Aligning Ourselves with God’s Timing

Thursday August 10th, 2007

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: Ecclesisates 3:1

I feel there are some principles we need to understand about the ways of God � how He moves to see His kingdom established here on earth. Today we want to look at the timings of God.

There are two different Greek words for time in the Bible - chronos and kairos.
Chronos is linear time; the normal day-to-day, week-to-week, year-to-year passage of time. In chronos times, our walk with the Lord is characterized by our daily faithfulness and obedience to follow His voice. Change is measured as we look back over our lives and see how the Lord�s hand has guided us faithfully one step at a time.

Kairos is defined as “the right season, the right time for action, and the critical moment.” You�ve probably heard people talk about �the fullness of time� � or the times being �pregnant�. This is kairos time. Kairos moments are specific times in history when God suddenly and sovereignly steps from eternity into the earthly timeline to effect His perfect plan and purposes. At these times, the normal rules that govern time and change are suspended. God�s supernatural becomes our natural as the intersection of eternity and earthly time produces sudden acceleration that propels us forward into His purposes.

In chronos times, when God speaks, we have three options: obey, disobey or delay God�s plan. But when kairos moments come, delay is no longer an option. In these times, God has determined to do “whatever He wills” and there is no power on the face of the earth that can delay His purposes. So we then have a choice: either we will walk with the Lord and be used to see His purposes fulfilled or we will watch what He does at a distance.

The story of Zechariah in Luke 1 illustrates the importance of obeying God in His kairos timings. Jesus� birth is an example of a fullness of time moment; from the foundation of the world God had decreed when Jesus would be born. As part of this plan, John the Baptist had to be born to prepare the way for Jesus. So as the timeline of human history approached the timeline of God�s eternal purposes, suddenly the Lord sent an angel to Zechariah, who was a priest in the house of the Lord. Zechariah�s wife Elizabeth had been barren and now they were both far too old to have children.

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth”. (Luke 1:11-15)

Zechariah had been praying for a son; the angel clearly stated that his petitions to God had been answered. And yet, when the time came for the answer to his prayers, Zechariah responded in unbelief.

“How shall I know this for certain, for I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years?” (Luke 1:18).

God�s word is creative and absolute. When God declares something, He does not work within the existing laws of nature; He transcends them to create whatever He needs to fulfill His purposes. Elizabeth�s barrenness and her age were not obstacles to the plan of God.

I remember being in a meeting in Africa when a leader started prophesying over people. He pointed to a lady and said to her, “Next year at this time you will have a son.” All the people around her were astonished. They came to him at the end of the meeting and said, “You do not know but last year this woman had a hysterectomy; she cannot have a baby.” Do you know what he said? “God spoke. If need be He will create a womb inside of her, because God�s word is creative.” Next year she had a baby son and the doctors, nurses and all her relatives became Christians because of this miracle of God�s creative word.

In chronos time, things happen according to our faith. But in kairos times, God�s sovereign desire is what governs the fulfillment of the promises. That�s why it�s important, that if we want to walk in the kingdom we walk discerning things with our spirits and not through our minds. This becomes especially critical in kairos times when God begin to move supernaturally in ways that defy human reason. In these times we need to be careful that we do not allow unbelief to rob us from walking in the fullness with the Lord of His purposes.

In the kairos moment, Zechariah wavered about the promise of God. He should have known better � he was a priest and he knew the precedence of God doing a miracle for Abraham and Sarah in their old age. But in the moment, he faltered in unbelief and God struck him silent (maybe for his own good!) until he would see the fulfillment of what the Lord wanted to accomplish. In kairos moments we don�t negotiate with God; either we obey and walk with God in fulfilling His purposes; if we hesitate or disobey we will watch the purposes of God unfold from a distance. The choice is ours.

If your heart has been touched about the importance of coming into alignment with God�s timings, then pray this prayer with me:

Lord, I know that you are the God of time and that all my times are in your hands (Psalm 31:14-15). Father I want to be like the men of Issachar, who were wise in discerning Your seasons and times (1 Chronicles 12:32). Lord I ask you to bring me into a deeper sensitivity to your timings. And I ask you to bring my life, and the life of my family, my church, my city, my province and my nation into alignment with the timetable of your kingdom. In the name of Jesus � Amen!

David Demian, director of Watchmen for the Nations

www.watchmen.org

David Demian is a man of singular passion: to be a friend of God. This passion has led him on an amazing journey in life and ministry. David is a spiritual son to the founder of Watchmen for the Nations, Pastor Bob Birch, who passed the mantle of leadership of the ministry to David in 1998. David lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada with his wife Ruth and seven children.

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Aligning Ourselves with God’s Timing