WELCOME!

Deepened our Understanding

August 30, 2009
About God’s timing
La Mennais Brothers La Mennais Brothers Iloilo Community,
Philippines Philippines

I Reap Where I Sow Not!

Understanding God's Timing

By: Asp.Raphy Gordon

Mail:raphygordon@yahoo.com

One of the reasons so many ministries become

discouraged and too often fail is the inability to understand God's timing.

Having lived for the Lord for over 25 years and served Him in ministry for over
20, I admit that there are very few times when God acts when I think He should.

In my own ministry, this has caused me much grief and discouragement. I'm an
action person. When I see a job that needs to be done, I find a way to get it done
before others even realize there was a need. It drives me nuts when I see other
people drag their feet when there should be action in a needful situation. So
waiting on God who does not operate in the same time zone as I do has been very
hard. (CAN I GET A WITNESS?)

To fully understand the timing in which God operates, we must turn to the
scripture. One translation of 2 Pet 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his
promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting
anyone to perish but everyone come to repentance." 2 Pet 3:9

When I read this scripture I have to admit that my mind wants to argue with the
writer. In my carnal thinking, I feel that God is very slow in nearly everything
that He does. My natural mind believes He is slow to punish the wicked. It thinks
that He is slow in His return. It sees the suffering in the world and does not
understand His absence of immediate help to the starving and sick.

However, the reading shows me that He is not slow in keeping his promise, "as
some men understand slowness." The real problem is not with God, but rather
with me. I am "some men". My understanding of when He should act is
obviously not His understanding. You see, He sees this world and all that goes on
in it from a completely different perspective than I do. My perception is from that
of a carnal, mortal whose understanding is limited. His is from that of being an
eternal, Holy, all knowing God.

This reading lets me know that God and I share the same burden to see the lost
saved, but that my understanding of slowness is inaccurate. I have for most of my
life felt that things should happen almost immediately. However, as I have gotten
older, I have learned that most often that is not even possible. I have had to learn
patients. I have had to wait on people to change. I have had to learn to wait on
circumstances to become so difficult for people that they are forced to change
their thinking so change could come.

Peter 3:8 lets us know that with the Lord a thousand years is like a day.
Evidently, time is not something God has to worry about. He does not make
decisions based on the clock, calendar or length of men's lives. He is not in a
hurry. He is patient. Time is not a factor for Him. It is for me. It is for you. It is
not for Him.

When I pray, I ask God to do things ASAP. I'll say things like, "Lord, I need this
bill paid by the first, can you help?" or "Father, we really want to be in the house
we are building by the end of next year."

Now understand, a God who sees no difference between a thousand years and a
day is not going to be in a hurry to get my bill paid by the first of the month and
neither is He going to be in a rush to get us into the house by the end of the year.

He does not operate within the elements of or for the purpose of time. He only
operates within the confines and boundaries of a redemptive purpose. Peter 3:9
lets us know that his purpose is not timely, but redemptive. It only has to do with
souls and spiritual maturity.

If we have a lesson to learn by waiting, then He makes us wait. If we will grow

spiritually or mature in our faith by His delay, then He delays. It really has
nothing at all to do with our immediate physical needs. It has everything to do
with where we are at in the redemptive process.

Look at Moses. 40 Years in Pharaoh's court and schools of higher learning. For
what? So he can be a lonely Shepard for the next 40 years. Now I have to admit...
at about the end of the first year in the desert watching sheep when I was trained
to lead a nation, I would say, "God you messed up!" Moses was put into a
position in that desert where he was forced to learn to wait on God to the point
that he had to release all personal understanding of time.

This was going to be absolutely necessary when he began leading the nation of
Israel in the wilderness. Forty more years of waiting on God in the wilderness
was going to be the result of his 40 years of waiting on God in the desert. God
knew that the nation of Israel had to learn the same lesson of waiting on His
timing and He needed Moses to lead the nation since he had already learned that
lesson.

Neither was God going to give them the promised land over night. Ex 23:28-29
tells us that He would not drive their enemies out in a single year, but rather little
by little until they had increased enough to take the land.

The motive for God's delay has nothing to do with purposeful impediment. He is
simply waiting on our maturity level to rise to a place where we can then take the
land (revival, finances, etc). If God were to give many of our churches a one
thousand soul revival in a single year, we would lose most of those souls as few
churches are genuinely prepared to handle that kind of immediate growth.

Three years ago I attended the General Conference of the church organization I
am a part of. It was hosted in Toronto Canada. On the last day of that conference
a crusade service was held in which around 400 new converts were filled with
the Holy Spirit speaking in tongues in a single service. (I have rejoiced over that
service every time I think of it.) This last weekend I attended that same
conference in another city and had the opportunity to speak to a friend who
pastors one of the churches in Toronto. I asked him how many of the converts
from the crusade in Toronto 3 years ago are still attending the churches there. He
told me that the only people who are still attending any of the churches are
people who had previous connections with the church or where the church has
developed relationships with those new converts.

We want revival now. We want everyone to come to Truth today. So does God.
But we are not waiting on Him. He is waiting on our congregations to mature to a
level where they can do the work of evangelizing and then also be able to
maintain the growth that God would give.

How many of the hundreds of people who received the Holy Spirit that night
would still be a part of the church today, if we would have spent more time
preparing the churches to maintain the growth that was coming, before it
happened. I pray that the Lord would forgive us of our arrogance and ignorance
in this area. How many souls will be aborted before we realize the absolute
necessity of training the church to maintain growth and become spiritually
mature?

Would God bless our evangelism efforts more if our level of maturity was to a
height where we could actually keep those souls who would come in as a result
of that miracle?

Many of us are big on telling the numbers of converts to our churches. We need
to get big on the percentage of people we keep. That shows our true level of
maturity as a church body. I hear few churches brag on their percentage of
converts who are still with them after 5 years, but I hear a lot of churches
bragging on the number of people who get saved in one service.

God's timing is not about time. It is about the redemptive process. When we are
ready for the growth, it will come. He does not delay. He is not late. He is
waiting on us church. Let's prepare Him and habitation.

Staying Focused In Your How To Develop Relationships

Area Of Ministry
Sometimes you just have to
say it like it is. This is one of
those times. I offer this to you
in a gentle spirit and pray
that if you share it with
others on your team, that you
would do so in a spirit of
gentleness and meekness.
John Maxwell says "Only do
what only you can do." This
is important in the various
areas of ministry of the local
church. One thing that stops
the momentum of a church is
various leaders trying to run
Love people. Every person comes from a
different environment and culture. It is easy to
misunderstand someone who is not from your
same background. Loving people regardless of
where they come from or how they are made up
allows you the opportunity to develop
relationships with those others would never
consider.
Reach out to others. If you wait for others to
reach out to you for a relationship, you will be
waiting a very long time. We live in a day in
which people are not willing to reach out in
relationships. The relationships they have
experienced have been painful and they are not in
a hurry to get back into a relationship that makes
them vulnerable to others. If you are going to
someone else's ministry.
When God has placed you in
an area of ministry within the
church, he did not put you
there so you could judge
other lay ministers of the
church. Do your job and let
others do theirs.
Focus on your own
ministry. What can you do to
cause your own ministry to
make a greater impact in your
church and community?
Anytime you spend even a
few minutes judging the way
another person is running
their own department or area
of ministry within the church,
you are wasting valuable
time, energy and emotion that
if better used, could be
applied perfecting you own.
Too often people criticize
the work of others in order
to make their own ministry
look good. Lazy people
usually find time to do this.
These people are jealous of
other people's success and try
to destroy them in order to
preserve their rank or
position in a church. This is
not a Godly spirit and should
be stopped immediately.
There is no room in any
church for division. If you do
not like what other people are
doing, mind your own
business and do your own job
and trust God to take care of
the rest. It is His church and
not yours after all.
have a relationship with someone, realize that
you will have to be the one to initiate the
relationship.
Go where people are. Sitting on your church
pew will not put you in a position to gather
relationships. Join a gardening club. Volunteer in
your community. Take walks with the objective
to stop and talk to your neighbors. Get out there
and meet people.
Practice friendly greetings. My wife has told
me that I give a terrible first impression. For this
reason alone, I have stood in the mirror and
practiced my first smile and greeting. I want
people to know that I want to get to know them
so I have to work at it where it may come a little
easier for others.
Go the second mile. If you quit on a relationship
at the first opportunity or disappointment, you
will not have many relationships. The people you
love the most in life will disappoint you more
than anyone. Allow grace to operate in your
relationships.
Find common interests - Don't waste time
dwelling on the things that separate you from
others, find common ground. When I sold
insurance, I was often times invited into people's
homes. When I could find no common ground or
it was hard to get them to talk to me, I would
always walk over to the pictures in their home
and ask them about the people in the pictures.
"Are these your grandchildren?" It got them
talking every time!
Give recognition and encouragement. Most
people need someone to lift them up. Recognize
others accomplishments and tell them how
important they are to you. This will permit them
the opportunity to feel good about themselves. It's
not what you say to people...It's how you make
them feel that is important.
Momentum is only created
after enough pressure is
placed on an object for a
long enough period of time.
You cannot get a car rolling
from a standstill with 5
pounds of pressure for 2
seconds. But if you push hard
enough for a long enough
period of time, it will start to
roll. If you are someone who
jumps from one project or
area of ministry in the church
to another without staying
long enough to see results,
you need to get focused.
Work hard enough and stay
long enough to see the results
God has envisioned you with.
By: Asp.Raphy Gordon
Be flexible. They may not dress like you or want
to eat at the same restaurants - be flexible. If you
only like Italian restaurants and your friends only
like Asian food, one of you is going to have to be
flexible if you are going to enjoy a night out.
The perfect example of someone who was a
master at creating and maintaining relationships
was Jesus Christ. He reached out to people from
every walk of life for the purpose of gaining a
personal relationship with them. He did not care
if they were rich or poor. He even reached out to
a Samaritan woman whom others hated and
would ridicule him for having such a
relationship. Reach out!
To Be An Effective Leader...
In his book The Next Generation Leader, Andy
Stanley offers 5 valid points to consider if you
desire to be an effective leader. I highly
recommend this book to anyone in a leadership
position.
Face it, you are not as good as you could be. So
what are you going to do about it? The only way
to go farther, faster, is to engage outside help.
You can maximize your leadership potential by
getting a coach...or two.
Find someone to observe you in a variety of
leadership settings. Outside input is critical. Even
if you could watch yourself in a mirror twenty-
four hours day, you would never see yourself as
others see you.
Select a coach who has no axe to grind and not
reason to be anything except brutally honest. He
need not be an expert in your field. What your
coach must be able to do, however, is put himself
in the shoes of those who are influenced by your
leadership.
Try to find someone who can articulate his
thoughts with clarity and precision. You don't
need glaring generalities; you need to know
exactly what needs to be repeated and deleted in
your leadership.

Become a coach. As we learn to do by doing, we

learn to accept by giving.