you. I pour them into your hands. I fill the hour glass of your life with things long hidden. I am opening up a portal of understanding and vision that you might continue to march in the rhythm of My heart for your life and the lives of those you love.

Beloved, all I need is for you to listen and agree. When you do this, the natural time you are experiencing will be saturated with eternal perspective having the power to transform and change. Are you ready to forsake the temporal and set your eyes on heavenly things to get the truth (2 Corinthians 4:18; Colossians 3:2-3). Open your hands wide…give Me all the limitations of your hour glass and see what I will do. Open up and be filled with eternal perspective.

So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men (human philosophy), but in the power of God.

Yet when we are among the full-grown (spiritually mature Christians who are ripe in understanding), we do impart a [higher] wisdom (the knowledge of the divine plan previously hidden); but it is indeed not a wisdom of this present age or of this world nor of the leaders and rulers of this age, who are being brought to nothing and are doomed to pass away.

But rather what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God once hidden [from the human understanding] and now revealed to us by God–[that wisdom] which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification [to lift us into the glory of His presence] (1 Corinthians 2:5-7 Amplified)

Prayer

Lord, You are an infinite God without end or beginning. Not only are you aware of all I have ever been or experienced, you are aware of all there is to come. In fact, You have already been there and know me…know all I have experienced from moment to moment. You have experienced my life in an intimate way even to the numbering of the hairs on my head. Every detail of my life is important and valuable to You.

Though I am constrained in my thinking as it relates to time, You are not. The greatest hindrance to not living a life outside the constraints of time is to see it limited and unyielding…to see time as having no potential outside of the moment. To do so eliminates all consequences and blessings resulting out of time based actions on my part. Time is eternal and I must see it as such. What I do in time affects the times to come; therefore, it has eternal consequences both good and bad.

Teach me to see beyond the moment into a realm where there is no time so I can put more value on what I do at any given time. Teach me to see everything I do with eternal eyes. As I do this, what I participate in or don’t participate in will change in order to bring about the most effective change.

Lord, when it comes to You, time has no power to stop or hold back anything You desire to see and have done. When Joshua fought in battle, time stood still and the sun did not set until victory was accomplished. Therefore, I say the sands of time running through the hour glass of my life are all subject to You. I will not limit myself by what I see or by disobedience in any way. I will not run to and fro comparing myself or trying to accumulate the sand of another for my own purposes.

The hour glass of my life is not confined to time but is eternal, for when I leave this physical life I simply continue on in You. I step over the boundaries of time which cloak the true nature of who I am, an eternal son of the Most High God.

Instead of being one who is halted or holds back, I am one who hears the Father’s voice and acts accordingly even as Christ did when on the earth. As a result, I am free and others are free as well. In doing this, I have set my eyes beyond the natural to the supernatural where all things are possible…where nothing is limited by time. I am one who is saturated with eternal perspective and the power to be transformed.

I am one saturated with the power of God to bring about transformation. I am eternal and not temporal; therefore, I think in eternal ways when it comes to my everyday life and actions. I am not cloaked in time. I am cloaked in supernatural, eternal glory as a living, manifest representation of Christ on the earth. Amen.

RESURRECTION POWER

In Jul 2010, God showed me the verse on John 11:40 when Jesus told Martha: ‘Did I not tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?’ Ever since then I had been wondering what God was trying to tell me. Because this story of Lazarus dying in John 11 was one about delay, I thought God wanted me to be patient as there might be a delay to the promise. Over the years He gave me revelation about this story and I have come to realise that the most important message in this story was not about the four day delay but to show the resurrection power of Jesus.

Recently I was reading John 11 and I gleaned more nuggets of truth from this story. Here are the pointers:

• Lazarus was dead for 4 days; the Jews believed that after 3 days the spirit would have departed so there was no more hope
• Jesus waited till the situation was impossible so God can gain the most glory
• Resurrection is now, never in the future (just like how faith is now)
• Comeback power is resurrection power (like how David made a comeback at Ziklag)
• When Jesus saw Mary weeping, He had compassion and cried too as death was never meant to be part of our destiny 
• Jesus gave thanks to God before raising Lazarus
• Loosing the grave clothes is like putting off the spirit of heaviness
• Caiaphas the high priest prophesied Jesus’ death
• Theme is about death and resurrection, dry bones come alive
• Jesus went outside of time and raised Lazarus from the dead
• Time does not define God and what He does; He defines time!
• God never misses His time and He is never late
• Explaining why God allows a delay in our lives, mainly it is for His greater glory
• Many times the delay isn’t about us but for the sake of many others
• This miracle is about raising the dead, what Jesus did
• There were a few accounts of Jesus raising the dead but this is the longest time a person was dead
• The seed had to die and then be resurrected in strength
• Learn to use Jesus’ authority over death so that we can speak life, overcome death
• When one is resurrected, one is forever delivered from that sickness because he has already died to it and then God raised him up
• When something is resurrected, that thing which caused you pain can no longer do so again 
• Ashes is the final form, so the fire cannot burn us again
• Resurrection is the most ultimate form of overcoming
• Resurrection power is greater than healing power
• God is able to use the disappointments you went through as His appointments
• Usually God will allow us to go through a season of death so that the impurities in our flesh could be dealt with
• This is called dying to self and flesh so we could rise up and carry His glory
• I think this is the cost to be God’s glory carriers
• But afterwards, we would have great joy in seeing dead things come alive

DISCERNING DIVINE DELAY FROM DEMONIC DELAY

As I was meditating on some of the revelations I received recently, I realised the Lord has done a marvellous work in removing the veil from my eyes regarding an age old stronghold. For many years I was confused about whether it was a timing issue and a divine delay or that the enemy was causing a spirit of delay over my promises. 

Indeed for the decade of Ayin (Hebrew years 5770-5779) I have been learning to see things in the right perspective but was unable to, many times because of the smokescreen and veil the enemy put in front of me. But now that the decade of seeing had ended and we entered into the decade of Pey (Hebrew years 5780-5789) I realised many things are becoming much clearer to me.

I received answers that I had been seeking for years. It was like suddenly the heavens were open to me. I believe this was due to the shift in season and spiritual atmosphere. There has been a change. A huge change. A big turnaround. Now back to the distinguishing between divine and demonic delays. It was only on hindsight I could differentiate the two. There was a recent post that explained very clearly the difference.

A divine delay is when God says, "No, not yet," or "Wait." He uses it for the purpose of divine and spiritual growth, maturity, development, protection and for the right season and timing. A demonic delay is when you go around and around in circles and can't seem to break out of a particular loop; this is when the forces of demonic delay and denial have been forged against you.

The area of timing has been an issue the enemy had been taunting me for years. Ever since Feb 2008, God told me to trust him when I asked Him to reveal His will for my next season. Precisely because He didn’t show me then, the enemy took the opportunity to sell me all sorts of lies about God being unable to tell me. Primarily the lie was about how God wanted me to wait for a very very long time for this promise to manifest. 

For many years my mind was like a scrambled egg when it comes to the topic of appointed time. I felt like I could never get a hold on this. Many times I thought I had come to my appointed time only to face more delays and disappointments. I came to a point when my faith was so seriously hit that I didn’t know what to believe anymore. It even caused me to doubt my ability to hear from the Lord. 

Well, there was a part of the journey where I knew the Lord was dealing with many stuff in my life. There was a divine delay for the purpose of my spiritual growth, in preparation for the work He has prepared for me to do. He even explained to me the reasons for the delay in 2014. What I didn’t discern was that from 2015, the delay wasn’t from the Lord. It was a spirit of delay sent to demoralise and drain me of energy so that I would give up on this promise. 

When I reviewed my journals, I then saw how the Lord only spoke to me about Daniel and the 21 day delay from Nov 2015. After that I kept seeing messages about breaking the spirit of delay from 2016. It was only when I saw how I seemed to be stuck in an endless cycle of delay that I felt something was not right. This couldn’t be from the Lord. For many years I was stuck in this cycle of attacks, disappointments and delays. It was causing me to be so weary, to the point of wanting to give up. 

I knew there was some stretching needed in 2011 but I didn’t know when it would end. So the enemy took the opportunity to hit me at my confusion. Now I see that everything the enemy was doing for the past five years was to stop me from receiving my promise. But more than that, he was trying to keep me from knowing the times and seasons. At its very core, he was hitting at my ability to hear the Lord clearly, especially on the timing issues. 

The Lord has spoken in very clear terms that this waiting is not from Him and He wants me to break the cycle of delay in Jesus name! When it is your time, God will hasten His word to perform it. On 15 Dec 2019, Pastor Joel also preached this message ‘It’s going to happen quickly’. There are some moments God has prepared to do a sudden work in your life. The difficulty you’re facing may have been there for years, but God is about to remove it. He's going to suddenly turn things around. Get ready to step into the fulfilment of His promise!

You may have been stuck in that place for years but when it’s your time, God can quickly change things. He can do a quick turnaround. He will quickly move your enemies out of the way. Our enemies will quickly hurry out of the way. You will come to a time when God will do a quick work. God knows how to get Pharaoh to you. To get you out of prison and into the position of influence. Joseph woke up that morning a slave but went to bed that night a prime minister. God is suddenly going to catapult you to a new level.

In Deuteronomy 9:1-3, God told the new generation that He would cross over ahead of them to deal with the enemy so they could quickly conquer the land. Behind the scenes He is crossing ahead of us to take care of the obstacles. You didn’t see any sign of it in the natural but suddenly it will happen. God will hasten to perform His word as written in Jeremiah 1:12. He will suddenly do it. God can do more in a day than what we can do in years.

Quit believing those lies that it’s going to take a long time to receive this promise. God is crossing over so that you can quickly conquer. Dreams coming to pass in record time. You didn’t see it coming. It’s going to happen quickly. Quickly conquer. God will cause us to quickly conquer. It’s not permanent. It’s going to work out. My enemies are moving out of the way. We have to stay in the offensive. Don’t align with the enemy’s lies that it’s permanent, it’s never going to change or it’s going to take a long time. 

ENTERED THE ‘RIGHT TIME GATE’

I was so excited when I read this word ‘The Era of Miracles at the Right Time Gate’ by Dutch Sheets. The Right Time Gate was the translation for Gate Beautiful where the disciples healed the lame man in Acts 3.

http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=23093

After all Dutch Sheets was the one who first talked about Gate Beautiful and horaios time. Recently someone posted a comment on my blog on ‘Horaios: the right time’ on 29 Sep 2015. She said this word was so apt even for today. 2020 is the horaios time for the body of Christ! I was reminded of what I wrote on 25 Sep 2015.

Dutch Sheets began by talking about the sons of Issachar and 4 phases of time in the NT: chronos, kairos, horaios and pleroo. This is the first time I have heard of horaios time, pronounced hor-ray-os. It is an even shorter window than kairos and is literally defined as the right time. A time where we decide that now we are going to do it. A time when we say let us go up at once to possess the land for God has given us the land! 

He gave the scripture reference from Acts 3! The lame man who laid at the temple gate called Beautiful was healed to walk again. The name for the gate, Beautiful, is "horaios". When all things come together at the right time, it is a beautiful thing. Dutch Sheets explained that God was saving this miracle for the right time for more people were saved by Peter's message at that time than at Pentecost. If we can pass through this gate, God will do something beautiful.

The Strong's Concordance number for "horaios" is 5611 and there are only 4 occurrences in the Bible. It means properly, a particular hour (a "season" of time); (figuratively) beautiful in timing, hence fruitful because fully developed (prepared, as in Romans 10:15). It also means ripe, mature (of fruits, of human age), hence it connotes blooming, beautiful (of the human body). 

In Mar 2018, I read Doug’s prophetic forecast for 2018 and he also talked about this Gate. There were many others like him straining to reach the Gate. A few thousand people. So everyone was just waiting at Gate Beautiful, for Jesus to open it. Jesus said, 'As you step inside this gate, you are stepping into your created purposes. Inside this gate all are the things I have promised you. It contains the longings of your heart and the reason you came into this world. Once you walk through this gate, you will no longer walk through the valley of tears.'

The Lord also said, 'Inside this gate will be the greatest joy you have ever experienced. You will step into My perfect timing and I will accomplish through you in one day what could take years without Me. Time will be on your side and you will receive new understanding of My kingdom. Inside this gate will be the start of Revival. Satan has asked to take your lives but you have all made it through the painful preparation and testing. You can stay here in My presence until the gate opens. You will be safe and your strength will continue to increase. Your time of preparation is over.' 

Then Jesus healed them and restored hope to their heart and strength to their bodies. The angels put a shield of faith on them and they felt safe, no more vulnerable. Finally they were joyful and no longer sorrowful. Jesus told them to wait there for the gate to open. They would be kept safe and protected as they wait. But Jesus said it wouldn't be long for the Gate is opening soon.

The Lord said to Doug, 'You will need to wait here in My presence in front of the Gate Beautiful. It is going to open very soon and you will cross over into the new season and the start of all that I have been showing you. It will not be long.' This is happening right now! The Lord is opening Gate Beautiful and this is going to allow you access to all that you will need to step into your created purpose.  (This Gate has finally opened once we crossed over to 2020!)

Praise the Lord for my horaios time has come! And I am entering Gate Beautiful! An anointed sister did prophesy in Oct 2015 that before I entered this Gate, the Lord wanted to heal me of my pains and heartaches. Didn’t He do that over the process of two years from 2018? And now I have come to a place where I am completely healed. When I entered this Gate, I will not only find my long awaited promise but also the very purpose I came to earth. I will have possessed my promised land. 

REVELATIONS ABOUT TIME

I have always been very curious about how God views time. I believe this has to do with my calling to be like the sons of Issachar, who knew about the times and seasons and what Israel was to do. 1 Chronicles 12:32. Yet I had never struggled so much about discerning the timing of God than other areas of my life. It was like each time I thought I heard God correctly about the timing of certain events, I was severely disappointed over and over again. I really thought I had missed it in this area. However that did not stop me from seeking the Lord more about revelations on time. I always felt that there was so much more to how we see time. 

In Feb 2017, I wrote this. Recently I sensed that God is trying to teach me about time and space. Especially about how humans view time. And how God is not limited to time, so are we not limited by time. I thought about how God can traverse through different points in time so that's why the visions He showed us may not be sequential. Not only that He usually don't reveal the timing of the vision because time is of no consequence to Him. When He pulls back the curtain to show us a glimpse of our future, it is as good as done. 

I feel that He is stretching my imagination to think of things that seem impossible and too deep for my puny mind to process. Things like how when we speak in tongues, the written language could be in circles, like that in the movie ‘Arrival’. Each circle is like a sentence which contains many symbols. That heavenly language is so rich that it would revolutionise the way we see things, especially time. We will also be able to see things to come and prepare for them accordingly.

In Sep 2018, I wrote this. For many years I struggled with this timing issue. I know God is outside of time and He can restore the years the locusts had eaten, but still I live in the constraints of time and space until I discovered another dimension. The spiritual dimension that knows no boundary or limits. When I operated in that dimension, I was released from the constraints of time and the natural world. It was like the fifth dimension in the movie Interstellar, where time and space are just dimensions and not limitations.

In this dimension I saw that when a promise was given, it was a done deal. But exactly how long it will take I cannot be sure unless God reveals it to me. Usually God will only show it to me when the appointed time for that event is very near, in order to prepare me for it. But that is where many people miss it. They stopped short of the manifestation of the promise. They gave up too soon and missed the chance to see God's power in action. More than just a wonderful testimony, it was a chance to own that miracle. When you experienced a miracle, it belonged to you forever.

Recently I was again thinking about the notions of time. How God views time. I had this sense that God moves very fast, but He is slowing down for our sakes. This led me to think about how the astronauts who move at the speed of light actually age slower than their peers on earth. I was always very amazed by this concept. How time can be relative. So if we could move at the speed God moves, then we could be kept young like astronauts. 

This was what I thought about in Apr 2013. Times are short...the Lord does not want to wait decades for things to be put right in our lives before He can use us mightily. This is a season of acceleration and He is moving fast. He wants us to come up to speed and move as fast as Him. Many times we felt that He was not moving fast enough, as some of us have waited for years for our breakthrough. But the truth is He moves at lightning speed. He is slowing down for our sakes. We can't move as fast, we can't catch up with His speed. He knows we cannot take it if He moves us from A to Z. So in His mercy, He got to bring us through sequentially.

That brings me to another concept about time dilation. Time dilation is a difference of elapsed time between two events as measured by observers   either moving relative to each other or differently situated from a gravitational mass or masses. Time dilation explains why two working clocks will report different times after different accelerations. 

On earth we see time as finite. The time taken for a certain process like the object falling to the ground was almost the same in any part of the world. That was because the gravitational pull on earth was the same, maybe with a little variation that is negligible. However when one is in space the gravitational pull varies significantly. That is why time can be blended, hence time dilation. The closer one is to the centre of the gravitational pull, the slower time passes.

I saw a parallel in the spiritual sense. The closer one is to God, the slower the person ages. This was because God is not limited by time so He can redeem the years the locusts had eaten. Not only that, He renews our youth like the eagles. Hence time is not finite when it is time spent with God. We see this concept at work when an astronaut orbits space after a few years, his peers would have aged more than him. This is the concept of time dilation at work.

There’s another thing about time travel which is currently impossible in our world. Yet the concept has been much talked about and researched on. Well, in my opinion God is a time traveller. Because God is outside time, He can go back in time to touch and heal your past so that what hurt you felt back then loses its sting. He can touch your future and bring forward that promotion or breakthrough, accelerating time.

I see the way we can overcome time is through the spiritual realm. In that realm, we are ageless. We are not bound by time or space. Yet the spiritual realm is more real than the physical realm. Just like whatever is happening in the physical realm first occurred in the spiritual realm. It is also in the spiritual realm that God gives us glimpses of our future. The times when He pulls back the curtains to show us our future. To God, that event has already taken place though physically it hasn’t yet. Or not yet in our world.

How about resurrection? What does it do to time? I think it is like a reset. Resurrection exerts a power on the person or thing, giving it a new lease of life. It was like the old was wiped clean as a slate and time restarts from the point of resurrection. Yet the interesting thing was the past was never truly forgotten by God because one day He will come back to restore to us the years the locusts had eaten. This is a profound concept which I cannot explain but it is true.   

YEAR OF TIME AND SPACE

Pastor Prince just declared the theme for our church for 2020. It is the year of time and space. You may wish to refer to his sermon notes on 5 Jan 2020 for more details. https://www.josephprince.com/sermon-notes/the-lord-of-time-and-space

We were all very excited about what God has in store for us this year and trying to better understand the theme for our church. This was my initial understanding of the year of time and space. I just like to share with you all.

As we all know, when we crossed over to 5780, we are crossing over to a new decade of Pey or the mouth. The last decade that ended was Ayin or the eye. Now we have heard about how we are not only entering into a new decade but a new era. So what does entering into a new era or time gate mean for us personally?

I feel that God is about to accelerate things in the Kingdom. We are going to see the miraculous operate right before our eyes. The prayers we have prayed for years will suddenly begin to be answered in incredible ways. Many will see their destinies being fulfilled and opportunities open up effortlessly.

We will be able to hear and know what God is saying and doing at a much higher level, not only for ourselves but for cities and regions. Why? Because we are at the right time gate where God is moving. It is the kairos time. Pastor mentioned that we have moved on from talking about the tabernacles of Moses in the past years to the temple of Solomon. I see this as an indication of how God has moved us from the wilderness to our promised land. We have really come out of our wilderness!

So what about space? Space is also like territory or land that God wants you to possess. Remember how Pastor said that there is still much land to be possessed. In 2020, the Lord will cause you and direct you into VICTORY. There is such a strong sense of "TAKING YOUR PLACE in preparation for the NEW SPACE (2020) that's taking place NOW!!!!"

Be sure to obey the Lord and follow His direction and His leading. Remember Mary told the servants: Do what He tells you. One act of obedience to the Lord's leading and command is going to ignite and activate a domino effect of momentum and breakthrough in your life to see you enter into 2020 completely different to how you walked in 2019. 

I believe the Lord is also saying "You are coming up higher". As in the spiral staircase, when we come up higher in the spiritual realm, we see treasures of revelation opening up to us which will cause us to view time and space very differently from how God sees them. 

So the key really is to spend time with the Lord in His word. As we do that we will begin our spiritual ascend faster than other years. We will receive such revelation that we will be bold to step out in faith and witness the miracles that God is going to perform this year. Miracles that transcends time and space.

I was just pondering upon the link between taking small steps and the year of time and space. I think the link is in the winding or spiral staircase. It connects the first to second to third floor.  Time is made up of three elements: past, present and future. This correlates to the three chambers. 

The chamber on the first floor is used to store the grain, wine and oil. This was collected during the year of latter rains. So the first chamber symbolises our past. 2019 or even the past decade. The second floor is where we are currently at this year. God wants us to rest in Him as typified by the place of rest for the priests.  The third floor could be talking about what is to come. It may happen within this year, when the glory of God is manifested in us, the temples of God. 

Space is also made of 3 elements: length, depth and height. Notice the chambers get wider with each level: 5,6,7 cubits. This speaks of God enlarging our space. He can do it for us in an instance.  The secret of the winding staircase is that it only brings is to a higher place one step at a time. Because it is winding we can't see the final step. We can only see the next few steps. 

The Holy Spirit will lead us step by step. As we co labour with Jesus, He will work miracles of time and space through us. Many times we may not even realise it as we take small steps until the miracle happened. Then we see that we have actually taken giant leaps in our spiritual ascendancy. The winding staircase indicates the greatest height in the smallest space in the shortest time. This is truly a miracle of time and space.