If you feel as though you are going round in circles you probably are, Because God thinks differently than you.
Isaiah 55:8-11 “My thoughts are completely different from yours,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
We think in straight lines, God thinks in circles, consider Psalm 23:3-4 He guides me along right paths, (, îÇòÀâÌÈìÈä) bringing honour to his name. Even when I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.
îÇòÀâÌÈìÈä magalah = circle of the camp
The same word is found in Psalm 65:11 you crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.
The context of the path again is a cycle of seasons. God is thinking in times tides and seasons. Whereas we think in the now.We think revival he thinks harvest, we think upper room outpouring, he thinks marketplace.
Jesus is coming for a Church that is in Harvest mode, not revival mode. Revival mode is a place of empowering, but that power is pointless unless we think like he thinks. “Power equals harvest” What would have happened if the early Church had of stayed in the upper room mode? NOTHING! In fact the early church needed a bit of a kick start and persecution drove them out of upper room mode and into market place mode.
In order to know the tides times and seasons we need to have revelation from the Holy Spirit; He will help us see His thinking and his ways. Programmed faith will keep us in the upper room mode of Acts 2, Jesus wants to take us into the earth shaking mode of Acts 4 and beyond. There are things the modern Church has never seen because we keep thinking in upper room mode. The Apostles saw the resurrected Jesus in Revelation & harvest mode and they transformed their environment. They learnt to think like the master, in tides times and seasons. The Apostles demonstrated the gospel in power and glory and saw their circumstances as opportunities to show the maters ways. If they stayed in upper room mode the mysteries of God would not have been released. Its still the same today. The Church needs to move out of Program mode and into Harvest mode. If we do we will be amazed.
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Cor 2:9
Where there is revelation, there are also manifestation of the Glory of God, because Gods thinking is being released into this realm through revelation. God is not releasing revelation for nothing. Rather revelation is being released to trigger harvest.
God thinks in circles, you think in straight lines!
For instance God created Adam and they had full uninterrupted fellowship together. Adam sinned. God cast Adam out and fellowship was lost. God puts in place a plan to redeem Adam, Jesus wins back all Adam had lost, God sets about a total restoration of Eden, The purpose, uninterrupted fellowship. The journey to this point has been amazing, and it’s not over yet, but when it is over God will have taken the process full circle. Adam (man) will again have complete and uninterrupted fellowship with his creator.
So in Gods thinking Church is about training for intimacy with Him, reconciling the world to their creator, teaching abandonment to His purpose and preparing his bride to reign with Him in eternity. In mans thinking Church is about telling people how to live right and be servants of the Church. Hello we have a problem! A direct conflict between God and his Church.
The wilderness experience of Israel involved amazing process, not a straight line but a circle. The Children of Israel in the desert went round in circles until the purpose of God was established. They received provision in the wilderness, they saw Glory in the wilderness, but this generation had never known how to fight and win battles and to rule over their inheritance, so the Lord taught them through their experiences, Training for reigning.
In our lives God is more concerned about the process. This is because God thinks outside of time, and sees everything from an eternal point of view, we see things in the present and we interpret things from the point of view of being in the present. He sees the whole journey. The reason we don’t understand the journey is because we are thinking different to God. Think training for reigning
The journey is exciting and well worth it, but it takes time to develop. It’s a waste of time waiting in the terminal for a 747, when there is a camel in the car park with our name on it to take us through the desert. Our human thinking wants to get to the journeys end quickly; God wants us to develop character along the way so we can rule over cities in eternity.
Our part is to learn how to rest in His love and become abandoned to His purpose, accepting that Father knows best. God wants us to spend time with Him and intimately communicate with Him, to enjoy fellowship with Him, to trust and follow Him, and to give our life meaning and purpose. We want to rush to the end and receive the prize; he wants to build character that will embrace the journey and help us see that He is the prize.
“Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord; and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee.” St. Augustine
I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things." Philippians 3:8
Even if you did nothing in your meditation but bring your heart back, and place it again in our Lord’s presence, though it went away again every time you brought it back, your hour would be very well employed." Francis de Sales
Acts 3:19-20 Now turn from your sins and turn to God, so you can be cleansed of your sins. Then wonderful times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will send Jesus your Messiah to you again
The thing is, God will bring us to a point, if our lives don’t match the position we find ourselves in we need to turn around and let God deal with the issues that prevent a continued journey. It’s called repentance. As we turn we find renewed activity in our lives from the Holy Spirit. He will build in us the necessary character to come again to that original point, the circle complete and we move forward again.
Many become stuck, wondering why God would allow stuff to happen in our lives and become despondent and turn away from Him. The truth is He is thinking different than you and He will bring you full circle and ready to move forward if we abandon ourselves to Him and trust His thinking.
When you throw a stone in a lake the ripples are never straight lines, indeed they are ever widening circles. Events in our lives never cause straight lines either but impact things that we hadn’t thought of or even known about. So we need to abandon our thinking to Him and come to the place of understanding that His ways are higher than ours and the journey will become easier to understand.
Trust God to bring you into the fullness of Jesus Christ, trust Him by abandoning yourselves to His purpose. Think like he thinks.
Tell me, what possible risk do you take in depending totally upon God? What risk do you run by abandoning yourself completely to Him? The Lord will not deceive you. Jeanne Guyon
There is no substitute or shortcut to gain the measure of God you desire in your life. Time before God in His presence releases the store house of heaven that is full of blessings and opens the flood gate of revelation you desire! Intimacy with the living God is the hall mark of every great man or women of God. Time in His courts help us understand the complexities of life. And give meaning to every situation we find our self in! We can’t understand His ways unless we abandon ourselves to His workings.
So if you are feeling like you are moving around in circles, you probably are. God is at work in your life. Seek fresh revelation of His thinking and move forward into greater glory.
Ian Johnson www.papelim.org.nz
