Process, Progression, and Perseverance of Time - 9/5/2017 (part 2)

There is a PROCESS, a PROGRESSION, and a PERSEVERANCE that ensues as we hunger and are filled, as we move toward wholeness. We serve a God who is outside of time. When He says to pray that His will would be done ON earth as it IS in heaven, He is asking us to pray for something that already IS to be made known in our here and now. We are asking for heaven to touch earth! We can stand in whatever gap there is in between heaven and earth at the moment, to bring about this connection - that’s how we intercede in prayer!


So how is this type of intercession like our journey of health, wellness, and optimal weight? Well, let me ask you this question: Are you there yet? Have you met your goal? Is there still a “gap” between where you are and where you’re going? If there’s a gap, it can be filled. And the Process, the Progression, and the Perseverance is what fills that gap - taking us from here to there.


The Process is the way that we are to go. 
The Progression is the order of our steps. 
The Perseverance is the ongoing work of ordering our steps along the way.


Jesus said (John 14:6) “I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” God is a God of order (1 Corinthians 14:33, 40). And there are clear promises in the book of Revelation (2:7, 11, 17, 26 and 3:5, 12, 21) for those who overcome - prevail, defeat, beat, conquer, outdo. There is a clear way, order, and persistence necessary for any building, changing, or growing to take place. 


Let’s look at the example of pregnancy to shed some light on this concept. If you want to have a baby, there is a clear Process to becoming pregnant, a Progession of development literally below the surface that must take place before the baby can be born, and a Perseverance of waiting 9 months for the completion of that development. When that time is complete, labor begins, and another cycle of Process, Progression, and Perseverance plays out in labor and delivery! This whole cycle has a lot to do with time - the right time, the passing of time, the fullness of time…


In fact, there are three different greek words that refer to time in the bible: chronos, kairos, and pleroo. Chronos is the passing of chronological time. Kairos is an opportune time, the “right time”. I call it The Divine Now! It is a change, a shift that happens, a doorway that we must pass through. Pleroo is the fullness of time. It is the end goal of our chronos and kairos moments. There is a time of waiting and preparing, like being pregnant for 9 months. During that chronos time, there is much growth and change going on below the surface. This time may seem long, but it’s necessary and none of that time is wasted. Then comes kairos - labor and delivery! This may be a very hard time and it’s a clear change, but it’s not the end. We go through many kairos moments before we come to the fullness of time, pleroo. 


Like pregnancy, farming is another great example of this cycle of time and growth. A seed must be planted and it remains underground for a long period of time before it even begins to poke up through the surface of the soil. And all that time that it remains below the surface there is much growth and change taking place. And time (chronos) is passing. Eventually the growth is complete and the time (kairos) has come to bring in the harvest. NOW LISTEN CLOSELY. If the kairos moment of bringing in the harvest is neglected, the crop will rot in the field. We can’t get to the fulness (pleroo) - enjoying a meal from the harvest - unless we not only put our hand to the plow to prepare and plant, but also put our hand to the sickle to bring in the harvest! 


Are you getting the picture more clearly? Everything (repeat that word out loud 5 times!) takes time. And time has a Process, a Progression, and a Perseverance embedded in it, like the seasons of a year. We don’t change the seasons but we partner with the seasons to do what needs to be done during each season. 


So what “needs to be done?” Our part. God does His part, others do their part, we do our part. Read 1 Corinthians 3:5 - 9. It’s an amazing scripture in light of what we’re talking about here! Some plant, some water, but God causes things to grow. BUT (don’t miss it!) - some plant and some water! That is our part! God WILL bring the increase! He WILL cause the seed to grow. But we must partner with Him as fellow workmen with and for God! 


Here’s a cool example of how me partner with God: 
The word for Judah in Hebrew is “praise” and in Hosea 10:11-12 we read that Judah shall plow or break up the fallow ground. We can “plow” the “ground” in preparation for the “seed” through PRAISE! That’s our wonderful part! Praise breaks up the fallow ground of our heart so that we can be fruitful and multiply. Isn’t that cool?! And it’s just one example of how we partner with God for the Process, Progression, and Perseverance of the harvest in our lives!


Let me leave you with one more example to really drive the point home. Let’s say you hire a personal trainer to help you get strong and fit. You show up for your first session and he says, “Ok. Let’s begin by doing 20 sit ups and then 10 minutes on the treadmill.” You are dumbfounded! “I didn’t hire you to make me do sit ups and run on a treadmill! I hired you to make me strong and fit! I don’t want to do sit ups!” Get it? :) The trainer IS HELPING YOU to become strong and fit through a Process, a Progression, and a Perseverance! But he can’t do it for you, and he didn’t to it to you, but he WILL walk through it with you - if you will let him! 


The Holy Spirit is like our personal trainer. Will you hire Him for the job? Will you trust Him to lead you in the right Process and Progression? Will you Persevere with Him while He helps you? 


Jesus Himself declared a strong warning (Matthew 24:19, Mark 13:17, Luke 21:23) regarding the end times when He said, “Woe to those who are with child and give suck” during that time. Is there a vision, a goal, a dream, a calling, that He has planted in you? Are you still pregnant? Have you birthed the baby but you’re still nursing that baby? What has God placed in you that is ready to be born and raised up to maturity?
When what He has placed in you comes to maturity, it will be used to feed the nations! To bring many people into relationship with Jesus! Our trials and the Process, Progression, and Perseverance that ensue from those trials, are not only for us. They are to serve the world!


“Feed my sheep,” Jesus said! We are to feed His people but if we’re still “nursing the baby” we are not equipped to feed the nations. It’s time to grow up and come into the fullness (pleroo) of His chronos and kairos. 
The “pressure cooker” that believers are in right now is the pressure to grow up into maturity. 


The time is NOW! Kairos!
He has prepared us! Chronos!
And we will experience His fullness! Pleroo!


He is using all things to prepare us, His Bride. The chronos preparation is necessary for us to be ready for the divine now, His kairos assignment. And it is ALL leading to the completion and fullness of His eternal redemption that we will partake in at the marriage supper of the Lamb. 


God is giving us the land but we still must go into the land and take possession of it. 
Whose report will you believe? We shall believe the report of the LORD! AMEN!
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